Contract length

[TheFaQQer]

I'm going to assume by that you mean contracts >3 and <6 months in duration.

In my niche I design and build systems based on business processes. Typically a fairly busy business process takes 3 months from design to roll out. A business only has so many processes worth automating.

So they know what they are getting, and roughly how long it should take. It's a lot less nebulous than say "We need another developer", where you can blag it after 3 months and get an extension. I have concrete deliverables all of the time.

It sounds like you just need to sell it better and make sure that at first glance it shows that you deliver exactly what you said you would, in the agreed timescale, and then move onto other things rather than hanging around.

You could also consider not putting specific dates on your CV - mine just says something like:

2011 to 2012 Senior Widget Wangler
<description>

2010 to 2011 Super Senior Wangler of Widgets
<description>

2010 Not so good role
<description>

2010 Super hero role
<description>

[TheFaQQer]

I cannot afford to take this further at present, but if anyone does go for it I would be keen to hear about it.

I don't believe that there is much that a service like this can offer you, if you have a decent enough network. Get some mates who are contractors to have a look over it and see what they suggest - have a look at theirs and see if you can spot any improvements.

I've done that with guys I've worked with on the same project - we all took copies of the others CVs and made notes on what we would change / reword.

There are plenty of people here that I'm sure wouldn't mind having a laugh helping a fellow contractor improve their CV

[eek]

I'm going to assume by that you mean contracts >3 and <6 months in duration.

In my niche I design and build systems based on business processes. Typically a fairly busy business process takes 3 months from design to roll out. A business only has so many processes worth automating.

So they know what they are getting, and roughly how long it should take. It's a lot less nebulous than say "We need another developer", where you can blag it after 3 months and get an extension. I have concrete deliverables all of the time.

Note the addition to what I wrote. If you are pretending to be a developer then 3 months here 3 months there is going to be a problem because its not clear why you continually leave after 3 months. So people reading your CV will add their own spin to it.

You need something in your job description to show why it was always going to be a short term role...

[suityou01]

Note the addition to what I wrote. If you are pretending to be a developer then 3 months here 3 months there is going to be a problem because its not clear why you continually leave after 3 months. So people reading your CV will add their own spin to it.

You need something in your job description to show why it was always going to be a short term role...

Aren't we all?

[d000hg]

It sounds like you just need to sell it better and make sure that at first glance it shows that you deliver exactly what you said you would, in the agreed timescale

That's rather the problem.

[eek]

Aren't we all?

Give me strength. If you apply for a developer role and your CV makes you look like a developer people will look at your cv, compare it to other developers and bin yours as it looks like you are tulip. Its possible that people will do that even if you improve your CV as they will just apply their looking for a decent developer filter and reject you because their filter says you are tulip...
I don't know how you resolve that problem as its possible x years of short term roles will make getting past certain viewpoints impossible.

I joked ages ago that you weren't managing your career by carefully picking roles and instead just going for the first thing that come along (at the detriment of your health and long term career). My current fear would be that that has become the case...

[suityou01]

Give me strength. If you apply for a developer role and your CV makes you look like a developer people will look at your cv, compare it to other developers and bin yours as it looks like you are tulip. Its possible that people will do that even if you improve your CV as they will just apply their looking for a decent developer filter and reject you because their filter says you are tulip...
I don't know how you resolve that problem as its possible x years of short term roles will make getting past certain viewpoints impossible.

I joked ages ago that you weren't managing your career by carefully picking roles and instead just going for the first thing that come along (at the detriment of your health and long term career). My current fear would be that that has become the case...

Whooooosh!

[FiveTimes]

Suity - it sounds like you need at least 3 CVs

A developer CV
A PM CV and a "bit of BAing" CV

[suityou01]

Suity - it sounds like you need at least 3 CVs

A developer CV
A PM CV and a "bit of BAing" CV

[MaryPoppins]

I've become a bit of a jack of all trades. Bit of project management here, bit of BAing there. Strong development background though.

Sorry if I'm repeating anything already posted [CBA to read thread] but could this be part of the issue? No single strong skill set, and no obvious renewals for a while. I'd probably bounce your CV on that basis.

A CV revamp sounds like a good idea, good luck.