CV Discussion

[tigerinhunt]

Greatly appreciate your inputs. Have changed my CV as has been advised on this forum and I am very pleased the way it looks and focuses my particular skills.

On the first page I have divided my technical skills between expert level and intermediate level. Is this a good or bad thing to do?

[cojak]

That only applies if you use a shotgun approach to distributing your CV.

A sniper's accuracy will pinpoint only those roles in which you're interested and which match the CV.

Plus tailoring the emphasis of course.

[r08813]

I think it helps a contractor if the CV shows what skills they want to use, backed up with evidence of where they have used those skills. (We all know what we want to do and what we don't like doing).

This only works if you know your target market, and a professional contractor should know this.

I always have thought that a 'general' cv , just showing a history of companies is more suitable for a permie role and tends to make a contractor look like a 'jack of all trades and master of none', rather than the specialist he should be.

[eek]

What's the point of writing a good cv if 99.9% of so called recruitment consultants cannot understand it?

You're make it clear enough that the consultant can understand it.

[petergriffin]

What's the point of writing a good cv if 99.9% of so called recruitment consultants cannot understand it?

[The Agents View]

Since I’ve recently reviewed another poster’s CV for them, I’ll post the general points here.

Your CV needs to answer the question “Why should I use this contractor for this role?”

Most CVs are too wordy, bullet points are your friends.

CV Structure

• Your name
• Your contact details - phone/email/website
• Profile - (One paragraph setting out how good you are and industries in which you’ve worked)
• Achievements (no more than 6 Bullets)
• Expertise (no more than 6 Bullets)

For your contract details, you need to break each contract down into 'what I did' (Role Profile) and 'What I achieved' (Key Achievements)

Contract 1 with date
Job Title
Role Profile (bullets)
Key Achievements (bullets)

Contract 2 with date
Job Title
Role Profile (bullets)
Key Achievements (bullets)

After 5-7 years, scrap the role profile/key achievements, just have job title and dates.

Last page
Training and certifications – you can mention your degree here if you want.
---------

General notes:

• You’ve mentioned your 1st degree on the front page? Who cares! The agent/client is only interested in your current skills and how you can deliver for them.
• Dont worry about gap but be prepared to answer questions about them if the agent/client asks.

This isn't the only way to set out a CV, the important thing is KISS

Basically your CV has to scream YOU NEED ME! to the agent. They're busy and won't wade through CV's they can't scan in 30 seconds.

This is EXACTLY how I tell people to write their CV's.

You are trying to sell to us. Think of it like any other sales process - Features and Benefits.

Answer these points in your bullet points:

What was the high level reason you were engaged?

What did you do? (achievements)

What benefit did that bring to the company? (This needs to be tangible - Service improvement, revenue increase, cost cutting, etc).

If you can't answer these questions, then it's possible that you're not actually a project manager at all.....

[pmeswani]

Cojak's bill is in the post.

All that remains is for Cojak to send you the cheque.

[Fred Bloggs]

That's great advice, exactly how my CV is written too.

[cojak]

Cojak's bill is in the post.

[SueEllen]

Many thanks..I was looking for ideas like these...

Cojak's bill is in the post.

[tigerinhunt]

Since I’ve recently reviewed another poster’s CV for them, I’ll post the general points here.

Your CV needs to answer the question “Why should I use this contractor for this role?”

Most CVs are too wordy, bullet points are your friends.

CV Structure

• Your name
• Your contact details - phone/email/website
• Profile - (One paragraph setting out how good you are and industries in which you’ve worked)
• Achievements (no more than 6 Bullets)
• Expertise (no more than 6 Bullets)

For your contract details, you need to break each contract down into 'what I did' (Role Profile) and 'What I achieved' (Key Achievements)

Contract 1 with date
Job Title
Role Profile (bullets)
Key Achievements (bullets)

Contract 2 with date
Job Title
Role Profile (bullets)
Key Achievements (bullets)

After 5-7 years, scrap the role profile/key achievements, just have job title and dates.

Last page
Training and certifications – you can mention your degree here if you want.
---------

General notes:

• You’ve mentioned your 1st degree on the front page? Who cares! The agent/client is only interested in your current skills and how you can deliver for them.
• Dont worry about gap but be prepared to answer questions about them if the agent/client asks.

This isn't the only way to set out a CV, the important thing is KISS

Basically your CV has to scream YOU NEED ME! to the agent. They're busy and won't wade through CV's they can't scan in 30 seconds.

Many thanks..I was looking for ideas like these...Also thanks to posters in the other thread.

[cojak]

Since I’ve recently reviewed another poster’s CV for them, I’ll post the general points here.

Your CV needs to answer the question “Why should I use this contractor for this role?”

Most CVs are too wordy, bullet points are your friends.

CV Structure

• Your name
• Your contact details - phone/email/website
• Profile - (One paragraph setting out how good you are and industries in which you’ve worked)
• Achievements (no more than 6 Bullets)
• Expertise (no more than 6 Bullets)

For your contract details, you need to break each contract down into 'what I did' (Role Profile) and 'What I achieved' (Key Achievements)

Contract 1 with date
Job Title
Role Profile (bullets)
Key Achievements (bullets)

Contract 2 with date
Job Title
Role Profile (bullets)
Key Achievements (bullets)

After 5-7 years, scrap the role profile/key achievements, just have job title and dates.

Last page
Training and certifications – you can mention your degree here if you want.
---------

General notes:

• You’ve mentioned your 1st degree on the front page? Who cares! The agent/client is only interested in your current skills and how you can deliver for them.
• Dont worry about gap but be prepared to answer questions about them if the agent/client asks.

This isn't the only way to set out a CV, the important thing is KISS

Basically your CV has to scream YOU NEED ME! to the agent. They're busy and won't wade through CV's they can't scan in 30 seconds.

[cojak]

IT contractors: How to write a good CV :: Contractor UK

[tigerinhunt]

Posting it here again as other thread has been hacked by otherwise helpful people.

Hi there,

Time to update my CV and I am thinking whether my CV reflects my experience or shall I change the format, shall I cut down the amount of information I have about the various projects I have worked on?

My CV contains the information about projects (detailed, my key responsibilities, start date to finish date and technologies involved).

With 12 years of experience it has now run into 6 full pages and seem like too big. Had a bit of gap between projects so not sure if I should remove the dates of the projects so as to avoid questions like why could I not find work for such and such long time.

Please provide your inputs on my queries and feel free to add more about what you think a CV should look like. I know there are tons of websites out there but they all seem rubbish and generic. Hope it is worth the discussion.

Thanks,