Reply to: On your CV do you put the exact dates or just the months that you worked on a site ?

[DimPrawn]

It's daft equating IT contracting with plumbing.

A plumber is usually in and out in an hour or two and nobody cares what he is like. But in most cases an IT contractor has to get on with a client's practices, processes and staff over a period of months.

You might think clients are ignorant, but they are the ones who throw CVs into the bin.

Any client that wants to know an IT contractor's hobbies, his certificates in swimming, what O-Levels he got and whether he is divorced or separated is not any client I'm interested in contracting at. I leave those perma-temp jobs to the IR35 fodder.

[stackpole]

No information about age, marital status, hobbies etc. (You don’t get that info when you ask for a plumber do you?)

Ignorant clients should learn the difference between permanent staff, temporary, agency and contractors.

It's daft equating IT contracting with plumbing.

A plumber is usually in and out in an hour or two and nobody cares what he is like. But in most cases an IT contractor has to get on with a client's practices, processes and staff over a period of months.

You might think clients are ignorant, but they are the ones who throw CVs into the bin.

[DimPrawn]

Months or even just the year. I have moved away from a typical CV style. It’ none of their F & N & G business when you go on holiday or if you wanted to work or do your own thing.

The first page of my “CV” is more like an advert. All the best info goes on the front page and not in chronological order. I had some great contract but also some dross.

Chronological order stuff goes on page two.

No information about age, marital status, hobbies etc. (You don’t get that info when you ask for a plumber do you?)

Ignorant clients should learn the difference between permanent staff, temporary, agency and contractors.

WHS + don't attach a photo.

[Xenophon]

Year/Month/Day/Hour/Second

Sounds like MarillionFan...

[DodgyAgent]

Months or even just the year. I have moved away from a typical CV style. It’ none of their F & N & G business when you go on holiday or if you wanted to work or do your own thing.

The first page of my “CV” is more like an advert. All the best info goes on the front page and not in chronological order. I had some great contract but also some dross.

Chronological order stuff goes on page two.

No information about age, marital status, hobbies etc. (You don’t get that info when you ask for a plumber do you?)

Ignorant clients should learn the difference between permanent staff, temporary, agency and contractors.

Spoken like a real idiot who so thoroughly understands the concept of customer/provider

[Bob Dalek]

Year/Month/Day/Hour/Second & fag & bog breaks.

[BolshieBastard]

From \ to month, year and whether included extensions.

[BrilloPad]

Month/Year.

[NickFitz]

Month/year for recent stuff, year only for the older stuff.

I stay within two pages, reverse chronological order, and the older stuff gets smaller type and a one-line description. I'm pretty sure most potential clients aren't particularly interested in how many assembly languages I know.

Actually, I don't think any of them read beyond the last couple of gigs. At virtually every client I've at some point mentioned something from when I was a games programmer in the Eighties, and the person who interviewed me has said "Wow, you were a games programmer?" Given that my CV says "1986 -1990 Games Programmer"...

[expat]

I used to put month/year & Client name in reverse chronological order, i.e. classic CV. I have now changed to Year & industry. Certainly no personal information like marital status. Nor age (I am helping clients to avoid the potentially actionable trap of discriminating by age

Nor where I live, just where I will work.

It's still a CV: for most of us, if we abandon CV completely and go for "brochure", we'll just get asked for a copy of our CV in order to proceed. Educate them if you like, my main aim is getting work.

[miffy]

Months or even just the year. I have moved away from a typical CV style. It’ none of their F & N & G business when you go on holiday or if you wanted to work or do your own thing.

The first page of my “CV” is more like an advert. All the best info goes on the front page and not in chronological order. I had some great contract but also some dross.

Chronological order stuff goes on page two.

No information about age, marital status, hobbies etc. (You don’t get that info when you ask for a plumber do you?)

Ignorant clients should learn the difference between permanent staff, temporary, agency and contractors.

Spot on!

We all need to adopt that format now!

[Cyberman]

Months or even just the year. I have moved away from a typical CV style. It’ none of their F & N & G business when you go on holiday or if you wanted to work or do your own thing.

The first page of my “CV” is more like an advert. All the best info goes on the front page and not in chronological order. I had some great contract but also some dross.

Chronological order stuff goes on page two.

No information about age, marital status, hobbies etc. (You don’t get that info when you ask for a plumber do you?)

Ignorant clients should learn the difference between permanent staff, temporary, agency and contractors.

Well put !!

[NotAllThere]

Months or even just the year. I have moved away from a typical CV style. It’ none of their F & N & G business when you go on holiday or if you wanted to work or do your own thing.

The first page of my “CV” is more like an advert. All the best info goes on the front page and not in chronological order. I had some great contract but also some dross.

Chronological order stuff goes on page two.
...

Year/Month, but after reading this, I'll switch to year.

[Malingering BA]

Month/year. Three pages maximum, even though it now covers 20 years. The oldest assignments are now just one liners.

[Turion]

My CV is on a month/year basis, using selected longer term projects only. I do not list all contracts as some are very short, or not compatible with current situation. No personal stuff of course, or stuff more than 5 yrs old, and no gaps longer than 1 month. Clients see what I want them to see. Will probably start omitting the month and just list by year from now on.