On your CV (at the top) do you put a summary of tech skills with actual usage time

[TestMangler]

I once worked with a permie in General Accident (Perth) who was always banging on about going contracting.

He, for some reason, created a CV using bloody Visio !!!!!

But, to cap it all, he put a line at the bottom of each page which actually read 'This document was created using Visoi'

He's probably still the country's leading 'Visoi' expert

[The Spartan]

5 pages is too many IMO. That will be a limiting factor to some extent regardless of how good the content is.

I wouldn't say it's too long, then again I suppose it would depend on your profession as a tester you do need to add depth to evidence your skills if you don't you tend to be chucked in the unsuccessful pile. Experience of different types of testing is very valid too any other testers out there who would like to share their view? I would be very interested in how they approach documenting their skills on their CV

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Usage time is a bit of a waste of time!
To my mind that smacks of a bit of "Graduate" contractor, trying to prove he's used a skill.

I generally only place something in my skills summary if I am proefficient at something, that way I know I can pass an interview test on it! :-)

+1

Whenever somebody puts time next to it, then it suggests they might not actually be that good at it (I have used it for 5 years - so what? can you do A, B, C).

I always put skills in the context of delivery so it shows you are there to actually serve the business and not to bang on about how long you have used a skill for.

[NickFitz]

On a related note, at my last permie job I was asked to produce a list of every programming language I'd ever "used" - even if it was just half an afternoon mucking about with it - as they fondly imagined it might impress prospective clients.

I turned in a list that almost filled two A4 sheets

Good job they didn't actually land any PDP-11/34a Assembly Language jobs…

[Scoobos]

If i've even touched a technology it goes in my skills section.

I work on the principle that I can brush up and learn it to a good standard in the window between speaking to the agent and getting the interview.

Without jinxing myself , hopefully, I've never failed an interview ; so it works for me.

[northernladuk]

I have:

Personal summary

Main achievements

Technical summary

Contract History

Perm History

Interests (I know people say you should not have this as a contractor but I still have it there, I have played sport internationally and currently coach a GB team so it is worth bragging about)

Contact details.

The cv comes in at about 5 pages but the summaries etc are all on the first page.

5 pages is too many IMO. That will be a limiting factor to some extent regardless of how good the content is. I presume you have plenty of contracting history to be able to fill 5 pages so the perm history should be super brief. If not you must have gone back a lot of years in your perm history which again isn't that useful.

[minestrone]

What I have taken to doing is a brief skills summary at the end of each gig in my employment history, literally just key words of the skills (including soft skills) used on each project as this also give the bonus of letting pimps know WHEN you last used a skill.

ie:



Rinse and repeat

That is exactly what I do.

[MyUserName]

I have:

Personal summary

Main achievements

Technical summary

Contract History

Perm History

Interests (I know people say you should not have this as a contractor but I still have it there, I have played sport internationally and currently coach a GB team so it is worth bragging about)

Contact details.

The cv comes in at about 5 pages but the summaries etc are all on the first page.

[northernladuk]

What I have taken to doing is a brief skills summary at the end of each gig in my employment history, literally just key words of the skills (including soft skills) used on each project as this also give the bonus of letting pimps know WHEN you last used a skill.

ie:



Rinse and repeat

I hope you did a lot of rinsing before repeating on that gig!!!

[cykophysh39]

Usage time is a bit of a waste of time!
To my mind that smacks of a bit of "Graduate" contractor, trying to prove he's used a skill.

I generally only place something in my skills summary if I am proefficient at something, that way I know I can pass an interview test on it! :-)

[SimonMac]

What I have taken to doing is a brief skills summary at the end of each gig in my employment history, literally just key words of the skills (including soft skills) used on each project as this also give the bonus of letting pimps know WHEN you last used a skill.

ie:

Jan 2011 - Nov 2012
Arse Ticklers Faggots Fan Club Ltd - London
Penetration Tester

• I did this
• And this
• Which achived this

Skills Used: Automation Testing, Load Testing, Project Management, Scripting, .NET

Rinse and repeat

[Scrag Meister]

I have a section "skills summary", separate to my personal summary at the top of my CV.

I highlight my main skillset in the "top summary" but everything I've used and can be used again is game in the "skills summary".

[Doggy Styles]

You can't put too much in a summary or it ceases to be a summary.

I just list skills as one or two word items. If it spikes their interest they'll read on.

[sbakoola]

On your CV (at the top) do you put a summary of technical skills with 'actual' usage time of those skills; essentially giving a hiring manager a quick summary of your skill set or do you not bother with that and instead incorporate your skill set into the brief description for each previous contract on your CV ?

I was just wondering because I think in the past I am suspecting that some managers and recruitment agents have not even bothered reading or considering my CV because of a lack of summary.