The CV

The CV is the key to a new job – the essential tool that gets you in the door of your dream job.   So, given that as Recruitment Consultants, we spend our days reading, writing and working with CVs, we thought it would be useful for us to give a little feedback as discussed by Naz, one of our Recruitment Consultants here at 100%.

I’ve been at 100% for a little over a year and I’ve probably read a couple of thousand CVs in that time.   There are some key rules that should be stuck to, but there’s also some myths too which can do more harm than good.

Check your grammar and spelling

The thing that amazes me more than anything is the amount of CVs we get with poor grammar or spelling mistakes.  This is your first impression and so spell check, spell check, spell check!!!

It’s also a very good idea to have a friend of family member proof read what you’ve written.

So key point number 1 – SPELL CHECK (did I get that message across!!)

How many pages?

2 pages or not 2 pages.    Well, we are in IT and we have done a lot of complex stuff with a lot of complex detailed technology right?  So the 2 page CV rule is valid for entry level to maybe medium level engineer or developer positions, but when you’ve got 10 years + experience under your belt, 2 pages needs to go out of the window.  Up to 4 is acceptable and preferred with the right level / balance of detail, and technical guide (I’ll come onto this shortly).   We’ve seen 2 page CVs which haven’t enabled the applicant to get skills and experience across, and we’ve seen 20 page CVs which just get binned as no-one can be bothered to read all that (it also says to the reader that you’re judgement is poor in submitting such a document and that can’t be good!)

Technical Summary

If you’re a developer / System Administrator or Helpdesk Engineer, make sure that your front page has a good technical summary on it.   Grading your skills can be good too.   A PHP Developer should have loads of PHP all over their CV, but specifically making sure it’s one of the first things the reader sees.      We’re forever saying, “why has this person applied for this position”?   You need to show us exactly why!  This brings me on to relevance.

To be successful, the reader needs to see that you are the right person for that position.   If I’m advertising for a C# developer, I need to see that clearly you are a C# developer.  If you’re not, why are you applying?   Maybe it’s what you aspire to do?  Tell us that in which case in an opening statement and also a cover letter.     Remember, HR depts often search key words, such as C# and if that isn’t in your CV, you won’t get selected.

Qualifications / certifications

Anything that’s IT related like a CCNP or MCDST should be on the front page!  As should an IT related degree, but generally GCSEs and A-Levels  can be on the final page of your CV.

I could go on and on – but check out our guide to writing a technical CV on our website.

If in doubt, give us a call or drop us a copy of your CV and we’ll be happy to help.

Happy CV writing and happy job hunting.

Naz Ali