My two cents on CV writing

CVs

Doesn’t the whole idea of CVs feel so dated?! A few pieces of paper determine your suitability for a job. Really?!

It feels prehistoric to me!

Although what replaces them? LinkedIn? Other socials? Github or other repository (for techies)? Video profiles? ??

It largely depends on the person I guess – if you’re confident enough to get in front of a camera and talk about your experience then sure it would make you stand out. If you’re anything like me though a) talking about yourself out loud will cringe you the hell out b) if you get over that it’ll take about 23 takes and several days before you have something that you’re okay with the world seeing.

Then the person on the other end needs to be up for watching a video. They might not want to or they may have limited time so may skip through it missing the most pivotal points.

So I guess the familiarity of those few pages of words is where we end up…

If CVs are here to stay let’s at least do them right! Here are 10 ‘bits’ that have popped into my head that will either be super obvious or possibly useful to you – you decide!

Don’t rush it and chuck out a sh*t CV – you wouldn't believe the number of rushed CVs I see with spelling mistakes, incorrect dates, grammatical errors etc. In this day and age with so many tools at your disposal it’s unforgivable and many hiring managers treat it as such. Particularly if you coin the phrase - 'great attention to detail'

Invest some proper time in it the first time around and then maybe make some tweaks as necessary as you go. Consider that the CV you make public originally will often be the one that goes out far and wide. I’m sure you’ve experienced that when you are new to the market there’s an initial flurry of activity which tends to die down. That initial flurry will typically result in your CV being shared with lots of companies/managers. If your initial effort is ??, then there will be ?? everywhere with your name on it. That’s bad because if you then update it and make it shiny in retrospect, some managers and recruiters alike will often think ‘I’ve seen that name, know the CV wasn’t great’ and move on. So basically get it right first time!

Don’t hide your tech skills – So many CVs I see have the tech skills tucked away at the bottom ?? of their CV. WTH why!? As someone who reviews hundreds, possibly thousands of CVs a week let me tell you that this is frustrating. You want to make it easy for whoever is looking at your CV. Tech skills should be near the top and clear.

Interests or no interests? – Pieces of paper devoid of personality make me want to cry ?? Then I see someone who plays softball for GB or is a rally driver or deep sea diver or organises a massive D&D night every month or has built a second home out of lego or has cycled from John O’ Groats to Lands’ end or has built a raspberry pi that makes raspberry pie or has raised a heap load of money for charity or reads loads of books. You get the picture. Guess what that does – it makes you a person. The piece of paper takes a human like form and starts talking. I’m interested and I’m going into the call armed with a decent ice breaker. No brainer.

What’s your order? Reverse Chronological please! DO NOT start your CV talking about that stint you did at Sainos when you were at uni when you’ve been a dev for 5 years. No. Just no. Recent first always please.

Detail – Please, please, please put your location on your CV (and locations you’d consider), and some way of getting in touch. Sounds obvious right. I’ve seen loads of CVs without this fairly vital info. Also, sometimes the job-boards will allow you to input all this info into a form which you think is easily accessible but the truth is, that’s not always the case. Just put it on the CV.

Personal statement – My opinion on them is, if you’ve got something decent to write then go for it. If you’re just gonna list a load of empty adjectives then don’t.

Involved? – Do you attend or speak at meetups? Or maybe you’ve got a shed load of github contributions? Or you’re a legend on stack-overflow? Get all this stuff on your CV. Rather than just saying ‘I’m passionate’ – you’ll be demonstrating it with tangibles! Also share links!

It's about you– Talk about what YOU have done in your role. What YOU have achieved. Prospective employers aren’t hiring your team – they’re hiring you. What have you built? What part have you played in projects? What tech have you used? What are you proud of?

Order or service – Fig.1 is, in my opinion how I would lay out my CV if I was a techie looking for work. It’s worth pointing out that if I was a big brained Masters grad, or had a 2.1 in a relevant subject or perhaps a PHD then I’d push education up before experience, particularly if recent. If I graduated 10+ years ago or hadn’t got grades that I’m particularly proud of I’d stick education lower down. Ignore the content obvs, all but the interests are made up.

So that's it - my two cents on CV writing. Would you benefit from a second opinion on your CV before you take it to the world?

I’ve seen a few in my time – feel free to ping it over in an email and I’ll give it the once over! My email is [email protected]

Good luck job seekers!