When candidates commence the process of looking for a new position, very often the prospect of preparing a CV is the most challenging obstacle for a multitude of reasons.
The CV is the first impression that many clients are going to utilise and formulate an initial opinion about you as a candidate. Many candidates simply do not place enough emphasis or focus upon this task and with a little investment of time and careful planning, it genuinely can mean the difference between getting the first interview or not even getting the chance to speak with the potential employer.
As a result there are a few key steps that will enable you to prepare a strong CV which effectively displays your credentials for a client to see, these are as follows:
Be prepared.
Before embarking on the construction of your CV, make sure that you have all of the information about your employment and education and just as importantly the accurate dates that accompany these periods at your disposal. Ensure that these are absolutely correct and then start to go over in your mind or on paper exactly what your function was and what benefit you brought to the department that you were working for. This truly is key, very often Architects and Developers overlook the commercial benefit of the work that they perform and it is genuinely vital that you can identify and document what tangible benefit you brought to the company that employed you.
Compose your CV with your intended audience in mind.
It may very well be the case that potentially the people reading your CV will not be as technically experienced as you and as such may struggle with some of the terminology that is presented to them. They will however, be very interested in your programming experience, ie how many years you have been doing it, with what languages, what projects you have worked on etc and this is what is considered the most vitally important information. As such, ensure that the CV is written with the key information displayed clearly, concisely but effectively so that the intended recipient get's the information that they need as efficiently as possible.
3: Proof read your material.
With the technology available when constructing a CV there genuinely can be no excuse for spelling mistakes or basic grammatical errors. Please take the time to check things over, even if it delays you in sending the CV to us as we would much rather be in possession of the final draft as opposed to a potential work in progress. Of course as a recruitment consultancy it is our responsibility to make sure these errors are identified however we also formulate opinions of candidates based on the information presented to us in a CV and it does demonstrate a minimum level of professionalism when it comes down to getting these basic factors correct.
4: Tailor your CV to appeal to the intended recipient.
Every candidate is different and so is every client. They have different products / services, corporate objectives and reputations and as such it is vital advice to make sure that you present the information that you think is the most relevant and will demonstrate your personal profile in the most positive light. For example, if you are applying for a role with an IT consultancy, they will want to know which projects you have worked on previously and also how many hours you spent out on client site in the past 12 months. However, should you be applying for a role for a software manufacturer then they will be interested in your technical expertise in relation to how you could positively impact their department and how it would make a difference to their product or service portfolio.
For further assistance in this area please speak to your point of contact at Stirling Global Ltd and they would be able to assist you in this capacity.