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Top Tips for Technical CV Success
The 30 Second CV Challenge
It is believed that a potential employer may make a decision about whether to read your CV within about 30 seconds of first setting eyes upon it; to make sure that your CV passes the 30 second test, ensure that you keep it as concise as possible.
- Lay out the information using clear section headings to make it easier for the reader to navigate down the page.
- Use bullet points to describe things like skills, duties and achievements. This ensures clarity and avoids solid blocks of text which can be quite hard on the eye.
Keep it concise
Technical CVs are, by definition, longer than average. They may include a section not usually included in the non-technical CV: that is the summary of technical skills which would be expected in the fields of IT or engineering. Therefore, the technical CV is often 3 pages long.
However, when explaining about your work history concentrate on providing just enough information for the reader to gain an accurate picture of your role.
- Avoid going into complicated wordy detail about previous responsibilities – simple and straightforward explanations will suffice.
- Where possible, use positive action words to describe your work duties.
Keep it relevant
Make sure the focus of the document remains on you and what you can bring to your prospective employer. Technical people are by their nature prone to go into complex, lengthy detail about a project; remember the CV is supposed to sell you, not your previous jobs.
Keep it jargon-free
- Don't be tempted to use jargon including acronyms, initials and technical terms
- Don't assume the reader will know all the terms and don't be overfamiliar with them yourself.
- Be specific and don't overload your CV with jargon.
You will find that if you try to adhere to these basic rules when compiling your CV, you should be well on your way to gaining that all important interview.
Good luck!
Click here to view a sample technical CV
To get further advice contact The Write Stuff www.thewritestuff.co.uk
