Just recently started looking for new work, and this is my first time writing a CV since getting industry experience. I've got something that I don...
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Looks already quite good to me!
I'd remove the "Sales Assistant" job. I don't think it's very relevant.
If you are concerned about not having enough stuff, you can add a personal project that you've created.
Agree with @Arber suggestion: add a GitHub link if possible
Good ideas, cheers :D
It's quite a decent cv already, two suggestions though: I'd recommend to put a little more information about your education in it (e.g. area(s) of specialization, elective courses, cap stone project, final thesis - depending on how your studies were structured). And secondly, maybe you could accentuate which of your listed skills did you apply in the projects of your apprenticeship position. Good luck with the job hunt.
You might need to adjust it a bit but I reordered it & gave it more spacing/focus. The .doc looks a bit weird. Check for mistakes (I didn't proof & may have added some).
we.tl/t-wmeKwZqs7q here.
As a UK Tech Graduate:
Make it look nice overall but simple. Bold name.
Leave the number & address. It's expected. Don't put it online like this though (put fake).
BAE is worth more than most of the rest of the CV (good enough for them, good enough for us). BAE is very selective of it's grads. The retail job is optional but Brits like to work with people they get on with (high priority esp high up). If you can manage customer service, that's probably good. Hence left in for now. The people looking at your CV don't want to work with robots or idiots.
Long intro is a waste of time. There is a stack of CVs from 1cm to 2 inches (if printed). A simple hard hitting line to sum your levels up is enough. Craft it like a good post title but keep it short/focused. It's not about your dreams it's about "are you suitable?" (imagine 20% literally are apply for the wrong role).
Stuff in red is for changing per job.
"Hobbies". In general, it is not needed, but I like to have a line that says something about personality. Sometimes it will be funny, sometimes serious. It's optional but a chance to shine. Langauges. Unicycles, acrobat, bbq, food. Whatever. Match it with the job (people, not role) but stand out, suitably.
If you are going to upload it lots of places then spam it full of keywords & stuff. Read the tips out there to beat the machine.
Apply to a lot of places (hundreds). Always have an interview lined up while you are going to an interview. Don't wait between each (like everyone does). Doing this allows you to take risks, compare & not have emotional/ego related reactions. "I have another meeting with a trendy scooter sharing startup on Monday so can I answer on Tuesday? Now that I have been here I can really see myself here, everyone seems cool/smart/healthy/stylish but the interview is arranged so I should fulfil my commitment. Is 12pm OK? What's your number?". Pay raises, golden handshakes, better faster treatment. It's rare for them to say "ok, pass". If they do, pass.
Use "meeting" not "interview" eveywhere. Everyone knows you are doing it, but they also know you are reading the right stuff & can say "technical difficuties" not "spilt coffee".
A CV is just Tinder for HR. Be more swipable than the rest but imagine no one cares (the person looking is thinking "If I can find 8 good ones from this lot I won't have to fill out that horrible website again". Once you are past the CV stage the numbers get much better.
Once you have submitted, wait (a week or something, depends on the co. use judgement) & call them up (email if not but phone is more memorable). Mornings are better (11pm-1pm ish so their urgent work is done but not sleepy). "Hi, I was very interested in becoming a part of your company & was wondering if there was any progress or if your need more info etc". This works sometimes. Be bold & go for the dream companies even if you see no job listing. You can multiple times (depending).
Also, give out loads of good advice (read obscure tech articles & post) & making loads of tech social friends is a very good way to find good work if you avoid just chatting (add value).
Plus: Keeping it to one page!
Plus: Highlighting your achievements
Suggestion: Make your name bigger so it stands out
Suggestion: Remove your address, employers/recruiters/the world don't need to know this until you actually start the job
Mild rewrite of your summary:
I'm a full-stack software engineer with nearly four years’ experience in the aerospace industry. I recently earned by BSc in Computing/merit from Plymouth University. I seek a position within a highly-innovative and collaborative environment, where I can contribute my skills in Java, Javascript & HTML, level-up my existing abilities, and acquire new ones. I'm particularly interested in learning React. My GitHub (github.com/logdyn/re-agent) contains an example of my recent work in Java: a decoupled command delegation & undo/redo library.
I wish you all the best!
Definitely reads better, thanks :)
Hey Jake -
I think it's overall a very good resume. All of your skills and experience look great and I think you'll be able to find a job in no time!
Here are some recommendations:
1) I would make your name larger on the document to make it stand out. Keep in mind, you are going against hundreds of other people when applying for a job, so you want to try and get your name stuck in people's heads as much as possible.
2) This is very picky of me, but when I look at resumes, another way to stand out is by using a really nice font. Or at least a font that is different from your basic Arial, Times New Roman, Google font etc. This is a site I like to use: open-foundry.com/fonts. I know these aren't free but there are a bunch of free font resources on the web if you search.
3) Might just be me, but I often leave the summary out of the resume portion. The resume portion is simply to show your work experience. I like putting summary type of things into cover letter instead. Often times you can go into more detail and you won't have to worry too much about consuming space in your actual resume.
Engineers I talk to often get scared when I say this. Because they think their resume portion looks "thin" if they don't have much experience. All the teams i've been on - we value both the cover letter and resume equally (maybe even slightly more on the cover letter because it's easy to sense enthusiasm).
Also, the links that you have within the summary, like your website - you could include in the header alongside your name. I would probably remove your phone number and mailing address - nobody looks at it.
4) I would remove the "proficient with", and "familiar with" and just include all those skills in one line. If you are familiar with certain frameworks or languages, I put enough trust in you that if you really needed to learn more about it, you could very easily.
Anyways good luck on the job hunt! And if you need any further help, you can definitely shoot any questions my way.
[EXTRA] - When I was applying for jobs as a Junior, I would apply for a job and I would literally create a page on my website that was the cover letter for that company.
E.g. I highly recommend having your own website for this reason. If I was applying for a job at Dropbox, I would create a page (this link is just an example) - lukeduncan.me/dropbox. And my cover letter would be typed on that page. I know this is time consuming but when is a job search not time consuming :) My rate of call backs exponentially grew because the application had that special touch and I think companies knew I spent time on it.
Oh hey, someone else who went to Plymouth uni. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked.
Don't take this the wrong way, but my first impression was that it's ugly/hard to read. There's just so much blank space around the edges and you've used what looks like a tiny font. I know it's subjective, but if the person going through it has the same reaction as me, you're off to a bad start.
The summary,
have you recently graduated or do you have 4 years of experience? To me, recently would be in the past 6-12 monthsdamn I can't read apparently. Definitely highlight that because it is rare and sets you apart from the crowd. I would remove the links as they do add visual noise and add a section for projects and other bits and pieces. You also have phrases like "I’m highly motivated to learn" which don't really add anything. The summary is often what some people will limit themselves to so it needs to have a few hooks to draw them in. Here's a suggestion of what I'd write as a summary for you.Skills, do you need the distinction between proficient and familiar? And with familiar skills, is it enough to be on your CV and/or applicable in a job? I also notice that they're all technical skills, do add some soft skills in there. Coupled with the "I code in my own time too" from the summary, it does paint you as one dimensional.
Experience, pretty much the format I've used. Explanation of your role and highlighting things you've done there. I would add the benefit to each bullet point. Taking "Proposed and developed a new source configuration management strategy (using Git) for new and existing projects in my area", my counter would be "so what?". I have no idea what "source configuration management strategy" is in practice and how it helps a company. Does it reduce costs/prevent error/allow more flexibility?
I wouldn't mind showing you my CV and maybe it could help, but I don't want to post it publicly on here. Send me a message if you'd like to see it.
Looking good Jake,
As Nicola suggested Sales Assistant is not relevant, but you can make it, well you have worked for a year i guess you acquired some new skills, such as customer/client management and other skills. Just a title doesn’t mean anything if you don’t write something about it.
A “good developer” with client management skills is preferred than a “really good developer “
I'd just like to point out that the font used on this is head-hurty small and you may want to find a way to use a more forgiving and readable typeface.
That summary in particular is really jammed up. If I was reviewing a lot of applications I'd probably just skim this one and set it aside as it's not an easy read. Seeing a dense chunk of text like that makes me go "Oh boy" instead of what should be "This looks interesting".
If something looks readable, it'll get read. If it looks daunting, or if someone's going to need reading glasses to even understand what it says, you're fighting an uphill battle. Consider the reviewer who's already had to spend two hours reading CVs.
You have a lot of margin space there you could relax to open up some space between the lines and make it easier to follow. Those arbitrary indentations are also not helping at all.
That introductory paragraph is better done as a cover letter or in the email when you submit it. Let that section about your engineering experience breathe a bit better if that's the jewel you're trying to show case.
I just suggest one thing here.
Project section about what youre working on now.
Great idea, not sure how I missed that