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What do you want to do?

If your CV is vague, it's likely to get rejected

I've been screening a lot of developer/architect CVs recently and I have to say that it's getting harder to actually determine which candidates I (and others) think are going to be above average. The two main reasons for this are that most developer CVs now look like the same vast array of buzzwords and also, so many CVs are just too vague.

While there are some great ways to make your CV stand-out from the crowd (this is a good example), there are a couple of really simple things you can do to make sure that anybody reviewing your CV has enough information to make an informed decision.

  1. State exactly what your role was on your previous projects : the purpose of and technologies used in the project *are* interesting, but I want to know exactly what your role and responsibilities were.
  2. State exactly what you want to do : saying that you're capable of everything from hands-on development through to strategic consulting is all very well, but if you don't tell me what you want to do, I won't be able to visualise the right role and career path for you.

If your CV is vague, it's likely to get rejected.

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Posted by Simon Brown on 20 July 2007 09:56:00 BST #


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Re: What do you want to do?

Comment from David Hayes on 20 July 2007 17:44:35 BST #
It's more complex than that. You need the vast array of buzzwords to get through the filters stupid recruitment companies use. You also need to demonstrate a reasonable career path from newbie to whatever you are now. The problem I find (after 10 years) is trying to squeeze all this into 2 pages. I'm a recent convert to the covering letter as away to explain the points you raise above. The CV (resume) and interview are a terrible way of selecting people for employment, shame nobody has come up with much better
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Re: What do you want to do?

Comment from Simon Brown on 23 July 2007 22:06:42 BST #
Do you think 2 pages is the optimum CV length?
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Re: What do you want to do?

Comment from David Hayes on 23 July 2007 22:21:12 BST #
It's certainly what I aim for. I think 1-3 pages is the right range but I think briefer is better as a rule. If I'm stretching on to 3 pages I can usually trim some detail from older jobs (who really cares what I was doing 10 years ago?) to get back down to 2
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Re: What do you want to do?

Comment from Lee on 27 July 2007 15:50:57 BST #

Its a dilemma. CVs are an extremely poor way of conveying what a person is really capable of.

Perhaps the best approach is to build a strong relationship with a preferred agency, and allow them to perform the screening process using a carefully prepared set of criterion. Of course, a few good peeps might slip through, but you might end up finding someone with a relatively poor looking CV, but that has an incisive mind, and communicates better through more verbose means than is acceptable with a CV.


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