A CV needs to be digestible but still stand out from the crowd… so what makes a good CV?

In this video recruiters James Allen, Luke Parkinson, Danny Arnold and Johnnie Savva discuss common questions such as how much information should you include about yourself, your hobbies, and your interests.

Will this differ for a Data role? Should there be more focus on project work? How your function fits into a wider team?

Check out our video to find out more….

Transcript:
James Allen
What sections do we want to see on the CV? So what should we make sure that is definitely included and what should we maybe leave out? For me, I like a bit of an about me section about the candidate, maybe a bit of an overview of them, work experience, the technology used, and then maybe an educational/ vocational section.

Danny Arnold
I’d say that they are the standard ones that you expect to see.

Luke Parkinson
I think for data I would, I would drop in there and say that it’s really important that you explain how you’re fitting into the team and where your responsibilities lie because a technical overview is not maybe as vast as it is, I don’t want to separate it too much because there are elements that are very much the same. If you start getting senior Lead/Data scientist how you contribute on the analytical front and that is slightly different.

So, my advice on that front would be, where did you sit in the team? How were you crafted? How did you impact these projects? Because when you stop going through the keyword run, it doesn’t say as much, maybe as if you were to say I’m a Java specialist or a senior Java engineer, and here is what I’ve done. There are elements to that, but Data Scientists, they’re using as many tools as possible to get the job done.

that’s the slight variation I would give on that. But I think everything you said there, is spot on. I would add in there. Sorry, I’d like to hear everyone’s vote I’ve never actually asked before; Photos, what’s everyone’s view on photos?

Danny Arnold
Well, I don’t mind the photo.

Johnnie Savva
I don’t think it’s a necessity anymore. Well, I don’t think it ever was, I would never advise putting one just because it has never been asked for by a client.

James Allen
I’ve never been advised by clients to make sure there are no photos on there. I think that one is completely down to the candidate’s preference. Do you want a photo on there or not. I’m not going to make sure they’ve got one or I’m not going to say I’ve got to take it off.

Danny Arnold
The way we present ourselves in our format, doesn’t warrant a photo, but receiving one, I do think it does make it stand out a little bit more. I don’t know why. It’s just because you can kind of see what they look like, A nice person to give you a bit of unconscious bias.

James Allen
It might Also almost break the ice for that hiring manager if they can see the person. They’re going to be I mean, we’ll go on to talk about it, but interview processes and stuff like that. If they already know what a person looks like, it might make that first that first sort of interaction a little bit easier

Luke Parkinson
It’s the human element.

Danny Arnold
But then the flip side is they will have a LinkedIn profile anyway, which has a photo of them on it. So there will always be some sort of image of them somewhere to be found.

Luke Parkinson
I think horses for courses. You two dashing lads… photo. Us two, no photo

James Allen
Yeah, we’d put the clients off. All right. So just to recap on our CV and what to add in; making sure it’s relevant, selling yourself, explaining exactly what you’ve done in projects and you know, the management task that you spoke about the sections, like the about me section, work experience, technology’s used any vocational education. And pictures? It’s up to you.