The content of an IT contractor’s CV will vary in some points to someone working as a permanent employee. For an IT contractor, the resume is a reference for their business and aptitude. It shows their skills and experience and provides contact details. It can be seen as a more in-depth business card. So, be wary of the common mistakes and look at the tips we have for you.
Presentation
As said earlier, your CV represents your business. It is crucial to think of how it looks before even starting. You don’t need to insert much design or do something creative. Your CV should catch the attention, be easy to read and have plenty of white space. Divide it into paragraphs and keep it uniform in terms of font, size and writing.
The format of your document matters. Most of the time, you will apply for or hear about jobs via recruiters. They will attach your CV to their cover sheet. Word is the preference for many as it is easier to keep your style and amend it if needed.
Common Mistakes with presentation
- One-block type CVs with barely a line between each role are not appealing. The look of your resume should be considered as an invitation to get to know you. With those types of mistakes, you may turn the reader off. Remember, the reader can be your next potential client or/and representative, so this is not ideal.
- Badly formatted CV. It is common to find CVs with random skills or phrases that are put in bold, italic and underlined here and there – in a way that makes no sense to the reader. It is easy to understand your view; you are drawing attention to what you believe are the highlights of your projects. However, it ruins the aesthetics of your CV. The reader will always find out why they have your CV and skills without you needing to highlight them like this.
- Full of mistakes CV. This is more about the content. You will probably make a mistake in your CV; it happens to everyone. However, it becomes annoying when there is more than one mistake, which happens frequently. It could be due to a lack of attention, dyslexia, writing in a foreign language, etc. You can start by reviewing the document using the spell checker built into your software to avoid them. You can also use another tool, such as Grammarly (or any free alternative), and ask someone else to proofread it.
Content
In terms of the content, recruiters would advise you to a maximum of four pages even if you have been working for years with many companies. For graduates or young professionals, don’t worry; if everything fits onto one or two pages, that’s fine too.
It is better that you keep concise and showcase the IT skills that apply to a particular role rather than filling pages just for the sake of it.
To help you reduce the length of your resume, you should focus only on the latest jobs that are most relevant. Your other jobs can be summarised or listed. It could be a good idea to clarify the nature of the roles, whether they are contract or permanent employment if that seems ambiguous on your CV.
Creating a table or a list of your skills, followed by the number of years/ months you have been using them, would also help shorten your CV. It is also clear and practical for the reader. Clients will often have a precise idea of the contractor they want to bring on, and having the information presented to them in this way can be a big help.
If you want to focus on one sector or technology, then repetition will be your friend. What I mean by that is that recruiters or HR managers who receive many applications for a job will spend less than ten seconds on your CV; it has to be catchy. Mentioning the technologies you want to work on will attract them.
Common Mistakes with Content:
- Confusion between a CV and a book. Sometimes recruiters are presented with CVs that are 8 to 16 pages long. The common mistake in those is that the candidate has given a (long) detailed explanation of their role every time they finish a new one, without amending their previous employments. Focus only on the latest experiences and be briefer on the old ones.
- Missing contact details on your CV. Please, make sure to provide a valid phone number and email address. We want to be able to contact you. However, we will rarely contact you by post, so you can remove your postal address from your CV, leaving only the name of the city.
At Agile Recruit, we specialise in IT and Data Analytics recruitment. Our team is here to recruit and consult. If you have any queries about your CV, our latest jobs available or how to set up your company, contact us!
