CV writing for the construction and engineering industry
Compile the Perfect CV for your construction and engineering job
Recruit the right characters in your hunt for a first job
The first piece of advice is to forget about the flash/gimmick CV. Don't use wacky paper colours, colour photographs and weird clip art to get noticed; The trouble with this approach is that it could simply mean your CV is the first to be binned.
The content of a good CV should run to no more than two – four pages depending on career length and experience and be divided into five headings:
First up are Personal Details to include name, address, date of birth and telephone number.
Next comes Education and Relevant training listed reverse chronological order. Some people like to include a personal statement of the form 'I am a team player, hard working, honest individual looking for a new challenge etc...' but we advise against this, saying simply: 'Who believes it?'
State all qualifications, courses, training and professional certificates you hold, this may be extremely useful in demonstrating additional experience and capabilities.
The third section deals with your Career History or work experience - again in reverse order (Most recent job first). You should include details of the companies, dates of employment and what you did there (a prime candidate for the use of bullet points). Bullet point all responsibilities and duties for the roles you have carried out (don't rely on your job title to explain what you do) Include information about particular projects you have worked on and software packages you have used in the job.
Finally, detail your Hobbies & Interests . You will have won the interview on the strength of the first sections, so try to include those interests that can be talked about later.
Most people find sans serif easier to read which is important as the only function that a CV's design should serve is to get information across quickly and clearly.
Once you've written your CV, and before you email if or post it, the final task is to check for good grammar and spelling, so make sure you use spell check on your PC and also make sure you haven't written it all in capital letters.
