Writing a Great CV for Your First Technical Role — Part 3
The Miscellaneous Section, Formatting, and Final CV Example
Welcome to the third, and last, part of my series Writing Great CV for Your First Technical Role.
In the first and second articles we covered, among others, the introduction of the CV, technical skills presentation, side & academic projects, as well as work & volunteer experience.
Now, we are focusing on the last parts of the CV. Should or shouldn’t you add hobbies and languages to this document? How to handle formatting? How to order the sections in the CV? And are there any additional tips to keep in mind when writing and editing this file?
These are some of the questions we’ll answer in today’s article.
Are you ready? Let’s get started!
The Miscellaneous Section
Some of your hobbies, extra-curricular activities, and traits could be very relevant to the CV. While not every hobby is relevant, it’s important to recognize and add those that do.
For example:
- Signs of excellence — whether in sports or volunteer activity — are great signals for future interviewers that you can be a great worker.
- Fluency in foreign languages may be relevant for your application. While English is the “high-tech” language, in many countries this isn’t the residents’ mother tongue, and the same goes for immigrants living in the US or England. So mentioning your proficiency level in English would most probably be relevant. I suggest using a known languages scale for this, such as the ILR scale.
- Engaging in an activity for years demonstrates an ability to commit and execute something for a long while without giving up when things get hard or boring
Good Example:
Hobbies
Taekwondo trainer at the regional Taekwondo center — 2016–2020
Languages
Native or Bilingual — English, Spanish
Limited Working Proficiency — Portuguese
Elementary Proficiency — Russian
Keep in mind — don’t add hobbies and activities only to fill in the page, especially if this is an activity you engaged with for a short while. If you add something to your CV, especially in the miscellaneous section — you do so because you believe it has added value when getting to know you.
CV Length — Keep It To One Page
The standard CV length is a single page, and I recommend sticking to it. Especially if you are at the beginning of your career, and therefore don’t have a lot of previous experience.
There are two issues with exceeding one page for no good reason:
- It shows you don’t separate the wheat from the chaff
- The more you write — the harder it is to highlight what really matters — the skills and achievements you want to be judged upon.
Even if you are making a career change, and have years of work experience (but in irrelevant fields) — I still recommend doing your best to stick to one page, and emphasizing what matters most.
File Format — DOCX or PDF?
How to choose? Here are some relevant considerations:
- Format consistency: having your format, design, file length, etc. consistent when viewing your file on different platforms is important.
PDF keeps your format consistent, while DOCX doesn’t. - Scannability by HR systems: some companies use automatic systems to scan the candidates’ CVs and look for relevant keywords. In the past, these systems used to support mostly DOCX files, but nowadays many of these systems support PDF files as well.
I suggest using PDF as your main format but always have a DOCX version on stand-by. When applying for a position — check if the required file’s format is mentioned, and if so — follow along.
Picture in the CV — to Pic or Not to Pic?
I strongly recommend not adding a profile picture.
A picture potentially exposes you to biases by the interviewer. Moreover, you are examined for your skills, expertise, experience, and potential. Your looks are not relevant to your application and should not take part in it.
Formatting and Appearance
Make sure the document looks clean & neat.
I suggest keeping the document elegant and avoiding extravagant designs. There are great templates in Word and Google Docs you can use, which are both neat and elegant.
In order to emphasize important buzzwords, you can use bold or italic. Try not to go crazy with colors and additional fonts.
- Examples of common formatting mistakes:
a) Emphasizing words extensively every other line or every few lines.
b) Using multiple colors in the CV. Headings can be colored, the content should be black. Using more than two colors is usually too much.
c) Using multiple font sizes. One size for the headings and another size for the content should do. - Most times, one of the “resume” templates of Microsoft Word will be exactly what you are looking for.
- Don’t go crazy with special layouts. I have seen “creative” layouts such as splitting the page into two columns, or multiple “cubes” along the page. Most times, these are uncomfortable to read and not easily processed by HR scanning systems.
Most of us, technical people, don’t have a background in design, and what may look good to us could look non-professional to the rest.
Order of presentation: The sections should be ordered both by date, where most recent is higher and least recent is lower, as well as by the order of things that are most relevant for the position you are applying for.
This article is mostly written in the order in which I suggest mentioning the different sections. Also, I usually suggest putting your experience (even if it’s “just” experience gained on side projects) before your education. This is so since your experience is what you will be mostly criticized by when applying.
However, if you are a student in a relevant bachelor in a prestigious institution with great grades — mentioning it relatively at the top of the file will make you stand out.
Within each section — order the items by level of importance — what sells you best comes first.
Final Notes
- Buzzwords matter. The automatic HR scanning systems look for specific keywords in your CV, which is why it is oftentimes advised to mildly edit your CV for each position you are applying for. Also, the recruiter who will read your CV will want to know whether or not you are potentially a good fit for the role. Include relevant skills, languages, frameworks, and buzzwords that would make you stand out and seem the best fit for the role.
- Make sure you have no spelling mistakes or typos. Ask for proofreading before applying with your CV, especially if your CV is written in a language that is not your mother tongue.
- Get feedback on your CV, preferably from people working in the field you want to be interviewed for, especially from people who are interviewing for the roles you are applying for. I suggest receiving feedback from at least 3–5 professionals.
- Don’t get caught in perfecting the CV forever and letting it prevent you from applying for positions. Set yourself a destination, such as feedback from X people in the industry, or a deadline day, and then start applying. No matter how hard you work on your CV — someone will always have an improvement suggestion, and at some point — those suggestions will not necessarily make a noticeable difference.
Last But Not Least — An Example of Such a CV
That’s it! We’re done! I hope you found this series informative and useful, and that you have all the relevant tools to stand out.
Now it is time for you to get to your document, and make the most out of it.
One last note — I would love to hear your thoughts. If you found these articles useful — let me know! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions — feel free to reach out for further discussions.
Cheers!
