What to put on your CV – Advice for Biomedical, Electronics, Mechanical and Software Graduates
What to put on your CV – Advice for Biomedical, Electronics, Mechanical and Software Graduates
As I mentioned in my last blog I wanted to continue my advice for the Graduates I met last month.
At Newton Colmore Consulting we receive a lot of CVs from graduates looking for their first permanent role in industry and notice quite a lot of them miss information the companies we recruit for ask us to obtain. Going via an agency means we will ask for this information but if you apply directly to a company, and the company have a lot of applications, you may find your applications being rejected.
So here is a quick list of things, I notice are normally missing, to add and a reason why;
- Your Degree Classification
No matter the level of your degree make sure you note your grade. Even if it is not as high as you wanted it to be it may still be high enough for the role you are applying for, also if you do not note your degree classification many recruiting managers will just imagine the worst.
- What Did You Do During Your Degree?
The amount of CV’s I receive that do not go into detail is amazing. Quite often when you make an application the first people reviewing your CV will not have the same education as you, so if you only note your degree title they will not know if you were working on hands on development, theoretical, computational, electronics or making a cup of tea while someone else does the work. Imagine you are explaining your course to someone you met on a night out, you would give quite a bit of details but to a level that the person will understand.
- What Did You Do During Your Internship?
This is basically the same as No.2, the people who read your CV were not with you and the company you worked for may not be someone they have heard of so give as much information as possible. Again, pretend you are telling a friend who is from a different course, so you must expand on the technical points.
- Do Not Limit The Amount Of Pages
I’ll often see a CV limited to one or two pages as they are told this is the correct procedure. Your degree and internship has been in a technical field, make sure you fully explain it. If your CV is three or four pages no one should care. However, if your CV is 12 pages maybe you want to tone it back.
- Hobbies
You may remember my last article “Hobbies are Important” (if not there is a link at the bottom to it), make sure your relevant hobbies are discussed in detail.
This information could also be useful for people already in work so please use it if it helps.
I expect this article to have some different viewpoints (especially on point one as more companies are coming forward saying grades don’t matter) and I would like to hear them. Please leave comments or get in contact if you want to discuss.
Newton Colmore Consulting are specialists in Medical Devices Recruitment, Scientific Engineering Recruitment and Scientific Recruitment. If you are looking for a role or looking for people to join your company please email me at andrew.welsh@newtoncolmore.com or call me on 0121 268 2240
This is a link to my last article – https://www.newtoncolmore.com/hobbies-important-advice-biomedical-electronics-mechanical-software-graduates/