Strategies for Landing Your Next Contract Role: Expert CV Tips

As an IT contractor, your CV is the most important tool for selling yourself to potential employers or clients. It shows off your skills and experience. To help you craft a compelling CV that lands you your dream role, we caught up with Peter Geoghegan, a seasoned Senior Technical Recruiter at Ergo IT Resourcing. With over two decades of recruitment experience spanning IT, Finance, and Engineering sectors, Peter shares his expert tips to ensure your CV is not only current but also tailored to the specific job requirements, maximizing your chances of a successful application.

Have a repository of source material to use

Often, it’s a scramble to put a CV together or you are just updating a current or last contract to add to a CV that hasn’t changed in years. Keeping a source document with details on each project is a great habit to get into. Ideally you will add to this during or on completion of a project when all the details are fresh in your mind. Structure this using the STAR (Situation, Tasks, Action, Result) method. It’s a great way to keep the information focused and looks consistent for the reader. If you can include the all the applications, technologies, systems, and methodologies for each section this will let you search for relevant projects to tailor your response for each role.

Tailor your CV to the job description

For each contract you are applying for read through the job description and identify the core skills required. At Ergo, our IT Resourcing Recruiters tend to look for these core skills when shortlisting applications. I would recommend you have these skills listed on the first page of your CV. Use your source document to pick the relevant work experience required. If possible, avoid contracts or project with little or no relevance or relegate them to further down the list. Organize similar roles together, prioritize the most important ones, and include dates and durations for each. If you have a career with many contracts completed, you can put them in a chronological list at the end stating you can provide full details of each on request.

Testimonials

Providing testimonial’s relating to your past work is a powerful way to let prospective employers know that you can back up what’s on the page with results. Embed links to testimonials or quotes from specific managers in your document either for each of the relevant projects as you list them or in a separate section (which often has more impact). As with keeping notes on projects as you are working on them, the best time to gather these is directly after a successful project. If you have a good project completed, ask for an email of recommendation or a reference from your hiring manager.

Social Proof

LinkedIn is a core social media presence, a common source of job advertising and where recruiters, like the IT Resourcing team, turn to source specific skills. One of my tips is to ensure when you send a CV to a prospective employer or recruiter that it matches your LinkedIn profile. Mismatches on durations or missing projects are a red flag and should be avoided. In short, your CV should be a subset of a more detailed LinkedIn profile. Typically, recruiters will do a keyword search so the more information you have on LinkedIn the better chance of your profile showing up. Related but non-core information is a great way to enhance your profile. Posting relevant blogs or industry insights will establish industry recognition. A result of developing your presence on social media you increase your chances of being approached for roles not advertised.

CV Formatting

Often overlooked is limiting the use of fonts (I would suggest one for a heading and one for main text). A graphically intensive or distracting use of colors, fonts, images, emoji’s does not aid in reading. Unless you are applying for a design or graphics type role it’s best to avoid this.

If you’re uploading your CV online or emailing your CV to a recruiter, I would recommend you use a PDF format. This will make sure that your CV formatting is consistent. Lastly, review the look of your CV and make sure it is free from formatting, grammar and typos before you send it.

Mastering your CV is crucial for securing your next contract role. By implementing these expert strategies from Peter Geoghegan, you can tailor your CV effectively, showcase your skills, and stand out in a competitive job market. Many thanks again to Peter Geoghegan for sharing his expertise and top tips. If you found these tips valuable, be sure to explore more insightful blogs authored by Peter Geoghegan on the Ergo IT Resourcing website.