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Returning to STEM
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2.2 Your amended CV

In the next activity you will produce a revised CV geared to one of the employment opportunities you found in Activity 2. Make sure the opportunity is one that you would genuinely be interested in applying for.

Listen to Julie Thornton, Head of HR at Tideway, describe what employers are looking for in an application.

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JULIE THORNTON
When we're recruiting, we always recruit against a CV and usually a covering letter, and what we're looking for is where people have actually really tried to focus on what they have done and how that relates to the very specific job. So we will have given people a job description to look at, and it is really trying to match those two things together.
But we're also looking at other things, which is if you've got a large application pool, you are looking at some of the more basic things – typing errors, grammar. Is the CV well laid out? So those really simple things that actually can make you stand out very quickly for the good or bad reasons – so information that we don't really need is things like what your interests are. So it might be interesting to you, but actually, it doesn't tell us anything about how you're going to do the job or how you've done your job in the past.
So really, what are your skills? What are your experience? Very clearly around the size of projects maybe you've been involved in, the level of responsibility that you've had, what you have actually done. Sometimes, CVs have got quite a narrative about the organisation or the project, but actually not a lot about the individual, and we're really looking at you as an individual.
So my advice would be keep things brief. Keep them simple. Keep them clear. And really, always try and reflect back in your CV what's been asked for in the job description.
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Activity 3 Producing an amended CV

Timing: Allow approximately 40 minutes

Open the CV you produced in Week 3 in Word or another word processor; you are now ready to edit your CV.

Find the job description that you saved in Activity 2 and review the text of your CV, using the job description for the opportunity you have chosen. Think about how you might want to emphasise or minimise certain aspects of your experience to fit with the requirements of the new job. Decide whether you want to go for a chronological or skills-based CV. In either case, consider using a personal summary at the start of your CV to outline what you have to offer. Don’t forget to look at your use of language and tone.

Once you’ve created a tailor-made CV for a job you are interested in, you’ll probably need to review and revise this a couple of times if you are really thinking of applying for the post. Perhaps this has just been a practice run this time, but it’s likely to be the sort of thing you will have to do a number of times before you find the job or opportunity you want. If you do decide to send off this version, the next step is to create a covering letter.