CV writing tips all IT contractors should know Viewpoint careers advice blog

CV writing tips all IT contractors should know If you’re an IT contractor, you’re essentially running your own business. And, your CV is your most important piece of marketing collateral. It is a key tool to help you market, promote and showcase your unique skills and experience to recruiters and hiring managers. The amount of time and effort you spend crafting a focused and clear CV will have a huge bearing on whether your career as an IT contractor will be a success in the long-term. So, here are a few tips to help you: To tailor or not to tailor? 1. Your tailored CV If you are applying for a specific role or project, you will be required to tailor your CV. Think about it as an IT contractor, you will be hired to assist with a specific project or solve a certain problem; therefore your CV needs to be specific to the requirements laid out in the job description. It needs to assure the reader that you have the skills and experience to take on this project, hit the ground running and deliver from the outset. So, when applying for a specific role â€" put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager  or recruiter when updating your CV. What specific skills are really important from their point of view? What are they looking for? What do they need to know about you? This type of thinking can help when crafting your personal statement, which will form the first impression a recruiter or hiring manager will have of you. Therefore, make sure that it succinctly summarises you and your career journey in an engaging way that really speaks to the reader. Highlight your specific areas of skills and expertise in relation to the role and ensure these messages are consistently present throughout the rest of the CV. For more advice on how you can tailor your CV to a specific role, please read this blog. 2. Your generic CV However, more often than not, as an IT contractor, you will likely be directly approached by your recruiter regarding specific roles, rather than applying directly. I therefore, can’t stress enough how vitally important it is that you have a strong generic version of your CV to hand at all times. This version needs to highlight all the skills which relate to the types of jobs you are willing to  consider, whilst reiterating clearly where your skills and expertise lie. In doing this, you will broaden your chances of being approached directly for a variety of suitable roles. Regardless of whether you are tailoring your CV for a specific role, or you’re updating your generic version, below  are a number of overriding principles you  should follow when writing or updating your CV: Know what you can offer to the market Firstly, and most importantly, in today’s competitive IT contracting market, it’s so important for you to know exactly what you can offer the market, where your specific expertise lies and how, essentially, you can bring something different to the table. Once you have a clear understanding of what it is you want to represent, ensure this message is clear in each part of your CV. Keep your CV succinct You might have been contracting for 20 years, but you don’t need to list every single job you’ve ever had on your CV.  The bias should always be on your most recent roles and projects. As you will well know, things move fast in IT, and technology (and skills) can go out of date so quickly that even what you did five years ago, might be irrelevant now. I therefore recommend you simply include the basic details of roles you had during the early stages of your career (e.g. dates, role and company is sufficient). After all, you can include more information on your LinkedIn profile or personal website. Remember, your CV also needs to be structured in chronological order â€" starting with your most recent role. Provide detail on your CV where it matters You know your work history. You know exactly what you did at each job and on each project, but you can’t assume that the recruiter reading your CV can deduce all those great skills you’ve developed from a couple of lines on your CV. So, if you are looking for software development roles, for example, the recruiter will want to know specifically about the programming languages, tools and frameworks you have experience with, whilst this level of detail might not be relevant for project managers, for example. Regularly update your CV Get into the habit of updating your CV regularly. It’s best to do your updating towards the end of your current project so you’re perfectly positioned with an up-to-date CV to start applying for the next one. This will also  ensure all the details are fresh in your mind and you dont miss any vital information.  If you are on a longer term contract, then update your CV every three to six months. If you found this blog useful, you may also find some of our other Viewpoint blogs useful: 3 questions I’m always asked about IT contracting QA with an IT contractor 3 necessary steps to becoming an IT contractor 5 ways to ensure the success of your IT contract 3 tips for finding your next IT contract Six questions to ask yourself before making the jump into IT contracting Join our LinkedIn Group Join our LinkedIn Group to share your thoughts and stay up-to-date with the latest on business, employment and recruitment news in the IT industry. Join our Group

The Powerful Impact of LinkedIn SEO and Keywords

The Powerful Impact of LinkedIn SEO and Keywords Probably the best asset anybody can utilize today for a pursuit of employment is LinkedIn. Indeed, even the individuals who comprehend the reasons why LinkedIn profile improvement is so significant regularly don't use it to its most prominent capacities, however. Except if you work in an industry where SEO is significant, at that point you may not know precisely how to join catchphrases all through your profile. This is when working with an expert LinkedIn profile author can be amazingly helpful. Here are probably the most remarkable effects you can encounter when utilizing SEO for your potential benefit with LinkedIn. Take off To The Top of Search Rankings Selection representatives and employing administrators have a specific rundown of words and expressions they use while looking through online to secure the correct position applicants. On the off chance that your LinkedIn profile doesn't have the words to coordinate their standards, at that point there's a little possibility you'll be found. A LinkedIn profile administration can help you deliberately join watchwords in the correct places on your profile, while as yet making it stream normally. The outcome will be your name appearing higher in the list items, so you'll have an a lot higher probability of getting found. Join Keywords In The Right Sections LinkedIn can be dubious on the off chance that you don't have the foggiest idea about its intricate details. You can put applicable watchwords all over your profile, however in the event that they aren't in the correct areas, you may not receive the benefits. The areas of your profile nearest to the highest point of the page rank higher for SEO purposes, so make certain to organize those. The name segment, work titles, proficient feature and outline segments are the most significant ones an expert LinkedIn profile essayist will propose joining the most grounded potential watchwords in. Examination Employers To Discover Relevant Keywords So how would you know precisely which pertinent watchwords to put on your profile? An accomplished LinkedIn profile administration can be important to incline toward, however you can likewise do some exploration on expected businesses to see which terms they use. Consolidating a decent blend of catchphrases is in every case great. Nonetheless, you additionally need to ensure you're utilizing the ones the potential business accepts are generally significant also. Proficient Resume Services is something beyond an assistance that assists individuals with composing their own resumes. We like to be engaged with various strides of a pursuit of employment, which incorporates LinkedIn profile advancement. We comprehend an elegantly composed resume is just one of numerous parts of a pursuit of employment today. In such manner, we find a way to guarantee all bases are secured and you're fit to be found as a quality activity up-and-comer. Never dither to connect with us for help with any territory of your pursuit of employment.

How forest bathing in nature can fix your stress at work

How backwoods washing in nature can fix your worry at work How woods washing in nature can fix your worry at work Seven days prior, I was in the Catskills Mountains in New York, climbing up rocks and soil. It was sweat-soaked, calves-consuming work, yet I saw a quick contrast in my state of mind when I came back to the workplace the following day. I was progressively loose and less focused. Minor disturbances remained minor irritations. Traffic deferrals and cutoff times didn't upset me.Japan has a word for what I did: shinrin-yoku, or timberland bathing.We could all utilization more pressure decrease techniques like woodland washing. An investigation found that work environment stressors like extended periods of time, work weakness, and an absence of work-life balance include to $190 billion in social insurance costs. The Japanese have another word for what's in question: karoshi, or passing by exhaust. Alongside its way of life of working extended periods of time, Japan has the second-most elevated self destruction rate in industrialized nations.Nature is so successful a remedy for a portion o f the nervousness that upsets us, truth be told, that the Japanese government advertised woodland washing as a type of deterrent medication during the 1980s. Here's the reason: Under this topiary treatment, you draw in nature with each of the five of your faculties, so you can turn out to be increasingly aware of your general surroundings. It wouldn't really mean the sweat-soaked climbing that I did. In woodland washing, you delayed down and focus on the outside air you're taking in, and that cool bug, and the smash of leaves underneath your boots.Nature makes us more chill and less worried in just 30 minutes.Forest washing depends on antiquated Shinto and Buddhist practices and it's been upheld by science to work.Japanese analysts have connected 30-minute strolls in the forested areas to bring down circulatory strain and feelings of anxiety. A different report found that breathing in tree-based mixes like phytoncide improved cell movement in our insusceptible systems.In actuality, researchers have discovered that our skin can smell aromas like sandalwood, which upgrade cell development and recuperating. That is even more motivation to associate with nature and common products.How to counterfeit natureWe won't generally have a backwoods close by to escape to, however there are choices. You can begin little and stroll around your square and take in the trees on your road. City tenants can likewise go to their neighborhood stop and mosey around the synthetic scenes. Those littler portions of nature can even now have any kind of effect in our pressure levels.If you can't get away from your work space, you can in any case carry nature to you. A BBC Earth study found that watching nature narratives makes us more joyful as well. Virtual nature expanded members' shock, marvel, and interest, and diminished their nervousness, uneasiness and fear.The point is to escape your work outlook and understand that there's an awesome enormous world around you. As transcendentali st Henry David Thoreau once noted with all due respect of timberland strolling, I imagine that I can't protect my wellbeing and spirits, except if I go through four hours every day at any rate - and it is generally more than that - walking through the forested areas and over the slopes and fields, totally liberated from every common commitment.

Reasons to quantify your accomplishments for employers

Reasons to quantify your accomplishments for employers Reasons to quantify your accomplishments for employers Resumes Reasons to quantify your accomplishments for employers There are several reasons why it is essential to quantify one’s accomplishments. For example for a Public Manager, measuring his performance and checking accomplishments, it will help his superiors and the firm in general understand his capabilities and level of competency. In addition, doing so will help his employers in several areas such as overall control, budget, promotion and even help the firm learn more about their activities. courtesy of A.Brown unsplash.com Reasons to quantify your accomplishments The Magic In Numbers Specific numbers play a very important role especially to the overall development of the firm. Attaching numbers to your accomplishments helps define and measure your accomplishments better. With numbers to play with, it is possible to make comparisons, set future goals and even measure performance of the firm. When your list of accomplishments has a list of numbers attached to each factor, they start to make more sense. This also improves your credibility. For Contextualisation Purposes Quantifying your accomplishments helps provide a great level of context by helping the employers place the list of accomplishments into perspective. For an employer handling several departments, there are many employees to manage. With accomplishment reports from employees of each department along with the specific numbers, it becomes very easy to understand who to assign what task, with effect that overall productivity increases. For Efficiency Monitoring If you are an employer in a big firm, there are many reports for you to get through daily. However, if the reports are simply a list of accomplishments, then it becomes almost impossible to get through all. On the other hand, if the report quantifies the accomplishments, highlighting the numbers; it makes life much simpler for the employer and is also likely to lead to a more successful firm. Keeping Track of the Firms Objectives Many firms implement KPI (key performance indicator). What KPI does is help determine how well the company is doing at meeting it goals. It is common for a manager to set out a number for the KPI for a project. This can be used for several purposes including measuring the performance of an individual employee. Now, for a firm that does implement such a structure involving KPIs, it becomes essential for an employee to quantify their accomplishments in a well-defined manner. Gauging Company Performance It is always essential for any firm to monitor the progress of the employees and the overall firm. There are several methods to get this done. The best way to do this is by using numbers. Quantifying your accomplishments and placing them in a report can go a long way towards helping the manager gauge the progress of the company or firm. How to quantify your accomplishments? There are many advantages of quantifying your accomplishments as already described in the article. It is not only important to make the list, it is also necessary to make sure it is done in the right format. Thus placing numbers to important accomplishments especially when they stand out is vital. Here a few sample accomplishments that should always be accompanied with the right number. # clients acquired in the month of January # of files organized # of locations opened or closed # of people successfully trained # of clients managed % of client referrals # ratio of client retention Conclusion A list on how one can quantify their accomplishments would be endless. What is important here is to keep everything in context. For a recruitment firm it is important to know how many contracts were won and employees successfully placed. The accomplishments thus should be focused towards this subject. Another very important factor to remember is to use the right kind of language in a report. It is a good idea to highlight the figures in a summary. But at the same time use strong language while writing a report.