Making my CV stand out

judas101

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice here.

I graduated last year with a 2:1 in Mech Eng from Bolton St.

I'm just looking for some pointers on my CV. I dont think its as strong as it could be.

As a graduate, my main challenge is a lack of experience.

Here's my current CV:

* Name, contact info ect. *



•Profile

Highly qualified Mechanical Engineer with excellent organisational and team working skills. Ideal candidate for position requiring drive, initiative, and responsibility. High energy and enthusiastic.



•Education

2004 – 2008: Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton St.

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering

2:1 Honours degree.

Final Year Subjects: Thermodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, Control Engineering, Engineering Mathematics, Computer Modelling (F.E.A.), Engineering Design, Mechanics of Machines, Mechanics of Materials and Professional Development.

Thesis

Title: ‘Modification of Gurney Flaps to improve aerofoil performance.’

Project involved:
-Design of five different aerofoil configurations.
-Assembly of prototypes.
-Testing the different aerofoil configurations.
-Analysis of data.
-Presentation of results to professionals in the field.


1999 – 2004: Ard Scoil Ris, Marino, Dublin 9.
Leaving Certificate (Abitur): 400 Points






•Experience

Summer 2007: Sabeo Technologies, Sandyford, Dublin 18.

-Secured work experience as an IT engineer reporting directly to the project manager.
-Liaised with clients and reported to project manager on all tasks.
-Successfully completed large scale data backup task on behalf of the Department of Agriculture using UNIX coding.
-Gained valuable experience working in a high pressure environment and under strict deadlines
-Completed other tasks such as database profiling and general admin.


Current employment: The Dubliner Hotel and Irish Pub, Heidelberg, Germany.






•Skills


Computer: Proficient in using engineering packages like AutoCad, MathCad, Labview, SoildEdge and Ansys as well as Excel, Power Point and Word.

Presentation: Developed ability to produce reports and presentations to a professional standard.
Analysis and Evaluation: Proficient in assessing data and formulation solutions.
Organisational: Effective at time management and prioritising tasks to achieve deadlines.
Laboratory Skills: Understanding of correct Engineering practices.
Interpersonal/Communication: Strong teamwork, leadership and communication skills.



•Interests

Travel: Widespread travel of North America during 2004 and 2008. This included periods of travelling on my own.
Sport: Member of DIT gym and play football regularly. Involved in coaching local primary school Gaelic Football team between 2000 – 2002.
Music: Accomplished guitar and bass player. Provided bass guitar lessons for a renowned music school in Dublin.

•References

*Two decent references*

Is there anything I should put in/take out of this?

Just a question, do you send in a cover letter with your CV? And do you follow up when you drop in your CVs?

It is very tough out there at the moment for any engineering jobs.

x in the city

thats a good pub in Heidelberg!!!

judas101

Yep, I send a cover letter too and where appropriate a scan of my degree and a copy of my thesis.

Its a decent spot alright but i want to get out of the bar game.

dahamster

Not a criticism,just an observation: You state that you are a highly qualified mechanical engineer and yet you have a 2.1 and no mech eng experience. This justed jarred on my first reading of your C.V.

I assume that your summer 2007 job was your coop? If so you can show your
ability to undertake a project and successfully complete it etc, the fact that it was outside of your discipline is not so relevant as the skillset that you have acquired through undertaking the project.

Rowley Birkin QC

Sorry for the slight hijack but as a fellow Botlon St. grad I hope you don't mind....

Is there a place on boards that specifically caters for this kind of thread, I've seen a few around but the Planning and Construction forum doesn't seem to be populated by as many planners as engineers in the engineering forum.

Cheers and best of luck in the hunt.

lumpwood

dahamster wrote: »

Not a criticism,just an observation: You state that you are a highly qualified mechanical engineer and yet you have a 2.1 and no mech eng experience. This justed jarred on my first reading of your C.V.

Noticed the same on first reading, its just a bit strange to claim to be a highly qualified engineer when you're most likely looking for a graduate position.

Agree with the importance of highlighting project work, any interview I've ever been has been mostly spent discussing projects I've completed (even just ones in college or on co-op).

judas101

Thanks for the responses so far.

Much appreciated.

The "Highly qualified" was in relation to my studies and not experience.
Obviously hightly qualified doesnt mean highly experienced.

I would have thought having a Bachelor of Engineering would put me in the highly skilled bracket but perhaps its a bit much for a CV for a graduate engineer.

Any other comments regarding format or additional info?

drunken_munky52

When I did my last CV for my current job, I drafted one up and like you put in plenty of jargon, used a thesaurus even and used too much detail to describe minor traits.

I thought it was great and handed it to my FAS trainer. She said "no, no, no", went over it with me marking off they do's and don'ts, making small changes here and there

Your CV isn't bad, but I would consider this a draft version. You should take it into your local FAS or enterprise board and ask for their advice on how you can sell yourself more without overdoing it. After all, as a tax payer you pay their wages!

Turbulent Bill

I'd dump the "highly qualified" bit too, no offense but you'll find plenty of grads with a 2.1 looking for the same jobs as you. It'll just annoy recruiters as they'll expect unusual academic qualifications or lots of relevant work experience later in the CV, neither of which you have yet.

Consider putting the skills section before the experience as it'll have more impact - grads aren't expected to have much experience anyway. Demonstrate your skills using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method, i.e., I was faced with this situation, with this task to do, so I did the following actions to get a specific result. It makes it easier for the recruiter to see the significance of the skills you have.

Good luck!

judas101

thanks guys.

ill dump the highlt qualified bit and the jargon and focus more on skills.

i live and work in germany at the moment so the Fas office isnt an option at the mo!

CathalMc

If you have the savings and the gumption, you can easily swing some experience by doing an unpaid/low-paid internship. I see "highly trained" graduated engineers in California doing that quite frequently now, and I'm surprised I haven't seen it being advocated on this board yet. You'll have a considerable advantage on other people in your situation the moment you find an opening, and the company you intern for is likely to consider you first when their financial situation improves.

I believe AutoCAD is offering free use of their software for unemployed engineers right now, so if you can think of any good personal, contract or open-source-esque projects to work on, this will also bolster your CV, and shows interest in the work.

Incidentally, the "excellent organisational ... and enthusiastic" bit is awful, I hate reading that. A lot of people seem to do that kind of thing - and I always wonder who wouldn't claim to have excellent organizational skills in an interview. I might instead - since your CV is short on content - elaborate on the final year and coop projects:

Designed prototype X using software Y,
tested configurations of X using test apparatus W and Z,
analyzed using A...

Also, some of your other classes may have had practical projects that you excelled in, mention those. And if you did particularly well in some classes, you might want to mention those scores.

2011

In my opinion, less of this:

Highly qualified Mechanical Engineer with excellent organisational and team working skills. Ideal candidate for position requiring drive, initiative, and responsibility. High energy and enthusiastic.

....and more of this:

Title: ‘Modification of Gurney Flaps to improve aerofoil performance.’

Project involved:
-Design of five different aerofoil configurations.
-Assembly of prototypes.
-Testing the different aerofoil configurations.
-Analysis of data.
-Presentation of results to professionals in the field.

I graduated recently and although I would lack the experience of many other posters here I did get a good job straight away (I dont know if this was due to my CV!).

Best of luck with the job hunt!

Kareir

Hey,

You could change "high energy" to "highly Energetic"? seems to work better when i say it.. could be wrong, though :P


_Kar

AARRRGH

judas101 wrote: »

Any other comments regarding format or additional info?

Your cover letter is the best way to make your application stand out from the crowd (I've been interviewed based on my cover letter alone), so make sure you sell yourself in the cover letter.

This includes why you are applying for that particular job, why you would be good at it, and a little bit about yourself.

I'd almost say your cover letter is going to be more important than your CV, as currently you have no experience so your CV isn't worth too much.