CV - IT including skills matirx

southcirc

I am re doing my CV at present, I work in IT so was going to put in a skills matrix, is this a good idea and what is the best format for this


Cheers

Kazujo

I re-did mine fairly resently and I added a table listing programming languages, operating systems and other software of note. It looks alot neater than the lists I had before and is much easier to read.

Haven't actually sent it about much yet.

Trojan

I'm wondering about this section on my own CV. I recently had the opportunity to view incoming CVs (sans identifying information) for some technical positions. Some of the skills matrices were complex, untidy and disorganised. I'd be wary of moving away from a bullet point list.

My own is currently something like follows (but formatted):

*Skills*

<tab>o Programming: X, Y, Z, A, B, C
<tab>o OSes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

etc.

Post up a doc with your skills matrix (remove i.d-ing info) and lets see.

RicardoSmith

Tables are not usually not a great idea on a CV and personally I don't reckon a matrix gives enough info. Its not enough to know that you know Java, for example. You would need to indicate, your skill level, and some details of the projects you've worked on. You'd be better listing you experience as concisely as possible, with the aim of demonstrating your skillset. If you are adding the matrix in addition to list experience then I have to ask why? Is the information not obvious from your work history? or college project history.

Another point is that if you are using word you should use "Styles" and not spaces and tabs to align everything. Otherwise it will jump all over the place if some one has a different printer and thus margins than you. Even so all formatting should be minimal and used very sparingly .

WhiteWashMan

Trojan wrote:

I'm wondering about this section on my own CV. I recently had the opportunity to view incoming CVs (sans identifying information) for some technical positions. Some of the skills matrices were complex, untidy and disorganised. I'd be wary of moving away from a bullet point list.

My own is currently something like follows (but formatted):

*Skills*

<tab>o Programming: X, Y, Z, A, B, C
<tab>o OSes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

etc.

Post up a doc with your skills matrix (remove i.d-ing info) and lets see.

are.
sorry al, ive just been doing so much travelling etc that i forgot your CV!

i'll have a look at it tomorrow dude. hassle me over it!

as for matrices etc, im not a big fan of tables and chart etc in a CV.

just a nice clear layout.
in fact, thats probnably the most important thing in a CV.

as long as its clear, i'll read it. if youre eistein and you giove me a messy looking cv, its in the bin after 15 seconds.

damnyanks

Seems like a waste of space on a CV really. If you already have previous IT work I'd imagine you would have listed projects on previous work experience perhaps slip in a slight mention of what technologies you have used. This would at least cover you for the keyword search.

Then again it depends on the job your going for doesn't it if you have no professional experience with a technology thats required for the job make sure they know you are comfortable with it. But maybe you could leave that up to the covering letter