Preparing a good CV is one of the most important parts of getting a job, and it needs to be of high quality and specifically relevant to the job that is being applied for. Experienced recruitment agency Randstad Technologies is constantly on the lookout for high calibre candidates for IT jobs with major financial institutions. The company’s business contacts allow it to offer a wide range of job opportunities for business analysts, and there are business analyst jobs from entry level up to those with many years of experience as an analyst.
what a CV should include?
A CV needs to catch the eye of the recruiter and should begin with a brief profile summary that acts as a short introduction to a candidate’s character. In a few lines it should include the candidate’s career ambitions and the key characteristics that are relevant to the role for which they are applying. A brief overview of any experience gained in business analyst jobs will quickly demonstrate a candidate’s suitability for the position.
Recruiters will expect to see a list of a candidate’s educational qualifications following the summary, and these should be listed in reverse chronological order. The information should include the institution or institutions studied at, together with dates and course titles and, of course, the qualifications achieved. These may be a bachelor’s or master’s degree and, if a candidate has industry relevant qualifications such as a BCS certificate, these should also be included. It is also a good idea to include any A Levels obtained, even if the candidate left school some years ago.
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A list of previous roles should be presented in the same way as for education, with the most recent position first. Candidates who have a wide range of experience should detail the most relevant jobs to the one being applied for, whilst indicating any other work experience in the business analyst field. Keeping the job description close at hand will help to provide the focus and keep the information pertinent.
If including a section on hobbies and interests, it should be short and to the point, perhaps demonstrating an additional skill that an employer might decide would make a candidate a good fit in the workplace. Any additional information that an employer might find of use and that has not already been mentioned, holding a full driving licence, for example, can be included.
Employers usually want to take up references during the recruitment process, but if this is difficult because a candidate does not want a current employer to know that they are looking for a new job, adding that references are available on request can complete this section.
format and layout.
The CV should look good on the page, so it needs to be well laid out. Short paragraphs in a font that is easy to read, such as Arial, give a professional appearance, and using bullet points for lists is an effective way to separate blocks of text. The maximum size of CV that should be submitted is two pages of A4 paper, and all spelling, punctuation and grammar should be double-checked for accuracy.
