Writing a Curriculum Vitae / Resume – CV Writing Tips

These CV writing tips are specifically aimed at Construction and Engineering candidates, but we are sure that you can apply these tips to most disciplines.

If a recruitment advert asks for a specific type of construction or engineering project on your CV, make sure you include the detail of that project, no matter how long ago it was.
Yes, you can have different Curriculum Vitae /resumes to highlight particular areas of your experience for different roles.
You should always adjust your CV /Resume to fit the role you are applying for.
For anyone applying to a role. No matter how many years of experience you have, make sure your CV details and reflects exactly the requirements that are being asked for.
If you have the experience but don’t include it, you might miss out on an opportunity.

Things to avoid when writing a CV / Resume

Avoid the use of several colours on a CV / Resume. After all, you are not at kindergarten or nursery school and by all accounts, you should have stopped playing with crayons a long time ago. Curriculum Vitae with all the colours of the rainbow are distracting, and a little odd to say the least. It is just not professional, keep your CV in one colour.
Avoid the use of several different fonts on your CV – This is similar to using all the colours of the rainbow, but this can also be very distracting. Keep to just one font. You want your CV to shine and to be easily readable. The use of several different fonts is very distracting to the eye.
Do not randomly highlight or underline words on your CV, even if they are keywords. A recruiter or hiring manager knows what to look out for on a CV, so you really dont have to do this for them.
Avoid the overuse of pictures and company logos or overly fussy graphs and templates. Some recruiters use their own templates when sending your CV to their clients, so it is much easier to transfer a CV if you do not have these.

CV Writing Tips – Project Information

In This CV Writing Tips blog we talk about Project Information because this is very important when writing a CV for a Construction or Engineering role anywhere in the world.

We are often asked by our clients to recruit and hire for them, a construction or engineering professional with a certain skill or a particular project or sector background.

Clients don’t tend to engage the services of a recruiter for candidates that they can easily find themselves, so you can guarantee the requirements we get at Stafford Lawrence Ltd. are going to be tricky to find.

But what project information should you include on your CV/ Resume?

An Example:

We received the CV of an engineer for a Port project. Fantastic credentials, highly educated, vast experience, 20 years, alas, no ‘Large Port Project. Search as we might on the CV, there was no mention of any such project.

A less experienced recruiter would have put it to one side and moved on, but the CV smacked of quality and years of experience. We emailed the candidate, telling him that his CV was exceptional, if only he had Port project experience.

The reply was….. that he had Port experience! It was over ten years ago; he had been told only to put the first ten years of his work history on his CV.

There is a field of thought that you should only put the first 10 years of your experience on a CV, but for Senior level Engineering and Technical construction roles, we prefer to see everything. We can certainly assist you in structuring your CV for a specific role.

So, if a job role is asking for specific project information, don’t forget to include it.

What other things should I include when writing a CV?

Apart from the obvious, your name, but most importantly your contact detail. Include your contact telephone number ( if you are overseas include your country code too) your address and above all an email address. Don’t forget your email address should be professional, do not use that funny email address that you concocted at school or college, it needs to be professional.
You must include your qualifications, the date that you received your qualification and the place where you gained that qualification as well as information on whether it was a full-time or part-time degree or distance learning. e.g BSc( Hons) Quantity Surveying, Liverpool John Moores University, Full Time, 1998
You should include all details of your work experience. The company, the dates you worked them, the location and your position /title. Make sure you account for any gaps in your work history, such as a sabbatical, or time off for study.
Under each employment you should detail your duties in your current role, the projects you have worked on, and who you report to e.g the Director of Cost or the Director of Project Management etc. If you have the experience, you should also detail if you have had responsibility for a team/ staff and how many report to you.
You should also include any certifications or additional studies, or courses.
Yes, you should also include your interests and hobbies at the bottom of your CV. A Hiring manager likes to know that you have a life and interests outside of work.
Provide a paragraph/profile at the beginning of your CV, giving a general overview of who you are and what you do, followed by your key skills.

CV submission for a Middle East Role- Middle East Recruitment

Please detail in your CV
- The dates of your qualifications, your Degree Qualification along with the university you attained your Degree Qualification.
- If you are chartered, the date of the award, the country awarding, as well as your membership number
- Any other qualifications, please also include dates and Education provider
- Your Date of birth and Nationality ( please state if you hold dual nationality). Please note the retirement ages in the Middle East. It is becoming increasingly difficult to provide visas now for candidates over the age of 60
- A photograph. Preference for a photograph which shows you in a professional capacity, rather than a social setting.
- Details of your work experience, with timeline, title and description of role and responsibilities. Please detail who you reported to and how many staff you were responsible for.
- For Senior roles, detail whether you have experience in full P&L Management, staff oversight, and delivery of projects.
- Your vaccination status. It’s always good to include this as some countries do still request this
- Include full detail of your project experience, relevant to the role you are applying for. e.g If a role requests experience in the design of Dams, then detail your design of dams. Sadly we receive too many applications from candidates who do not meet the listed requirements of a role

Careers in Construction and Engineering- CV Writing Tips

If you are a Construction or Engineering candidate with Quantity Surveying/ Cost / Commercial /Project Management or Engineering experience at any level, looking for a job with a Construction Consultancy in the UK the Middle East USA Asia Europe or New Zealand, and you would like assistance with your CV or information on interview techniques and questions, please feel free to get in contact and one of our team will be happy to assist you.

Do you want more tips on what to put on your Curriculum Vitae / Resume? Please email our admin team at admin@staffordlawrence.com directly. Or follow us for up-to-date roles and information on our Stafford Lawrence Linkedin Page

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