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CV advice 1

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oneintheeye

Structural
Nov 20, 2007
440
on a CV would you list actual projects worked on, value, what you did etc or just give general overview of duties at an employer. Worst case I am thinking of is someone from another organisation that the agency sends CV out to will recognise the projects and this person will know someone at the present company. I know some agencies do not modify CV's to resrict information on them.
 
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I did a lot of reading up on the web regarding resume techniques about 5 years ago after I first came to the states when I was looking for what is my current job.

While there was so much variation between them as to make it almost useless, one fairly consistent theme was the idea of giving specific examples rather than lists of general duties.

Now whether this in turn matches with what some of the folks here that do more reviewing of CV's for candidates than I think, I couldn't say.

You don't necessarily have to be over specific, for instance, you could say you worked on a certain type of bridge/building rather than giving the name of the building.

There are some differences between typical British CV style/format and US resume style/format (such as many in the states recomend single page) but I'm not sure if this is one of them.

Posting guidelines faq731-376 (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484
 
I typically list major projects I work on separately, but usually by description, not project name. I've reviewed resumes from others who list the actual project.

Either of these is fine, IMHO.

-mechanical engineer(did blah, blah, blah) for 2x1 combined cycle project in CA.
-mechanical engineer (did blah, blah, blah) for [Name Here] 2x1 combined cycle project in CA.

As long as you are honest about what you did and were nice to your co-workers, no need to worry about someone knowing someone who knows who you are.

Sort of a funny story. . .
When I was a first-year engineer, I did the home office field support/project wrap up for a particular power plant project, and the field engineer that I worked with was kind of a jerk and ended up getting terminated before the project was closed out. 7 years later, I was interviewing him for a position at a different company. He didn't know who I was, but I placed him because his resume had that project name on it. I didn't hire him.
 
Truth is critical, regardless of what you include or omit. Nothing more embarrassing than to list a project that you claim to have been a major contributor, only to find that the person you're talking to was the project lead on same project, and had never seen or heard of you.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
 
Before you give specific details you need to know who might see it. Head Hunters are not known to be any more ethical in general to used car salesmen or computer salesmen or siding or or insurance or financial advisors or whatever

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &
for site rules
 
In the CV don't cover any projects in deep. Under each company in bullet format cover the duties you performed highlighting the achievements. You can also list the best projects you performed under Projects Handled heading.

Product Design Funda!
 
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