August 24, 2020

12 tips to supercharge your CV and Cover Letter

7 min read

Getting your CV and cover letter to stand out is a bugbear for many when looking for a job in the IT industry. A stock standard CV and cover letter is not going to cut it nowadays.

It is important to understand what tech employers, hiring managers and recruiters are really looking for amongst their piles of resumes and cover letters. We’ve put together our top tips on how to supercharge your CV and cover letter to help you stand out from the crowd.

Get selective – hit that delete button if these four things feature in your CV/cover letter

Focus on facts and edit the fluff

The first step to improving your CV or cover letter is simple – get rid of the fluff you don’t need. Look at your CV/cover letter critically; what makes you sound awesome and hireable? And what will likely appear on the majority of other candidates’ applications? Remember, an IT recruiter will probably only spend 10-15 seconds per CV, unless one stands out. Make their job easier by only including skills and experience relevant to the opportunity at hand.

Say goodbye to a list of generic skills

If it’s a skill that’s expected of you, or that everyone else has, consider removing it. Some skills make you sound unique, whereas others sound like they’ve been copied and pasted from a generic resume template. Being proficient at Microsoft Word or Excel is not particularly ground-breaking in this day and age! Mention skills that are interesting, different and special – niche knowledge is your friend.

Delete the vague professional jargon

“Team player”, “results driven” and “good communicator” are examples of skills we often see sprinkled through resumes. Instead, use lively language and specific examples to explain how you use these skills in the workplace. Sure, you might be a great communicator, but how have you demonstrated this? Include action verbs and measurable quantities like “managed fifteen team members”, or “developed a process that decreased deployment risk by 50%.” Prove why that skill deserves a place on your CV/cover letter.

Rethink the “objective statement”

Unless you have just finished studying and are on the hunt for a graduate IT job, or are changing careers, the objective statement should be left out. In these scenarios, an objective shows the recruiter that you have drive and passion for a certain field, even if you have no prior experience. In most other instances, the objective statement hinders more than helps! An employer may misinterpret your objective statement, and assume you’re only interested in a very specific job role – meaning you miss out on other rewarding positions. Remove the objective from your CV and see what opportunities come your way.

Think of your CV as a highlight reel. Keep everything relevant, interesting and unique.

Focus on the wildly important – four game changer things to include in your CV/cover letter

We’ve told you what not to include, so what do you need to mention in your CV and cover letter?

Open your cover letter by addressing a pain point.

Why is the company hiring? It’s usually because they need a new employee to solve a particular pain point. The job description will give you an insight into why they are looking for a new person, and the opening few sentences of your cover letter should address that. It’s as if you are answering their call for help – focus on how you could make an immediate impact in the role, not just on how much you want the job.

Your project portfolio is your new best friend.

The saying “a picture speaks a thousand words” is the driving logic here – present your skills in a visual way. Include examples of recent projects you’ve worked on, or add a link to your personal website. Having actual work to support the skills/experience mentioned in your CV is a great selling point. If you’re “fresh” to the IT market, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show off your skills! Feature examples from course projects, content you’ve learned in class or any interesting discoveries you made during your studies.

Include your tech extracurriculars.

Put time aside for your professional development outside of work or your studies. Watch webinars, attend industry meetups or learn a new coding language – and document all of these efforts on your CV! Employers love to see candidates working hard to step up their game. Taking initiative to develop your IT skills outside of your work/study time shows you have a genuine passion for your work.

Showcase your accomplishments.

Simply listing out the functions of previous roles/courses doesn’t show your potential employer where you added value. Instead, demonstrate where you made a tangible impact in previous roles; to the processes, workplace culture or the tech itself. Avoid being vague – use actual numbers to support your examples. If a new process you implemented increased overall productivity by 60%, sing your praises and make the recruiter want to follow up with you.

Change your tune – tailor your CV/cover letter for the tech industry using these four techniques

We shared some great hacks to smash your CV/cover letter out of the park. Read our four quick tips below to finish of your new and improved CV!

Check out some of our other tips on how to write a cover letter:

Speak the same language as the company

Do a bit of research prior to applying for the job and customise your CV/cover letter accordingly. Look for insights into the company’s culture and their values. If the company seems to value creativity and lateral thinking, be sure to weave these values throughout your job application. Employers aren’t only looking for someone with a technical skill set, they will also consider your “fit” with the company’s culture.

Be specific to beat the bots

IT recruitment can be a tough gig. Managing the application process is a hefty task for many businesses, and more employers are relying on automated online application systems to assist. The systems filter through CVs, by searching for keywords and phrases. The CVs the system deems most relevant are then sent to the employer for review. There are some great tips and tricks on how to beat the robots, increasing your chances of getting your CV in front of an actual pair of eyes! A quick tactic is to include keywords in your CV/cover letter that are relevant to the job on offer. Rather than writing “coding” as a skill, use “HTML” or “CSS” instead – the robot will pick it up and your chances of landing that dream job are greatly improved!

Stay on topic and use that job description to your advantage

Your cover letter needs to directly speak to the job description and relate your skills to the job at hand. While you’re writing and editing your cover letter, keep asking yourself: does this relate to the job description? Avoid going on tangents, or discussing previous experiences that are irrelevant to your ability to smash that new job. An employer will read your cover letter with a critical eye, assessing how relevant it is to the specific role they are hiring for – make it easy for them.

Take a look at your current job title

Use the information from the job description and if your current job title is too generic, add your relevant experience to your job title when you write your CV/cover letter. For example, if you’re applying for the role of “PHP Developer”, and you did a lot of PHP development in your previous job and your official role title was “Web Developer,” you can add more detail to your title to make it more specific and show your skills i.e. “Web Developer (PHP, MySQL, CSS, HTML)”. As long as you have actual experience in that role to justify the added wording, it will be allowable. This will answer your potential employer’s first question: can they do the job?

So there you have it – our top twelve tips to supercharge your CV! To summarise:

· Erase anything generic and keep the content specific to your skill set

· **Focus on the most important – how can you help the company?**

· Change your tone to suit the tech job listing at hand

Send your CV into Absolute IT and be the first to get contacted when one of our clients uploads a job listing that suits you. Our IT hiring experts can also review your CV to make sure you land that dream job!

Absolute IT

August 24, 2020

5 technologies that may help shape kiwi society tomorrow

7 min read

Despite our remote location, New Zealand contributes to the tech sector on the world stage. In the 21st century, almost all industries in the country have been improved in some way by IT. Kiwis have opened up to the fourth industrial revolution in their personal lives as well, being more engaged with Facebook than most of the world. Our minds are open to the new and different and we have a natural curiosity about the world evidenced by our love for world travel.

The New Zealand of 2020 is a greatly different society than that of 20, 30 years ago. Our distance from other developed countries is no longer a cultural barrier thanks to the global connectivity of today. While we do experience more modest economic conditions that can slow the mass adoption of technology into Kiwi society, we no longer lag years behind other countries in terms of knowledge and receptiveness to it. Costs are reducing and tech is continually prioritised by government and industry, as unexpected forces like COVID-19 enter the equation.

Our lives can be made safer and better by technology. The next 5 years will be fascinating to watch. So, what might be some tech that shapes NZ in the 2020s? We cover some below.

Transport

Transportation for decades has been a central role of NZ industry, from logistics to air travel to personal commuting. It is no secret now that traditional combustion engine vehicles produce pollution into the atmosphere. With environmental concerns higher than ever before, vehicle emissions are among the most-talked about factors in the conversation. Electric vehicles are fast moving from an expensive luxury item into the core technology countries and industry are looking to reduce the harmful impact of transport.

Electric Vehicles both at the personal and commercial levels are powered by batteries but operated and managed by a computer. The technology inside an electric vehicle doesn’t just move the car. Rather these vehicles are now moving digital hubs, connected to a variety of services. Just sit inside a Nissan Leaf or Tesla Model 3 and you’ll experience the ‘spaceship’ feeling many do the first time they experience EVs. Self-driving is the ultimate goal of the EV revolution, with many having this ability in a limited way.

Similarly, the commercial EV truck to move freight cross country includes technology like GPS and AI that could see efficiency of delivery maximised, as well as reduce accidents from driver fatigue during long hauls.

New Zealand society with the majority of users driving EV could make for a cleaner, greener country. But it could also help reduce accidents, prevent unsafe vehicles from being on the road, and even enable a commute to become part of the work day with automated driving.

The automotive service industry could start to shift to require more tech skills in order to diagnose and address issues relating to the complex computers found in EVs. This could offer the perfect crossroad to any IT geeks with a love for cars – we know there are plenty out there!

Health

Technology’s most profound impact to a society is arguably how it serves people’s personal health and wellbeing. Significant time and investment is made globally into improving health with the power of digital and data. New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has an excellent resource NZ Vision for Health Technology. This provides a glimpse into what our health system might look like from a digital perspective in about 5 or so years.

A feature of this vision is the access of information. Ever been frustrated telling the same story to 5 different medical professionals across different fields? Personal health data being captured digitally by health providers into one centralised place can allow all Kiwis to have visibility of their own health. Similarly, sharing of medical data between health providers can help support personalised, informed treatment and care. And anonymised group data could help inform advancements in treatment and understanding of conditions.

A data-centric approach to health by taking multiple real time data sets from various sources, will help our health system’s efficiency and effectiveness for Kiwis. Wearable technology and other personal devices can play a part in building your medical data, which could spot issues before they become serious. A virtual medical team and system could surface issues proactively, while still allowing the individual complete control and ownership of their health.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will play a key part in parsing data and identifying abnormalities which would trigger medical attention. AI/ML is a strongly encouraged discipline for tech professionals looking to work in fields like health, finance and anything else where patterns are important. But how about the data side of things? Health information is highly confidential but sharing this to medical teams, AI data sets and you is the whole point. This is why we expect to see a growing demand for cyber/data security skills across the country over the next 5 or so years.

Security

In fact, as technology enters into more parts of our personal lives, the reliance on security expertise will only rise. While smart homes and cameras have become more popular for some enthusiasts, the technology has not entered a majority of houses. As the cost of these gadgets like smartphone controlled locks, lights, heating comes down, we’d expect the ‘smart’ home to be more commonplace. As households rely on smart homes and personal assistant devices to get more tasks done, a need for network security expertise will increase. While convenient, smart homes and online security cameras – like anything on a network – can potentially be accessed.

Outside the home, our personal data is also being captured for a variety of reasons. As people become more aware of this, a desire for less invasive behaviour is emerging. Companies like Apple have put personal data and security at the fore of their recent messages to the public, updating platforms and software to remove, reduce or secure personal data away from others. We would expect that data security is going to be a continually growing field of IT, with businesses wanting to ensure their customers are safe.

Communication

2020 really has been a year of forced digital communication. Despite living in circumstances most of us would have struggled to imagine prior, Kiwis have adapted, moving our business and personal interactions to video conferencing platforms. This isn’t a permanent change but it has shown our society that we can still be productive and connect digitally if required. Talking to our clients and candidates, some have even found remote working beneficial and will incorporate this as part of a regular work week going forward post COVID-19.

For many of us, the video chat loses some personal aspects of communication in person. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are technologies that while currently most popular with gaming enthusiasts, present a massive opportunity in the business world to replicate the in person experience for more interactive online communication. VR’s mainstream adoption may rely upon a killer app, platform, or device (similar to how the iPhone triggered the mass adoption of smartphones). But once that is done, global communication in a business context will likely be transformed forever. We can see a future in which trade deals are secured, overseas projects are won and travel is booked all within a virtual space.

What does this mean for tech professionals? Yes, AR and VR are a slow burn, but the move into it is inevitable. Look into VR development including the platforms, applications and coding required. You could be part of building the future of Kiwi communication!

Agriculture

Technology has made its way into agribusiness and agriculture in an effort to maximise yield, reduce costs and increase revenues. As artificial intelligence and machine learning improves, its application within agriculture promises to make farming ‘smarter’. New Zealand’s understanding of the sector, combined with AI expertise, could see our country take a lead role globally in the evolution of agri-tech. Using robots, drones and data will likely become the standard over the next decade or so, with these advancements simply supporting farmers – not replacing them.

Artificial intelligence as applied through machinery or analysis via aerial monitoring can help identify and eliminate weeds which impact crops and reduce produce. Data sets can be used to predict and manage seasonal variance, peak harvest times as well as efficient stock management. Activity planning on farms can be improved by capturing weather forecasting to automatically adjust scheduling.

Skills in AI, ML and predictive data analysis will be in high demand as core industries like agriculture adopt these new processes. The disciplines under the umbrella of information technology allow professionals to choose an industry of interest to apply their skills to. There’s never been a better time to be in IT.

Are you upskilling in new technologies and looking to apply these?

Absolute IT’s clients (employers) include some of the most forward-thinking businesses in New Zealand. If you’re skilled in any of the areas we’ve discussed today, get in touch with our team for a chat about any current opportunities to work with companies that need your experience!