Recruitment Specialists
in Transport, Environment and Civil Engineering

A well written CV will help in your search for a new job. This is an essential career document that potential employers will use to assess your suitability, so first impressions count. A clear, concise and informative document will greatly improve your chances of attracting potential employers. It is also important to understand that a CV should be written for the position applied for. So be prepared to draft a couple of copies with emphasis on different skills and achievements depending on the post.

If you have been involved in Transport projects, it is important not to provide just a long list. You should include information on your achievements and how you had an impact. Employers are turned off by CV’s that do not explain what the person actually did.

The Mattinson Partnership will offer advice on how to produce a good CV. We have our own formatted version so employers are familiar with our style and layout.

You can download the template here

There is no right or wrong to producing a good CV, however, you should ensure the following information;

Contact Details
Full name, Nationality including visa status, Address, telephone and Email

Personal Profile
A short summary of your skills and experience. Avoid the comments about ‘working well in a team’ or being ‘committed and conscientious’ etc, as these offer little value to the CV. You may want to bullet point a few key skills that are substantiated in your CV.

Education
List the in descending order from the Highest Qualification. This section should include dates, full course title, Grades and Institution.

Professional Qualifications
Also include any Membership of Official Organisations.

Career History
This should include job title, Company name, dates of service and Location. Aim to provide a summary of your position and bullet point the key duties and responsibilities. It is also useful to explain the reporting structure and who you worked with. This shouldn’t be an exhaustive list but should focus on the most relevant experience.

Include project information with emphasis on your specific involvement. Positive language such as ‘lead’, ‘designed’, ‘managed’ help employers understand your achievements.

Systems skills

Any relevant training courses

Additional Information

Referees

 

It is important to remember that an interview is not an opportunity for a company to cross examine you, but rather a meeting to assess mutual suitability. The interview is a chance for you to present yourself to a prospective employer, learn more about the company and what the new role could offer. Equally, the employer is making an assessment of whether you will fit in, what value you will bring, and whether they can afford you.

Ultimately, the primary objective in attending an interview is to get an ‘offer’. Whether you subsequently accept the job is your decision but in any new search, it is important to have options.

The Mattinson Partnership will work with you at every stage of the recruitment process. Following our initial meeting, we like to meet again to help you prepare for your interview. During this meeting we will discuss the specific role, your relevant experience and also give an honest appraisal of how you perform at interview. It is a common fact that sometimes the best ‘interviewer’ rather than the most suitable person gets the job, so we offer advice on a number of techniques that will help to ensure a greater chance ofsuccess.

All the people we work with are intelligent enough to know the basics; arrive in plenty of time, be smartly dressed, firm handshakes, etc, but a lot of people lose out on exciting new opportunities through lack of preparation;

Following these few simple tips will make all the difference;

Research the Company; The Mattinson Partnership will give you lots of background information, but it is vital that you research the company interviewing you. There is no bigger turn off for an employer faced with interviewing a potential employee who knows very little about his organisation. You should investigate the areas of expertise, key projects, recent articles etc. Your questions should demonstrate a good understanding about the company and the opportunity available.

Be prepared; we recommend taking a copy of our formatted CV as this will be the same version for the employer. Bring pen and paper and be prepared to take notes. These will be useful later as a prompt when you have an opportunity to ask questions. Also, do not be afraid to have a few questions listed before hand. This demonstrates preparation and will help ensure you ask the important questions during the meeting.
Know your CV and be prepared to answer questions about your experience. Be positive and enthusiastic in your answers and focus on accomplishments and achievements. Think about why you are attending this interview and what attracted you to the post.

Questions; There are lots of books available on how to answer interview questions but fortunately you do not have to spend ages practising good answers; there are essentially only a few key questions that prospective employers need answers to; Why are you here?; what value will you bring?; will you fit in to the organisation?; how are you different from the other applicants? And finally, are you worth it? Your answers should always be geared with this in mind.

Equally, you need to prepare your questions for the employer. It is crucial for you to come away from the interview with a clear understanding about the job and the opportunities available to you. Do not ask questions about holiday and sick cover. We will cover this at a later stage. Your questions should help build a profile about a company and will also demonstrate to the employer the type of person you are. Questions could include; What is a typical day? What are the biggest challenges I would face in the post? What are the career / training opportunities? How does the company differentiate in the market? What attracted the interviewer to the company? Etc.

The Close; Too often people have a very good interview and then things drop off towards the end of the meeting. It is important to close the interview on a positive note; ask the interviewer if you have left them with any doubt about your suitability. If they say ‘no’ then you can follow this up with how much you have enjoyed the meeting and that you are very interested in the position offered.
If they say yes, then you have an opportunity to address any reservations they may have.
Either way, thank the person for their time and ask what happens next.

Finally; Call your consultant at the Mattinson Partnership and give him your feedback. This is a vital part of the process. From this we can help manage the follow up and hopefully, the subsequent offer!

Good luck.