Work Experience
The next section is Work Experience. If you have limited experience in the particularly field you’re looking to work in, you can put any professional experience you have. Once you have more relevant experience, you can replace it.
We recommend you stick to 3 bullet points, and trying to follow the CAR framework where you can (Context, Action, Reflection).
This framework is particularly effective as it ensures you effectively communicate how you impacted the company you worked at. Companies are hiring to receive a return on investment, so they want to know that you will be impactful while you’re there. This is why your CV must be results orientated.
Let’s demonstrate the effectiveness of the CAR Format by comparing two CVs
From these two examples, we can clearly see that the example using the CAR technique improved their descriptions because:
- Context : There is a clear story being shared. We understand the context of their work, building an analytics tool working with financial data and why it was important ( best execution for clients )
- Action: We see exactly how they achieved their object by taking a specific action. They developed an algorithm and time-series graphs to see the best/worst performing currencies. On top of that, we clearly see how they achieved their objective with the programming tools they used.
- Result: There is a clear result from the work they’ve done. They made a deduction that one data provider had 19.2% better data ensuring competitive pricing for clients, showcasing how their analytics tool served the organisations needs. This shows that thsi candidate can develop tools that create tangible impact, allowing them to stand out as a candidate.
- Note: Please avoid using made up numbers for the sake of illustrating impact. Not every result has to be numerical, and it can be very obvious when you’ve fabricated the number to “boost” your CV, and you may called out on it.
As we can see, the main difference between the two example are specifics. In example 1, you’re not really sure exactly what the candidate did and why it was important. In example 2, we fully understand what the candidate did, and the work is domain-specific. In this case, we can clearly tell this experience was a financial project ( analysing foreign exchange market data ).
A question you can ask yourself to see if you’re descriptions are generic or specific is:
“Is the content on my CV sufficiently detailed to the extent that no other student would have the same exact content?”
In example 1, it’s very likely another student at a technology company worked on a data science project to measure data accuracy for their team since it’s a very generic example. In example 2, its very unlikely that another student worked on an analytics tool, specifically to compare data accuracy from 2 external FX market data providers to ensure best execution for clients.
Lastly experience does not need to necessarily be a formal internship or work experience program. It could be a hackathon, a competition, an insight day, a mentoring program, retail job etc. As long as you gained tangible experience and drove impact, you can include it on your CV.
However, we do recommend if you’re applying for a technical role and have no technical experience, put your Technical Projects section before your Work Experience section.