How to create an amazing CV if you're a developer

The spectrum of development roles within financial services technology is, of course, wide and varied. However, we've attempted to give some general pointers on how developers can best to sell their technical skills without drowning recruiters in a sea of jargon.

As part of our 'How to create an amazing CV' series (which also includes M&A and sales), here's our advice on how to structure your CV and what to include in it if you're interested in a programming role.

What's below is based on conversations with financial services recruiters and HR professionals. We've included the basics on the premise that these are as likely to be wrongly presented as more complex elements.

If you work in financial services development and structure your CV differently (and it works), let us know by leaving a comment below.

Your name

Postal Address

Telephone Number Email Address

PERSONAL STATEMENT:

Debatable about whether it's worth including, but should be brief, and include details of your core skills, asset class exposure and your aspirations.

Eg, Object-oriented developer with five years' C++ experience, including at senior developer and technical lead level. Exposure to exotic rates and equity derivatives asset classes and excellent awareness of business issues."

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Important to include to highlight your technical proficiency, but avoid throwing in every technology, language or operating system you've ever had exposure to. Only include your very 'core skills matrix'.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

· Name of the company you worked for, plus the city and country you were based in.

· Your position and the business area you worked in. (Eg. Senior Application Developer, equities trading platform)

· Start date- end date

· Description of the scope of project involved in, budget, team size, time scale and exactly what you were asked to deliver. This illustrates the complexity and business critical nature of the project.

· Your individual role in the project. E.g end-to-end analysis, design, and development. Any business facing responsibilities? Any supervisory responsibilities?

· Technical environment: E.g. Core Java, C++, Spring Framework, XML, MQ.

EDUCATION: List post-graduate qualifications first. If you have more than three years' full-time work experience, list your experience before your qualifications.

Name of university attended, city and country it was located in

·If you're a recent graduate, add relevant coursework: Emphasise technologies exposed to during course, anything related to numeric computational methods, business and economics.

· A Levels: Only add A levels if you graduated within the past five years. Specify grades. If you graduated more than two years ago and have relevant work experience, it is not necessary to specify A level subjects.

· GCSEs: Only add GCSEs if you graduated within the past five years. Specify grades. It is not necessary to state subjects studied.

INTERESTS, SKILLS AND ACTIVITIES:

Languages: European languages desirable, but not essential.

Skills: Anything besides IT skills here, but certainly don't mention Microsoft office!

Interests and activities: Be brief, try to be interesting. Any blogs/extra curricular activities which could cement your techie credentials should be included here.

APPENDIX:

Undoubtedly, you'll be looking at the above thinking that it doesn't enable to present your true technical prowess or raft of qualifications. But believe us when we say that recruiters and HR managers do not want to scroll through pages of technical jargon, or every two week course you've taken, no matter how important you believe it to be.

However, it shouldn't be discounted entirely, and you should use this space to explain the full range of your IT skills and any courses/certifications undertaken. Use bullet points and restrict to one page, however.