This page gives insights on striking content-related factors in a CV that were gathered by a two-sided qualitative research approach, within the scope of a master's thesis (for more information see [Overview] below). The results are expected to be relevant in today's resumes, as well as in future resumes for young professionals in the technology sector.
Striking factors in a Curriculum Vitae 🎯
Educational Experience
Factor | Specified | Examples |
Practical experience in a relevant field | 1) Early engagement in the field of current profession
2) Internship/ Working student activities | - Start coding at a young age
- Founding a student club in university
- Be part of Business clubs |
Academic performance | 1) Outstanding university performance
2) Receipt of a scholarship
3) Highest degree | - Being part of the Dean's list
- Receipt of first class honors during Bachelor's
- Receipt of scholarship for postgraduate studies
- Hold a Ph.D. degree |
Study at a prestigious university | 1) University belonging to a accredited ranking (QS World University Ranking) | - Universities based in the US
- Business Schools in Europe
- TU Munich |
Work Experience
Factor | Specified | Examples |
Leadership responsibility | - | - Being responsible for X people
- Joining a start-up with only X employees
- Holding a leading position |
Experience at a scaling/ prestigious companies* | 1) Scaling company
2) Prestigious company | - Joining young company with hyper growth (e.g., Celonis, N26)
- Join established company (e.g., AWS) |
Advisory roles/ teaching experience** | 1) Advisory/ Board member experience
2) Teaching experience | - Industry advisor e.g., women in tech advocate
- Teaching students in universities |
Participation in accelerator program** | - | - Techstars, EntrepreneurFirst |
*information retrieved from expert-interviews with HR-practitioners
**information retrieved from successful CVs of mostly (co)-founders
Special Facts
Factor | Specified | Examples |
Supporting others | 1) Mentoring/ tutoring activities
2) Social activities | - Engaged as a start-up mentor, supporting other founders
- Mentoring other students
- Running a charity
- Supporting second chance education |
Special interest in a relevant field | 1) Publications in a relevant field
2) Participation in Coding Camp/ Hackathon
3) IT-related projects (presented on Github) | - Published in the area of current specialization
- Win a Hackathon
- Programming of individual app
- Show individual programming projects on Github |
Exceptional skills | 1) Mastery of several programming languages
2) Public speaking skills | - Python, R
- Speaking at TED conferences
- Participation in debating club
- Podcast host
- Student speaker at university |
Overview 🎡
... and do you have the CV of the future?