
What is a Cover Letter for a Job? Purpose of a Cover Letter
What is a cover letter? Unnecessary? A waste of time? Answer, neither. It’s a job-hunting must-have. Discover what a cover letter is and what it can do for you.
Learn how to create a perfectly coded iteration of your information technology CV. Packed with tips for an IT CV that’d put Bill Gates to shame.
An information technology professional CV sample is just around the corner.
But first, think about this:
Diagnosing system malfunctions. Quality-testing changes in the sandbox before deployment. Racing your co-workers in your rolling chairs when the IT director isn’t looking.
This job seems coded specifically for you.
You know you’ll excel at the IT job being offered, but how to prove it?
How to write an IT CV that will showcase your exceptional skills?
Don’t worry! It's as easy as plug-and-play. With just a bit of time and this guide, you’ll soon be talking about your professional IT CV at the interview.
This IT CV guide will show you:
Want to save time and have your CV ready in 5 minutes? Try our CV builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ CV templates and create your CV here.
IT CV made with our builder—See more CV examples here.
Looking for CV samples for other jobs? We’ve got them.
Henry Hoover
Ph: 0777 777 7777
hhoover_zety@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/hhoover_zety
Personable IT consultant with 4+ years of experience in a global technology firm. CompTIA A+ Certification. Scored region-leading QST rating based on internal review (98.76%). Seeking to leverage solid technical skills and abilities to advance my career as the next IT consultant for Linsang Group.
Work Experience
IT Specialist
February 2016–Present
Sunsync, London
Help Desk Agent
August 2014–February 2016
Call Centre Services, London
Education
BSc Computer Science, September 2010–June 2014
University of Roehampton
Skills
Certifications
Like modern UX catering to ever-decreasing attention spans, you need to catch the IT manager's attention fiber-optic quickly.
How?
With the best information technology CV format:
Got experience working in IT before?
Use the reverse-chronological format for IT CVs.
This format emphasizes your tech duties, work experience, and IT work history.
Recent work positions or current employment go first, with previous positions listed below that.
Need an entry-level IT CV format?
This time you won’t simply fill them in on your past information technology duties and job responsibilities. Rather, you'll just use your bullet-point entries to talk up any skills and duties you did have related to IT.
Don't have any professional experience at all? In this case, your education area becomes the topmost section after the heading statement.
Pro Tip: Save IT CVs in the PDF format, but check the job advert first to be certain a PDF is OK. Some Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) get jammed like an infinite loop on PDF formatting. An ATS functions by scanning your job application for certain CV keywords; if it's unable to read your CV file, they'll move on to the next applicant.
You hope to catch the IT director’s eye like a 1 in a string of 0s.
That's where an IT CV summary comes in.
The best way to write it is to answer a few easy questions:
Then the way you answer will differ depending on how much experience you have. So if you’re a seasoned IT expert, do this.
And if you’re just starting out and lacking in IT experience then use this approach.
Read more: How to Write a CV Personal Statement: Examples of CV Profiles
When making a CV in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building your CV here.
When you’re done, Zety’s CV builder will score your CV and tell you exactly how to make it better.
‘Wow, this is incredible!’
That’s not only what you’d like end users to say upon trying out any updates you push them - it’s the reaction you want from the hiring manager when they look at your professional IT specialist CV.
To get there, you’ll rave about the experience on your CV in a way which stimulates their senses like the next big thing in VR. Here’s how:
If you’ve held one or more tech jobs before, you’ve got a head start. Still, pick the best tech responsibilities that match the company’s interests.
Take a look at these IT CV samples:
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IT Specialist February 2012–November 2016 Sunsync, London
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IT Specialist February 2012–November 2016 Sunsync, London
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Never been in IT before? Switching fields within information technology?
No problem. We just need to find a way to show them that you’re worth your weight in Bitcoin.
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Help Desk Agent February 2013–December 2015 Call Centre Services, London
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See what we did here?
At first, having a help desk CV doesn’t seem too similar to a job in IT. But, we played up those duties and achievements which translate well for a CV in information technology - whether for an IT consulting CV or an IT supervisor CV.
Pro Tip: Take some time to think about your past jobs. Which areas relate best to having strong IT skills and know-how? Pick those for your IT CV.
The CV education section—a waste of space, like unminified comments in your style.css, right?
You’d better think again. The education section is a valuable part of the perfect CV for IT positions.
So, how to make an IT CV’s education section?
Two things make IT management sit right up: a flawless software deployment and a great IT CV.
So far, you’ve done a good job, but how can you make it great?
Let’s audit the computer skills to put on a CV and include the perfect ones on yours.
Skills on your CV for information technology are important, but only the right ones. Also, not too many and not too few.
Pro Tip: Type a bunch of your IT skills into an Excel column, with a number (1-10) of importance and relevance in the next column. Then, filter the worst ones down like a perfect query until you have the best 5 or 6.
How do we add just the right amount to describe your IT job experience?
First, make a list of some generic hard and soft skills to put on a CV for IT. Hard skills are specific abilities and know-how (e.g., Devops Debugger 5000). Soft skills are self-developed, life-learned attributes (e.g., people skills, adaptability).
Here are some CV skills examples for IT jobs:
However! These are good skills for a CV - for average technical CV examples.
But you’re not average, right? Don’t let your IT CV be average, either. To make your CV unique, don’t just list these generic skills relevant to all tech staff.
It’s time to browse the job listing and underline IT CV keywords that match their needs. Then make sure you choose skills from your own set of abilities that match the job requirements as closely as possible.
Read more: How to Write Your CV Skills Section
Contact info, got it. Experience, check. Education, Objective, Skills - yeah, yup, and yes.
You’ve got all the main ingredients, but it’s missing your secret ingredient: extra CV sections.
Extra sections make IT CVs more unique. Everybody puts their name, experience, and skills. This is where you’ll list relevant things that you’re proud of to really stand out.
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See what’s wrong here? You have every right to be proud of these accomplishments - hell, I would be. However, they’re just not relevant for information technology.
But which ones are right? Let’s go over some of the most popular additional sections for your CV now, along with some better, more relevant examples.
Helped reconstruct damaged homes after Storm Sam swept through? You are a hero and a saint! However, it isn’t relevant on IT position CVs. Check out a better example:
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Volunteered in community upgrading elderly citizens’ networks |
Like a keyboard and mouse, here are interests and hobbies that would pair well with a CV for IT:
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Team sports show that you function well on a team, an important trait for the fast environment of a growing tech startup. The tech blogging and gadget reviewing show that you are knowledgeable and stay up to date about technology and cutting-edge equipment.
Need more examples of hobbies and interests which work well on IT specialist CVs? Still not sure if you even want to add extra sections? Read our guide: Best Examples of Hobbies & Interests To Put on a CV
Voted ‘funniest employee’ three years in a row? Impressive! But not as relevant as:
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Do you have samples of work that you think would help you make your case to the IT supervisor?
Perhaps you’ve open-sourced some code and posted it on Github?
Listing a foreign language on a CV could be very helpful in IT. Especially abroad or in locales where English isn’t the first language. Knowing another language is like understanding more than one coding language - it can only help.
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Pro Tip: Don’t add too many extra sections on your CV for IT. Add only enough extra sections to fill the rest of the current CV page—not more that it spills over onto a new one.
So, you ask yourself: Do I need to submit a cover letter?
How about: Do I need a job?
An IT CV without its cover letter is not ready to turn in, and here’s why: 45% of recruiters say they will reject a CV without a cover letter.
That’s about HALF.
So, it’s obvious you need an IT CV cover letter, but what to include on the cover letter?
Here are a few tip-top IT cover letter tips:
Be witty. Be charming. Be clever. Positively grab their attention - it will mean more than the degrees and certifications you listed in your IT CV template.
See general cover letter writing instructions here: How to Write a Cover Letter in 8 Simple Steps
Whether you’re a career IT specialist or pursuing an IT internship, if you’ve followed this guide, you should have a tech industry CV that’s sure to get you an interview. Here's a quick recap:
You now should have a great CV for IT jobs that’s ready to be sent to even the most discerning hiring managers. Time to attach the final cover letter and CV to an email and send your job application off.
Plus, a great cover letter that matches your CV will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
Do you have any questions on how to write an IT CV? Not sure how to describe your skills or achievements on a CV for information technology? Give us a shout in the comments below and we will answer your question. Thanks for reading!
What is a cover letter? Unnecessary? A waste of time? Answer, neither. It’s a job-hunting must-have. Discover what a cover letter is and what it can do for you.
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