Put yourself in the shoes of your friendly neighbourhood recruiter who arrives at his desk bright eyed and bushy tailed at 8:30 one Monday morning to find 150 responses to that advertisement he placed on Friday afternoon for an ITIL Service Delivery Manager. He now has the unenviable task of going through each of those CVs to find the best three to put forward to his client by 5:00pm the same day.

Being only human the first approach is a quick "skim"and the CVs tend to go one of three ways - YES, MAYBE, NO

Your only purpose in submitting your CV is to ensure that your CV goes in the YES column.

Think of your CV in terms of "screens" (not pages) because that's what the recruiter is going to look at when he opens your CV. So you need to be absolutely sure to include the information that will make him say "YES" when he views that first screen.

Please don't write one of those CVs that fill the entire first screen with absolutely useless information. If you write CURRICULUM VITAE in 18 point characters across the top with your name and address on 5 separate lines followed by a lengthy list of your GCSE O and A level results, not to mention your clean driving licence and the fact that you are a non smoker you will have filled the entire first screen without saying anything that will persuade our recruiter to read on.

That CV might go on to say that you are a Guru of the Service Delivery World but unfortunately it's probably already gone into the NO file.

You must place key information about your skills, experience and achievements into the first screen of your CV, otherwise it probably won't get read.

So here are some fundamental rules for writing your CV.

Rule number 1

Do use a clear type face. This is entirely a matter of choice but most serif type faces (like Times New Roman) were designed to look nice on the printed page whereas our expectation is that most recipients will now be reading your CV on a computer screen. So the rule is to keep your typeface nice and clear. My recommendation would be Arial or Helvetica.

Rule number 2

Don't waste 5 separate lines writing your name and address. You can start off with your name in about a 14 point followed by your address and contact details including your e-mail address in 8 point on the next 2 lines. Only use two lines for your address and contact details, you can't afford to waste this valuable space.

Rule number 3

Following your name and contact details the next item should be your PROFILE.

This is the single most important part of your CV.

You need to write a very concise profile of who you are and what you do. I suggest you use no more than six lines and this "body text" should ideally be in 10 point. This profile is most likely to be what the recruiter reads straightaway. If it doesn't match his job requirement he's going to put you in the "NO" folder.

So you must try to tailor the profile to the specific job that you are applying for. Remember our recruiter is looking for key words from his job spec.

Let's assume that, in part, his job spec (and the job advertisement) is asking for:

ITIL Certification -Strong Team Management -Strong experience of Service Delivery Management -Strong track record of Financial Services

Your PROFILE needs to reflect at least this experience. For example:

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

PROFILE

A highly skilled Service Delivery Manager with the ITIL Service Management Expert Certification. Fully conversant with the latest IT innovations, delivering solutions which utilise cutting-edge technologies. Currently managing a team of ten and with a strong track record of success in the Financial Services Sector. This experience is complimented by strong analytical, problem solving and communication skills.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

That profile will almost certainly encourage our Recruiter to read on and will probably get that candidate short-listed for the Service Delivery Manager role.

Remember the first "screen" of the first page of your CV is what really counts. It's all the recruiter is going to look at initially and he's probably only going to look for about 10 seconds. I strongly recommend that you tailor this  Profile to each specific job application. I'm not suggesting that you distort your experience and I'm assuming that you wouldn't be applying for the job unless you have the basic skills required, but you do need to ensure that the contents of your Profile reflect the requirements of the particular job you are applying for. What you are doing is making the recruiter's job as easy as possible. Make sure you give him what he's looking for!

Now let's move on down the first page of your CV. Following your PROFILE you need to add roughly five Key Achievements that provide evidence to support the Profile you have written. These need to be impressive and I would suggest that you write them cliche free. Instead they need to be solid achievements that are relevant to the role that you are applying for and that will be meaningful to your potential employer.

For example:

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• Managed the deployment of a new ITIIL compliant Problem and Incident Reporting process to 50 staff across 10 UK locations that dramatically improved call resolution and customer satisfaction ratings. Project brought in on time and budget.
• Developed an intranet site which provided a community of 100 Service Delivery Managers with access to essential resources and data and offered an invaluable platform for information exchange and knowledge sharing. Received the Company Innovation Award 2007.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

 Selecting these key achievements is really important and will also get you thinking about what you have really achieved in your career and more importantly what will get you that interview.

Ideally you should have a "library" of at least 10 key achievements and place the five that you feel are most appropriate in the list for each job application. These key achievements will also provide useful ammunition for questions at interview.

The next important section should be a matrix of your technical skills. I would recommend grouping these by category. (eg. Operating Systems, Development Tools, RDBMS etc.)

From this point on you can start to list your jobs. Don't use obscure job titles that are unique to your organisation but will be meaningless to other employers. My advice would be to modify job titles so that they are clearly understandable and indicate exactly what you did in the job.

Make sure that you list five or six key achievements for each job and of course you can include your full "library" of Key Achievements used earlier in the CV.

Always state clearly why you left each job and make sure that that you account for the whole of your career and that there are no blank periods. If you took a 6 month planned career break to renovate your house then say so, don't leave a blank.

The final part of your CV should include your Education and Professional Training and your Personal Details which should include your Nationality. If you are not a British or an EU Citizen then you need to indicate on what basis you are able to work in the UK.

Remember that you do not need to include your date of birth. Because of the Age Discrimination Act recruiters should not ask for your age, although bear in mind that employers are entitled to know your date of birth at the time they offer you a position.

In some respects these guidelines are written for a very conventional CV and of course there are lots of opportunities for innovation and development in this area. For example you might want to place your CV on your personal web site or social networking site and include graphics, video clips etc. however what you have here is a basic working CV that will get you interviews with the majority of recruiters / employers in the UK and that should be your objective.

It's over to you!

For many years the most dynamic and cutting-edge IT roles have traditionally been seen as the sole territory of the private sector, yet on closer inspection there are some mouth-watering opportunities available if you choose to go public.

Just as many private companies aim to maximise productivity and efficiency, the same rings true in the public sector, with IT playing a central role in achieving and delivering those goals. Several large-scale projects with a significant IT presence will be launching over the next few years, which in turn may swell the opportunities open to IT workers looking to delve into the world of the public sector. The government's £1.2bn investment in the e-borders initiative as well as numerous opportunities arising from the London 2012 Olympics are just some examples of where both permanent and contract work will be available over the coming years.

If you're thinking of making the move from private through to public then there will be numerous differences to take into consideration. For example, in the private sector when there's a problem, there's often a tendency to throw money at it until a solution is found. Public sector IT is largely governed by strict budgets, which are set annually and fixed, its important to consider some of the experience you have developed in managing budgets in the past and apply them in your future role. What's more, salary and career progression could be a little slower off the mark in the public sector as the variety and scope of opportunities is slightly more limited. However, what you get in return is a chance to be part of some dynamic upcoming IT projects, job security, peace of mind, good holiday entitlement and an excellent pension. All in all, definitely worthy of your consideration!

Last week Sun launched JavaFX, its Java-based platform for Rich Internet Applications. Sun picked up the high level of interest in Adobe's Flash as an application runtime, and perhaps Microsoft's Silverlight as well, and hurriedly developed its own equivalent. JavaFX is a new scripting language that runs on the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and is optimized for graphical effects and multimedia. It brings to Java animation features like timelines and motion paths, support for a variety of audio and video codecs, and a way of coding a graphical user interface without the supposed complexities of Swing with its Model/View/Controller (MVC) design. JavaFX applets can run within or outside the browser. One innovation is that you can drag an applet out of a web page and onto your desktop. If you close the browser, the applet keeps running, thanks to support for out-of-process plugins in Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox.

So far JavaFX has received a mixed reception, and it is easy to see why. The launch was rushed, and some early visitors to the site had a bad experience, with videos that would not play or samples that did not run. Videos running in JavaFX flash unpleasantly if you resize the browser. The install experience is not as smooth as for Flash or Silverlight in my experience, because you need to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) as well as the JavaFX plugin. The download size is larger, although this is disguised by Sun's slimmed-down initial install. The idea is that you get up and running quickly, while the rest of the JRE installs in the background. The SDK does not yet run on Linux or Solaris, although the applets themselves should run because they only require the standard JRE plus a runtime jar (add-on library) and can be executed using Java Web Start. The latest NetBeans has JavaFX support, but another downer is the lack of any dedicated visual design tools. Sun only offers an export add-on for Adobe's Photoshop and Illustrator, or a converter for SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). There is no 3D API yet, though it is promised.

It is easy to be negative; but some of these problems will disappear as JavaFX matures. A visual design tool is in the works, as is a mobile version that will be shown at the Mobile World conference in February next year. JavaFX will have a place for Java developers who are envious of what Flash and Silverlight can do. While it may not match Flash in terms of broad runtime deployment, I'm guessing that Sun will outpace Microsoft in this respect. JavaFX also has a couple of advantages over Flash, including more sophisticated client-side security and better code performance in some scenarios. The Java VM is mature and well optimized. Adobe's ActionScript virtual machine does have a just-in-time compiler, but seems slower than either Silverlight or Java for code execution. Speed of graphical effects is another matter, and while I have not seen any comparisons yet, I suspect Adobe's long multimedia experience may come into play here.

JavaFX will be welcomed then by Java developers who need more expressive graphics in their applications, and will be an interesting option for those developing games for mobile devices. Try as I might though, I'm finding it hard to believe that this is a huge section of the market, or that Sun will have much success persuading designers to target JavaFX rather than Flash, or that JavaFX will win much market share from Adobe for web-hosted video. Swing works well these days, its MVC architecture has merit, and it is well-suited to the kinds of Enterprise applications which commonly have Java clients. JavaFX is a useful addition to Java, but I doubt that Adobe is losing sleep over its likely impact. That said, I'm keen to hear from developers with plans for JavaFX applications, so don't hesitate to let me know.

Most people are aware that the Internet is a hugely important tool for jobseekers. But how do you get the most out of the Internet and what (if any) are the pitfalls? There are literally hundreds of "job boards" in the UK (and overseas) so you need to think carefully about which particular boards are going to be right for you. 

Within the IT industry you could look at specialist boards such as www.cwjobs.co.uk, www.computingcareers.co.uk and the www.theitjobboard.co.uk. Both employers and recruitment agencies advertise jobs on these "job boards" and you can search for jobs by job category, sector, skill, location and salary band. You might want to utilise basic Boolean techniques in your search string so that "Project Manager" AND "Web 2" will return jobs containing both those phrases. Equally an OR statement may be useful. "Project Manager" AND (SQL OR Oracle) will return jobs for Project Managers with either Oracle or SQL mentioned in the advertisement. Remember that advertisers generally buy an on line advertisement for a period of time which could be 28 days or longer, so don't blame the recruiter if you find that the position has already been filled when you apply. Check the date on the advertisement and if in doubt contact the recruiter or employer directly before applying to double check that the position is still open. Another important point is to make sure that your CV is tailored for the job you are applying for. If you have both Project Management and Service Management experience then make sure you have different CVs that highlight this different experience. If the Recruiter is looking for a Red Badge Qualified ITIL Service Manager don't send your CV stating that you are a Prince 2 Accredited Project Manager (even if you are!).

Most of the job boards also give you the facility to upload your CV to the site. If you are serious about your job search then I strongly recommend that you upload your CV to several sites and make sure that you "refresh" your CV on a regular basis. Not surprisingly recruiters tend to look at "recent" CVs. If your CV has been sitting on a job board for 3 months they will probably assume that you have already found a job! I can pretty much guarantee that you will get calls from recruiters if you keep your CV on-line.

Don't forget that in a difficult UK job market you might also want to look at overseas opportunities. I would recommend searching initially on the country name i.e. "Dubai" should return Dubai based jobs. However some of the job boards allow you to search specifically for jobs in one particular location choosing the country and city (e.g. Switzerland and Zurich). Most of the job boards allow you to set up an "alert", just enter your search string and you will receive a daily or weekly e-mail each time a new job comes up matching your requirement.

Finally don't forget that you can find a wealth of advice to on the job boards, usually under a "Careers Advice" tab where you can generally find tips to help you brush up your CV or improve your interview technique.  

Good luck with your on-line job search! 

You may have heard "there's no room for project managers--or any other kind of manager for that matter--in agile." Well, there is. Sort of. The role for managers and project managers is much closer to a form of servant leadership. It's certainly not command-and-control project management. Here are some ideas that may help you move closer to an agile approach for project management.

Ask the project team to explain what their deliverables are to get to the next milestone. Forget this business of assigning people tasks. The people on your team are grownups. You can treat them like grownups. You don't have to--and you shouldn't--assign them work every day. Not only should you not assign them tasks, you should ask them--as a team--to tell you what they have to do to get to the next milestone. Let them fight it out, ahem, discuss it. The more discussion, the more confidence you have in the schedule.

Use iterative or rolling wave scheduling, so you don't try to create an entire schedule before you know what's going on, or worse, once you realize the original schedule was someone's pipe dream. Once they've reached one milestone, it's time to estimate and plan to get to the next one.

Make people on the team estimate their own work, or, even better, estimate their work as a group. A group's estimates are bound to be better than an individual's, and much better than a manager's estimate. Group estimation is a form of Wideband Delphi, an estimation approach that's been around forever, and works like a champ. When people create their own estimates, they tend to track them, because their estimate is part of their deliverables.

Consider using timeboxes to help focus people on the work they have to finish now, not the work for later. Timeboxes are a time-honored approach to finishing pieces of work. Use them.

The more you move from command-and-control to guiding/steering the team, the more they will produce. And, the more you practice ideas like these, the more flexible you are as a project manager, which makes your value go way up. And, it's easier to find a job.

So you've been offered a job - either through an application / interview process, via an agency or a direct recommendation.

Great news, right? Usually, yes - at least assuming you were looking for a new position in the first place. But what if the offer is out of the blue? Should you take the risk of switching jobs for the benefit of your career, or is it better to play it safe?

So you've decided the agilists aren't completely crazy and maybe it's time to think about it. And, your waterfall project is in the dumps. You'd like to make some progress, and oh, maybe even find another job because you can't see how your company can live through this project disaster.

If you're considering how to integrate Agile into your work, here are four tips you can try to implement now:

Decrease the size of your tasks so you can get to done faster. One of the issues in non-agile lifecycles is that the tasks tend to be too big. It's common to see 1-week, 2, 3, 4, even 6-week tasks. The problem with tasks that large is that people get lost in the task. They lose sight of what done means. They wait until too late to start the task (also known as student syndrome). It's just too hard to do. So, instead of trying to manage big tasks, break every task down into smaller pieces. I like 1 or 2-day tasks max (also known as inch-pebbles).

Work in short timeboxes. Once you have smaller task sizes, make a todo list for just one week at a time. I have to admit, I have my big todo list, so I can track and see all the work I have to do. But my working todo list is just one week long. Because I work in short timeboxes of one week, I have a pretty good idea of what I can get done in a week. And, I know when I'm not making progress in a week, so I have some early warning signs.

This can be quite difficult to do if you have many partially finished tasks, or if your boss wants you to multitask, or if you are depending on other people for input into your work, or if you've never received feedback about your estimates. Don't worry if your estimates are wrong. Estimates are just guesses, so guess for now, and track your work. I don't track actual hours per task, I just look at my one-week list and see how much I have on it and where I am during the week, and where I am at the end of the week. I often have a task or two I did not finish. I don't beat myself about it and neither should you. Take that information and re-estimate what you can do for the next week.

Finish partially completed work. One of the biggest changes I found when I moved to agile is I had much less partially completed work. I still have several articles (and books!) in progress, but they are all at reasonable stopping points. When you have partially completed work that's not at a reasonable stopping point, you feel a pull to go back to it until you get it to a reasonable stopping point. That pull causes you to multitask, which prevents you from finishing more work. So the more work you can get to a reasonable stopping point, the better. That frees your mind to go do the next piece of work. Which means you can do small pieces of work and get to done faster.

One of the ways I do this is to use the SCM system to help me. I integrate continuously, no matter what I'm writing (code, tests, documentation, project plans). That way the latest version is checked in, and I know the state that it's in and I don't have to think about it.

Know what done means. Any given task may have a different definition of done, but a project's definition of done is "fit to release." Since the project has to be ready to release, I like my pieces to be ready to release also. Sometimes, as one individual contributor, that's not possible until other people have done their parts. But make your pieces as done as you can make them.

For me, this means working by feature more than working by architecture. If your project manager is still organizing the work by architecture, offer to work with others across the architecture so you finish a feature, even if you don't finish the architectural layer. Yes, this may seem counter-intuitive, but it's faster and leads to finished product earlier.

Why should you do this? Because if you're looking for a job, even if you don't have agile experience, these practices will help you add value to your organization now. And you can talk about them in interviews.

The relationship between employer and candidate has often been seen as a one-way street, with that often-dreaded interview question "why do you want to work here?" spring to mind. However more and more, its the employers themselves who are being asked the tough questions. Following a recent BCS report on how better company cultures would attract more women back into the profession; how much do we look into the company we are applying to?

In the current job market, although many people searching for a new role will be keen to make a swift move back into work, the ways in which people make employment decisions is showing signs of change. For many IT workers, company culture is still high on the job-hunting agenda. Similar to the BCS findings, Computer People's Salary Survey conducted earlier in the year also suggested how the culture of an organisation is key to a happy and contented workforce.  

Some 70% of those questioned placed high importance on the quality of their working environment and culture. Many also saw the culture of a company to be a deal breaker in their choice to apply for a position or not. Findings such as these highlight the shifting onus on companies of all sizes to sell themselves to the candidate rather than vice versa.

A key part of this process involves alerting all potential candidates, male or female, to what your company offers over and above a paycheque. From offering flexible working hours or childcare facilities to regular company-wide social activities or duvet days and sabbaticals, employers that offer the best mix of work and play will be the ones attracting and retaining the best candidates.