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I spent some years obtaining a good CV. Finished a bachelor without ever failing a subject, good grades, went international (I'm European) to obtain a good master degree and international experience, internships, languages...

That ends up with now having a pretty decent CV, not a one in a thousand, but let’s say among the 10% best candidates with my profile.

Now, looking at the job market, I feel I am unable to make use of this better CV than an average bachelor student who obtained the bachelor degree in 5-6 years by failing some subjects (average in my university).

My intentions are, like most people, to obtain a good job (interesting + well paid).

Question: What would be the best way to use a good CV to obtain a good job? Or it would make more sense to just go on a regular job and try to show the skills once inside?

I'm on the data science field so it is quite easy to find a regular job, since it’s a popular field.

Edit: How interesting a job is, is a personal matter, but how well paid is, is completely objective. I have met colleagues during my internships that earnt like 5 times more with low experience than others with 20 years of experience. My concerns relate to the fact that I see a lot of randomness involved in the job market in this sense and my instincts tell me that a good candidature should help in obtaining a better paid-renowned position. (Always keeping the constraint that one must be interested in the job). The problem is that the only strategy to find those positions is trial and error, and of course this strategy is not really attractive so the question would relate to any advice in performing this finding.

I can't make the question more specific as I feel a lot of people can go through this situation, this post has already had some useful answers though.

Draken
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Mark RP
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  • You mean aside from targeting companies that you feel your skills are a good match for? –  Sep 06 '17 at 08:33
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    I read recently 'your CV gets you an interview, your skills get you the job'. If your fields is in high demand take the chance to learn all about how to interview well, and go to as many as you can. Once you start getting offers, you will be able to judge if they meet your expectations or not. – angarg12 Sep 06 '17 at 08:38
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    There is really no way we could answer you question. First, we don´t know how you define a good job and what is interesting to you. Secondly your question is mainly opinion base as there is no one "right" way to build a career. – Daniel Sep 06 '17 at 09:23
  • See also How to say that my grades are the best possible? – Brandin Sep 06 '17 at 09:55
  • If you really have a good CV, just use it to apply for jobs (and write a good cover letter), there really isn't anything more to say about that. But you might have good experience and not a good CV (how you present your experience is as important as the experience itself), in which case you should go reading up on how to write a good CV. Or you might have decent, but not exceptional, experience, in which case it might benefit you to focus more on getting "better" experience. For none of those we can really help you with though. – Bernhard Barker Sep 06 '17 at 10:14
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    If your CV is truly impressive, then employers should be contacting you, not the other way around. GlassDoor is the website USA people use to review their employer and will help you avoid bad companies. – deek Sep 06 '17 at 20:57

2 Answers2

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I have a good CV, what now?

Now you look for a job. You should have started that process months ago but better late than never.

Now, looking at the jobs market, I feel I am unable to make us of this better CV than an average bachelor student

That's because you've reached what Dara Ó Briain referred to as the hideous punchline of the education system1, where you discover that having a degree, while important, is ultimately of little practical value when you enter the workforce. And that means that very often your degree amounts to little more than a box to be checked off on your application and your grades don't matter nearly as much as you've been led to believe.

What would be the best way to use a good CV to obtain a good job? Or it would make more sense to just go on a regular job and try to show the skills once inside?

There's no such thing as a "regular job" versus a "good job" in the way you think. Plenty of great employers don't care about grades. Plenty of bad employers do. A degree is a requirement for some jobs but whether those are "good jobs" is usually a matter of opinion. A degree, particularly a master's, opens some doors and closes others.

Some hiring managers are impressed if a candidate graduated "with honours" (summa cum laude or whatever the local equivalent is). Most experienced hiring managers know to look at actual work experience and behaviour instead. Academic achievements are a differentiator but not nearly as important as real working experience that you'd get from internships and summer jobs.

People who spend six years on a four year degree might lose some job leads or interviews over that. They might not. Someone who took twice as long to get heir degree but has a list of relevant internships on his resume will still have an objectively stronger profile than you if you have no work experience.

So what does that all mean for you? It means you have the required piece of paper and basic knowledge to start an entry-level job in your field. You should be applying (or have applied) to entry-level jobs looking for people with your type of degree. Whether those jobs will be interesting depends on whether you picked the right field to graduate in. Whether they'll be well paid depends on the industry, the job market, and the type of job.

1 - From Live at the Apollo, 2005

Lilienthal
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  • @JoeStrazzere I've rephrased that section to tone it down. Sadly the comedy routine it's from isn't available online. – Lilienthal Sep 06 '17 at 19:29
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Don't complicate your self with multiple options at this stage of your carrier. Well That sounds good you got good experience in your field. Now for moving to the next level is simply prioritize what do you actually want to do. List down all those employers whom you want to work with. Check their current opening, if these are suitable than apply Otherwise simply create your profile over there sites. In addition to that, Develop linkages with the employers via using social sites and sell your skills instead asking for job. While on applying you must have to be ready for the up coming interview questions(General+related to your field) and groom your personality as well. Commonly we know it that "Skills+Knowledge+attitudes=Experience" will helps you in acquiring your desires. Best of luck.....:)

Sundas
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