The job market across the East of England, London, and the wider UK, is highly competitive — not just for employers, but for candidates too.
Even experienced IT professionals, leaders, and technically skilled, often ask:
“Why am I not hearing back from roles I’m qualified for?”
And while there are many variables (timing, market conditions, hiring processes), one truth remains consistent:
A great CV won’t guarantee a job… but a poor CV will cost you opportunities.
The good news?
Writing a strong tech CV isn’t about being clever — it’s about being clear.
This article breaks down what hiring managers, IT leaders, decision makers, and recruiters are actually looking for in 2026, so your CV cuts through the noise and positions you as someone worth speaking to.
1. Your CV Is Not a Biography — It’s a Highlight Reel
Most CVs fail for one simple reason:
They include everything except the things that matter.
Your CV should be:
- concise
- easy to skim
- focused on impact
- technically accurate
- tailored towards the roles that you want
If your CV takes more than 10 seconds to understand, it’s unlikely to get past the first stage — especially in London’s fast-moving tech market.
The One Page Myth
Depending on your level of experience, DO NOT try to cram everything into 1 to 2 pages.
Contrary to a lot misleading advice (in my humble opinion…), this has a negative impact on your application, creating issues with clarity, flow, automated rejection, formatting, and lack of ‘white space’ which puts the reader off.
Of course, don’t write War and Peace, but it’s absolutely fine to include relevant experience across 3, 4, or even 5 pages (career dependant), as long as the experience is relevant, concise, accurate, and well formatted.
More than that, and you’re risking losing the reader’s engagement.
2. Start With a Strong, Concise, Clear Profile Summary
Think of this as your “elevator pitch.”
It should say:
- who you are,
- what you specialise in,
- a very brief highlight of relevant experience specific to the role you are applying for,
- and what type of roles you’re targeting.
Here’s a simple formula:
“An experienced [role] specialising in [key skills], with a strong track record in [impact]. Looking for opportunities in [area/industry].”
Avoid too many clichés like:
- “hard-working”
- “team player”
- “works well under pressure”
Some are fine, but too many becomes disingenuous.
Show your strengths through your experience, not adjectives.
3. Focus on Impact, Not Duties
Here’s the biggest mistake IT candidates make:
Listing responsibilities instead of achievements.
Anyone can write:
“Responsible for supporting 500 users.”
But the strongest CVs write like this:
“Responsible for supporting 500 users, and improved ticket resolution times by 28%, through redesigning support workflows and implementing automation.”
Which one is more memorable?
When describing your roles, think in terms of:
- improvements
- results
- efficiencies
- savings
- delivered change
- successful projects
- measurable impact
Use numbers where you can. IT hiring managers love clarity.
4. Keep Technical Skills Clean, Relevant and ATS/AI Friendly
Your technical skills section should be:
- neatly grouped,
- aligned with the role you are applying to,
- free from outdated tools you don’t want to use again,
- and should include key skills, tech stack, frameworks, languages, regulations, etc. required for the role.
If you feel it helps, you can break it into categories like:
- Infrastructure & Cloud
- Software & Development
- Cybersecurity
- Data & Analytics
- Tools & Platforms
- Frameworks & Regulations
- Key Projects &/or Achievements – the ones that are highly relevant to the role you’re applying to
If you list everything you’ve ever touched — including the printer you configured in 2014 — it dilutes your credibility.
5. Tailor Your CV for the Roles You Actually Want
A generic CV feels generic.
Hiring managers can tell instantly.
If you’re applying for:
- a cloud role → emphasise cloud
- a cyber role → emphasise security
- a leadership role → emphasise strategy, ownership & decision making
When your CV tries to do everything, it ends up doing nothing.
A targeted CV is a powerful CV.
But it is a delicate balance between focussed and informative, and narrow and missing key information.
Don’t throw out important examples from your experience, that is relevant to your application and the role, just because it adds a few more lines to your CV.
Keep it in.
6. Make It Easy on the Eye – White Space is Your Friend
Formatting matters more than candidates think.
The person reading your CV might have 40, 100, 1000 more CVs to look through that morning, potentially for multiple vacancies across several departments.
Help them help you.
Keep it:
- consistent
- clean
- structured
- with clear spacing and bold section headings
Avoid:
- photos
- elaborate designs
- colourful backgrounds
- text boxes that break ATS systems
- squeezing your entire career, skills, achievements and education onto two pages
A simple, professional layout beats a “creative template” every single time.
7. Don’t Hide the Important Stuff
Make these highly visible:
- job titles
- employment dates
- technologies used
- impact delivered
- certifications (Azure, AWS, ITIL, CISSP, etc.)
And something that I rarely see on CVs, but can be so important for potential employers searching through hundreds of applicants:
- industry
You may know which sectors and industries your previous employers are in, but if ABC Ltd want someone from within manufacturing, or Big Company PLC needs FinServ experience, your CV may not even get reviewed if it’s filtered out early on.
Hiring managers skim CVs.
Application Tracking Systems run on key words.
Non-technical employees in HR and internal recruitment are looking for certain words to jump out at them.
Guide their eyes and the technologies to the good bits and help them help you.
8. Proofread (Properly)
Small mistakes leave a big impression.
Ask someone else to read your CV — or leave it for 24 hours and read it again with fresh eyes.
The fewer errors, the more professional you look.
Utilise AI at this stage to sense check your writing, to make sure it is ATS friendly, and to enhance it for specific applications (i.e. key words when compared to a specific job advert).
Don’t rely on AI to write your entire CV – it really is obvious to most people.
Final Thought: Your CV’s Job Is Simple
Your CV doesn’t need to win the job.
It only needs to win the conversation.
A clear, well-structured, relevant CV will almost always outperform a detailed but unfocused one — especially in busy hiring hubs across the East of England and London.
If you’d like a confidential review of your CV, or advice tailored to your skill set and goals, get in touch.
At Juno People Solutions, we help IT professionals present themselves in the strongest possible way — and connect them with the opportunities where they can thrive.
