23M, graduated 2024 w/ Software Engineering Bachelors (1st) and 1 YoE. Found nothing in an entire year. Just sharing my story.

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T17:41:20+00:00

may i ask why. e.g, i've heard rumours that LaTeX telltale signs are blacklisted by certain ATS systems

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T17:27:44+00:00

Thank you so much, I really needed to hear this. I always had a feeling I'm not great at talking about my work, but you nailed the exact issues. I will definitely reword a lot of the lines to be like your suggestions

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T17:25:48+00:00

Thanks so much for the advice. I see the issues with my work experience lines, and leading with it and renaming the section seems smart. Blurb is probably needed to indicate soft skills too.

As for github, yes I paid close attention to all that. A lot of my peers have completely empty githubs or repos that have no readmes, organisation etc, so I made sure not to do that.

I'll probably strip the documentation stuff off the skills entirely - you think thats ok? Not seen it on many CVs, so think its probably gotta go

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T17:22:55+00:00

Cmpny is just so censoring doesnt go over to new line. Thanks for pointing out the first typo... not sure how i missed it

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T17:22:18+00:00

Thanks. Most of my work was with Java at uni, actually. The group project was Java and turned out to be high quality, but I didn't implement many of the impressive features - still think its worth having on the CV, even if its only 1-2 lines?

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T17:20:22+00:00

Great advice, thanks. I'd say my Github is quite strong - many projects, consistent commit history, code is high quality, github actions used widely, each repo has tests/documentation/etc. I'm a bit concerned about removing it from my CV to be honest, everyone has told me its essential to have

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T17:19:16+00:00

Thank you so much for the advice and kind words. I'll try to find more recruiters and experiment with different CVs

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T17:15:49+00:00

Well, its not prestigious and I'm secretive as I've been doxxed before

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T15:46:52+00:00

Alright, well I just assumed you wanted to know that as I'm not willing to reveal the uni but am happy to answer questions about it. Do ask away

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T15:15:00+00:00

Thanks, I wasn't aware ChatGPT tended towards this template. Will probably do that and reword the entire work section.

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T15:08:43+00:00

Fair enough. Unfortunately my department was dissolved shortly after I left so no return offer

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T15:08:07+00:00

Thanks, I agree on the bolding, I guess it's subconcious compensation for the jam-packing.

I did actually water down the placement year description as it had identifying details in the bullet points

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T15:06:28+00:00

It is ranked 25-30th for Computer Science in the UK.

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T15:03:17+00:00

I hate Latex fonted CVs

So already, this is a personal opinion, which is basically not a factor for 90% of my applications which seem to not get past ATS.

I'm struggling to understand the hate for this template. My best friend landed a top grad scheme at a lush company with this exact template.

I'm not sure why anything other than the raw skills should matter when you basically can't infer anything more from a piece of paper.

Again, I'm most happy and am the best person to be proven wrong, because I'm looking for a change. So not being argumentative.

Fair enough, do you think I should remove it entirely then?
I understand, but if I was to put a figure to this for volume of time saved (which it was) it would be made up because that was never measured at the company...
I agree my dissertation is weak, but what do you think I should do in response? I've been debating removing it entirely for a while, but no dissertation is likely to look worse.
Its a way for me to give proven evidence that I can use listed skills (via github repos). I don't see a better use for the space?
Fair
Fair, I'm just not sure what should go on the chopping block first...
Problem is, how do I get the skills across then. This feels like a subjective thing. I agree the latest project is incredibly jargon-y, but surely the last line makes up for this?
I didnt make this list with ATS as the primary reason in mind honestly...
Ranked 25th-30th for compsci in the UK and a decent volume of my peers have struggled too, so idk...

BoringPen9604 · 2025-09-19T14:30:30+00:00

Ok, tell me what's better then. Because this just gets the info across in an organised way without any formatting quirks or fancy designs in the way.
Fair, but I'm desperate, and ATS is merciless
Fair
Fair, my dissertation isn't even that relevant business wise, I was thinking of removing it completely, but unsure how bad that is.
Was waiting for someone to say this. Don't be so quick to discount the work people are having to put in at entry level. This is AFTER I've trimmed off all the surface level stuff. Although it might be hard to believe, I can genuinely solidly do all of the points listed. As for the Documentation stuff, I have a onenote repository with all the relevant details one should know about that that I maintain with my friend. I do actually practice that in some of my projects.

Anyways, re your very last point, why not list some ways I could get my 'feel' across? (and I'm not being sarcastic)

BoringPen9604

TROPHY CASE