CV & Portfolio for QA Testers
Most QA CVs look the same — a list of tools used and companies worked for. The ones that get interviews demonstrate impact, show evidence, and make it effortless for a hiring manager to understand what level you are.
1 The Hook
A grad with 6 months of manual testing experience applies for a junior QA role at a Wellington SaaS company. The hiring manager reads 40 CVs. Thirty-eight say “experienced in Selenium, Jira, and Agile.” Two demonstrate something specific: one lists a bug they found that saved a production incident; one includes a GitHub link to their Playwright test suite from a bootcamp exercise. Those two get interviews. The others don’t.
The 38 CVs weren’t dishonest. They just didn’t prove anything. Every junior candidate who’s done a course can claim Jira and Agile. The hiring manager can’t tell the difference between someone who used Jira every day for 6 months and someone who ticked a box once. But a specific bug with a specific impact — that’s evidence. A GitHub repo with a working test suite — that’s evidence.
2 The Rule
A QA CV is not a list of tools you’ve touched. It’s evidence that you can find bugs, communicate clearly, and operate in a real team. Show, don’t tell.
3 The Analogy
Your CV is a test report for yourself.
A good test report shows what was tested, what was found, and what the risk is. A weak test report says “testing was performed on the login module.” A hiring manager reading a weak test report learns nothing. A hiring manager reading a good test report knows exactly what happened, what the severity was, and whether to be confident.
Your CV works exactly the same way. “Experienced in Selenium” is the weak test report. “Built a 45-test Playwright suite that reduced regression time from 4 hours to 12 minutes” is the good one. One tells a story with evidence. The other just confirms you were present.
4 Watch Me Do It
Here is what the difference looks like in practice. Every bullet on the left is something an actual NZ hiring manager has told us they see constantly. Every bullet on the right is what gets people called.
- Experienced in manual testing and Jira
- Worked on an Agile team
- Familiar with Selenium and Python
- Wrote and maintained 80 regression test cases in Jira for a NZ health platform; defect catch rate improved from 67% to 89% in 6 months
- Raised 14 defects during sprint testing on a Wellington SaaS product; 3 rated P1 by the dev team and fixed before release
- Built a 45-test Playwright suite for an e-commerce checkout flow; reduced regression testing time from 4 hours (manual) to 12 minutes (automated)
Notice the pattern: strong bullets have a number, a context, and an outcome. Weak bullets have none of those things. If your current CV bullets don’t answer “how many?” and “what changed?” — rewrite them.
Portfolio structure for a grad or junior QA
- GitHub profile: one repository with a Playwright or Selenium test suite, even from a practice project. The code quality matters less than its existence. No repo = no proof.
- A sample bug report: take one from your bootcamp capstone. Severity, priority, steps to reproduce, expected vs actual, evidence. One page.
- A one-page test plan: for a feature you’ve tested. Scope, approach, entry and exit criteria.
- ISTQB Foundation certificate: if you’ve earned it, list it prominently. It’s recognised by most NZ employers and differentiates you from candidates who’ve only self-studied.
5 When to Use It
Review and update your CV when: applying for your first QA role; re-entering the market after a career break; moving from manual testing to automation; applying to a new industry vertical. Impact numbers get stale — check them every 6 months and update anything that has moved.
6 Common Mistakes
🚫 “I used to think: listing every tool I’ve used shows breadth.”
Actually: listing 20 tools with no context signals a generalist who’s dabbled in everything and mastered nothing. Pick the 4–6 tools you know well and demonstrate depth. A hiring manager seeing “Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Appium, Postman, SoapUI, LoadRunner, Gatling, JMeter, k6” assumes you’ve run a hello-world on each.
🚫 “I used to think: my CV needs to be comprehensive — include everything.”
Actually: 1–2 pages maximum in NZ. Hiring managers read CVs in 30 seconds on first pass. If your impact isn’t visible in that time, it’s invisible. A 5-page CV is not thorough — it’s inconsiderate of the reader’s time, and they will not find your best material.
🚫 “I used to think: I need years of experience before building a portfolio.”
Actually: bootcamp projects, practice pages, and capstone artefacts all count. A GitHub repo with one well-documented Playwright suite is better than no portfolio at all. Employers aren’t looking for 5 years of open-source contributions — they’re looking for evidence you can write structured tests and share your work.
7 Now You Try
Rewrite a weak CV bullet using the context provided, then run it for AI feedback.
Rewrite this weak QA CV bullet as a strong one:
Context: The candidate works on a Wellington e-commerce platform that processes approximately $2M NZD in transactions per month. Make it specific, show impact, and keep it under 20 words.
Show model answer
Strong version (19 words): "Raised 22 defects in Jira across 6 sprints on a $2M/month Wellington e-commerce platform; 4 rated P1 fixed before release." Why it works: — Specific number (22 defects, 6 sprints) — no vague claims — Business context ($2M/month) — shows the stakes — Impact (P1 defects fixed before release) — shows the testing mattered — Under 20 words The original tells the hiring manager nothing they couldn't infer from the fact you had a QA job title.
8 Self-Check
Click each question to reveal the answer.
Q1: What should an automation SDET’s portfolio always include?
A GitHub repository with a test suite — Playwright, Selenium, or similar. Without it, technical skills are self-reported and unverifiable. Every SDET hiring manager in NZ will ask for a code sample or link. The repo doesn’t need to be polished; it needs to exist and show you can write structured, documented tests.
Q2: A hiring manager has 30 seconds with your CV. What should be visible in that time?
Your most recent role, your level (grad/junior/senior/lead), and at least one specific impact bullet with a number and an outcome. If your name, current role, and a single strong proof point aren’t visible in the first half of page one, restructure. Most NZ hiring managers read the first 5 lines of the most recent role and then skip to the next CV if nothing jumps out.
Q3: You have no professional QA experience. What goes in your portfolio?
Bootcamp capstone artefacts: a bug report from a practice project, a one-page test plan, and a GitHub link to your Playwright or Selenium suite. These demonstrate you can produce real QA outputs. Also include your ISTQB Foundation certificate if you have it. Grads who show a GitHub repo and a structured bug report are more employable than grads who list tools they’ve touched.
9 ISTQB Note
CV and portfolio skills are not a direct ISTQB domain. However, the ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) v4.0 credential is worth listing prominently on an NZ QA CV. Most NZ employers recognise it and many government and financial services organisations treat it as a baseline expectation at junior and above. At senior level, the CTAL Advanced Level (Test Analyst or Technical Test Analyst) adds meaningful signal. If you don’t have ISTQB yet, it’s a straightforward exam — the bootcamp Foundation content maps directly to the syllabus.