Two CVs

Never really gone a long with this from the job centre, since it's basically a 'white lie' imo to give you a CV that will highlight experience etc that you may not have.

But, if you need advice on how to make a retail CV, look at how your Warehouse CV is set up (or you can ask for assistance in setting out your C.V from the job centre). Highlight key features such as customer service, maximizing sales, being able to identify a customers needs, then less specific such as stock taking, till work, display work. Some of this you will probably have already of done from your Warehouse experience.

StevenB12 wrote: »

Never really gone a long with this from the job centre, since it's basically a 'white lie' imo to give you a CV that will highlight experience etc that you may not have.

But, if you need advice on how to make a retail CV, look at how your Warehouse CV is set up (or you can ask for assistance in setting out your C.V from the job centre). Highlight key features such as customer service, maximizing sales, being able to identify a customers needs, then less specific such as stock taking, till work, display work. Some of this you will probably have already of done from your Warehouse experience.

You can't highlight experience that you don't have and nobody's suggesting that.

Different skills are needed in different sectors and having more than one CV enables you to put the most important ones at the forefront of your applications and interviews.

It's quite common to have different cvs for different purposes, I've one for academia and another for industry, they both include the same overall information but one is skills based and the other research and teaching based.

Worth doing

I'm a contractor and updating my CV is a regular 3-month task.

Let me tell you this, it is ok to lie on your CV. However there is a catch, just be very confident that you do have the skills to back those lies up.

For example, let's say Sally works for a care company, she does the regular duties of caring for people, bathing, dressing etc. She suddenly wants to change career and become a project-coordinator. Sally would have next to zero chance of becoming a project-coordinator, but with a white lie, she just might make it to the 1st interview.

It's the interviewer's job to say your not a good fit, not you.

Recruiters scan CV's with software to filter CV's that do not match specific criteria. There is a statistic somewhere that only 15% of CV make it passed the scan. The recruiter will then start manually looking (not reading) on the first page. At this point, they are looking at CV length and format. Summary to big .. CV in the bin, too much text.. in the bin. CV over two pages.. in the bin.
Now the recruiter is down to about 10% of the 15% that made the initial scan.

So keep it brief, do not waffle on like I am now.

Scan the CV yourself. (btw don't pay for any of these, just read the basics recommendations and rescan)
https://www.jobscan.co/
http://rezscore.com/
https://www.resume-check.com/


There are loads of online scanners like the above.

People like to read achievements and the effect your success had on the company ie PROFIT Do not list the whole job the description; they couldn't care less, keep it very brief.

Here is a snipping from the experience section.
Feb 2000 – July 2001: Network Engineer - ITCompany
Acceptance into service and third line network engineer troubleshooting.
Day-To-Day administration and configuration of Cisco ASA & Checkpoint firewalls and switches.
Achievements:
# Enhanced skills in communicating directly with customers, which provided more repeat business for the company.
# Increased team productivity by 60% using Python scripts to automate manual tasks.
# Enhanced troubleshooting techniques of Cisco configuration, resulting in 20% less time spent on resolving major incidents.

The first two sentences have been tailored to match the job description, great for software scanning.

As for the achievements, nobody came to me and said.. "great job, here's a gold star" I simply made them up.

Google a job and reverse engineer the description to create your CV.

If you take away anything from my waffle above, keep it brief and make the words count.

Best of luck

agrinnall wrote: »

would almost certainly be found out even if she did get the interview.

who by the CV police?

Hence, "just be very confident that you do have the skills to back those lies up."

agrinnall wrote: »

What is the "white lie" that might get her to the 1st interview? From what I can see, she'd have to tell a whopping great out-and-out lie to be considered

Agreed this would be an outright lie, but Sally could also have a project management certification to back up her skill set.