CV Advice please.

mo786

Hi,

I have a four year gap, (last worked 2004).

I am stuck as how to cover the four year gap in my CV: do I state 'looking after young family' ?, I did do serious eBaying for about 2-3 years until it went quite, do I mention that or would that put off some employers ? Or something else ?

I work in IT and went to India for some courses to update/refresh my skills, can I put this down in the employement section of my CV (by doing this it will show current activity) or should I stick it in the proffessional qualification section.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Mo

reheat

Gaps are always tricky, and I would think the worst thing would be to say nothing about the gap. If you give an employer the impression you vegetated for 4 years they will rapidly lose interest. If you show good reason (looking after family has to be one of the best surely) then say so. The eBay thing shows commitment - they would most likely want to know what sort your business was/is). And anything which shows you have the gumption to improve yourself also has to be worthwhile.

And in case it helps ... I am in IT also, and I spent a lot of time following bad - albeit well meaning - advice about CV formats, much of it from supposed experts. I then stumbled on this article which helped me tremendously - everyone now tells me I have a very good CVs. Though the article is about 6 years old and aimed at contractors, it is still very relevant.

One more thing, which I would not normally presume to be so picky about, but you will have to run your CV and cover letters through a spell checker. I mention because there are a couple of typos in your post .

Finally, when a recruitment agency asks if they can send your CV into a client of theirs, check if they are going to edit your CV or not, and say you want to send them a cover letter to include with your CV. Look at the client company's website (the recruiter should tell you that by this stage), and home in on what you feel the client company is looking for, what you can bring to their party.

I still haven't got a job myself yet, but as I've gone throught this learning process I've definitely been getting more interest from people.

annie-c

In the career section put down that you had a career break to rais young family
In 2 subsequent bullet points note (1) that you have had a part time home based sales business and (2) that you have kept updated in IT Skills - and cross refer to the quals section.

As someone who has recently interviewed for staff I can honestly say that career breaks on CVs did not bother me. The main thing I looked for was how far each application met each of the criteria I specified on my job description. Secondly I looked for evidence in the tone and content of the form that the people were willing and hard working.

I think it is a good idea , wherever you can, to ring and speak to the prospective employer to find out more about what they are lookign for. Then you can tailor your CV/Application form appropriately and send a well written cover letter to explain why you would love to have this job now.

LittleVoice

reheat wrote: »

One more thing, which I would not normally presume to be so picky about, but you will have to run your CV and cover letters through a spell checker. I mention because there are a couple of typos in your post .

May I add that it is not just a spell-check which is needed. As well as the two places where it would pick up errors in the original post, there is also another typo which would not be picked up - "quite" instead of "quiet".

However, I'm sure Mo would be taking more care in finalising a CV than in posting on MSE!