CV help or advice

Bufger

The best CV i ever saw was by a graphic design student and it was a classic example of how to tailor your CV to suit the job you want. He was going for a job at a large graphic design agency in london and he made his CV look like a parking ticket. He even had some adhesive sleeves made up to put the cv into and then he stuck them onto the cars of the directors in the company.

They gave him a job instantly even though they werent advertising positions as they need creative people.

Obviously there arent that many professions where you can go to these lengths but its a good example.

juliescot

One other thing to bear in mind if you are giving an email address as a contact try and have a "sensible one".
If possible yourname@emailprovider.com

Looks more professional than
youwillnotgetabettercandidatethanme@yahoo.co.uk or
iamsosexy@hotmail.co.uk etc etc

ysatiss

Standard CV layouts seem to change a bit over the years... I think the sort of expectations these days is along the lines of
Name and contact details at the top (no date of birth)
Then a section with a summary of your profile, that should be a couple of paragraphs highlighting your main skills.
3rd section is Professional experience, starting with the most recent and going back 10 years. For each job you should put dates (if possible months and years, maybe just years if you've worked at the same place for many years), job title, company and main duties/responsibilities. I believe bullet points are better than big paragraph of text, but still try to have sentences for each bullet point. Also avoid using "I" (so your bullet point could start with "maintaining excellent relationships with customers..." rather than "I maintained ..."). For each bullet point, try to say what you did, how and the result/benefit.
The most recent job should be the biggest part on your CV (mine is nearly 1 page out of a 2 pages CV), unless it is irrelevant to what you're applying for or you weren't there very long (compared to previous jobs). For older jobs, you can just have a few lines to briefly describe what you did.
The next section should talk about other skills such as IT packages you can use, or languages.
The following section would be training and education (you don't have to put dates, recruitment agencies should even take them out if you do in order to avoid age discrimination)
Final section should be hobbies and interests. Try to find something a bit original. Reading and socialising aren't the most valued! Try to include something that suggest you can work in a team if your job would require you to.
End with "references available upon request"

I would stick to 2 pages as much as possible, although 3 is acceptable as long as you have a lot to say.
Finally, the common sense bit... Most of you would be shocked at how many spelling or gramatical mistakes are on CVs. If the language isn't your forte, get someone to proof read it for you. Nothing worse than a CV with spelling mistakes to someone who knows how to spell! It might even send it to the bin...

I hope this helps!!!

Fire_Fox

I've always been taught to make CVs bare bones factual - a list of qualifications, workshops attended, job titles and dates etc. up to a maximum of two pages. Then all the skills, hobbies and personal qualities goes in the covering letter so you can tailor it to the job you are applying for. I have only ever not been offered one job I have applied for, and always got an interview!!

zippychick

Hi All, some really good advice. I have a template a friend sent me but it's too fussy and spaced out. it is annoying me! Keep putting it back and putting it back - but I need to just get on with it.

regards online presence - my facebook is private but doesnt have anything terrible on it. I do have another online profile on it, with blogs about when ive been really sick in the past - would i be better getting the blog stuff etc off it?

it is so hard to know which advice exactly to follow

trying to do it now!

I am being made redundant from a job ive had for 9 years, so that smy background. Pretty terrified.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

My CV is three pages long. I have two small boxes on the top right hand side. First one has address in it. Second one has DOB, Email, Tel and Mob numbers. My name is bold and underlined on right nhand side and then i go straight into my work details. I have bullet pointed the main roles of each position but i have also put why i left those roles (Some roles have only been year long assignments so i have pointed this out as i know during the processing stage some companies thought i wouldnt stay long because of these jobs) It goes on to my education and then finally my hobbies and interests. Ive put in that section i like to horse ride, read (i put the current title of the book im reading so that this can be an ice breaker if they are interested in same books etc) ive put about spending time with my family, crafts and going to the gym. I find this section is important. I once got a job interview because of the hobbies i had put - The other person was interested in my theatre work so decided to interview me. (This wasnt the only reason obviously but she said she was "drawn to interview" me to find out more)

Ive also got on there that i have a full drivers licence and 1 dependant

I found a little bit of chop and changing on my CV did wonders, I once worked 3 jobs at one time (days/evenings and weekends) when i was 16 and took out the bar work and weekend job and just left it as office work, it looked so much better and in the end thats what represents me in interviews.

I start a new job soon and am leaving behind recruitment, We have had some corkers of a CV. We once had an email address which was xxxx_hornybabe@xxx <<!!!!!! was they thinking! my email address is my name @hotmail cant go wrong with one of those but even silly things like typing errors and layyouts matter. If you havent spell checked your words docs when trying to get an interview, chanes are you wont do it in work and as you represent the company that doesnt go down to well lol

Hope ^^ helps

Mom x

P.S - if interviewers search my name on google they get a document about some art work i had hung in a gallery when i was 10 hehee facebook is better being blocked. Id remove the blogs if theres things on there that shouldnt be (well u know what i mean!)

and for gods sake please DO NOT PUT A PIC ON YOUR CV IT LOOKS ODD lol

Empty_pockets

Seen a couple recently.

Note,

Do put your name on it,
Do put your phone number on it,
Don't put your e-mail address if it's 'threetimesanight@hotmail.com'

Seriously!!

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Empty_pockets wrote: »

'threetimesanight@hotmail.com'

Seriously!!

Ive seen some like that lol soooo funny - and they wonder why they dont get interviews

zippychick

That's really helpful. I'm trying not to freak out here, and am just putting up quick replies between typing bits up!

If you google my name , up comes a whole lot of gig stuff ive been involved in - running metal charity gigs, All ages metal gigs, and my bebo probably

Thylacine

What you do with your CV depends a lot on who you're sending it to. Within my industry the current standard seems to be two pages, consisting of:

* Personal details (name, address, contact, LinkedIn profile if you have one).
* A brief (one to two sentences) description of what you "do" that covers as succinctly as possible your career goals and why you're good at it.
* Employment history. But feel free to crop it (with a note that more available on request) if it gets long for whatever reason. Bullet points where possible, outlining key responsibilities and any big successes you may have had in the role (eg "Planning for event X with over Y visitors").
* A list of key skills and qualifications relevant to the job you're applying for.
* Education highlights. I'd advise only listing the most recent, and/or the most relevant.
* Note that referees are available on request.

Key thing is to keep it simple and factual, so you can highlight your successes without coming off as a braggart