Best value for money CV Writing service/Help me with my CV

Chuzzle

Hi

I know its probably not very moneysaving to get your CV professionally written for you but I am worse than hopeless at trying to sell myself on paper . I seem to be fine in the interviews but my CV seems to let me down so I don't actually get as far as the interviews. Can anyone recommend a fairly cheap (but good!) CV writing company? Or will anyone online re-write mine for free????

dave4545454

post it on here, lots of people with cv writing experience will help you. don't waste your money with these cv writing services

Chuzzle

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ATWqDTJFIYcEZGd6OXBzMm5fMGd2NHE1cmM5&hl=en

Ok never gave it a thought about posting on here!

The formatting has gone a bit odd, but I think you get the gist of it. You'll see I've done nothing to sell myself at all but thats cos I'm at a loss as to what to put on there. Do I need to list ALL my GCSE's & ALL my jobs? Do I put my DOB on there somewhere?

briona

Chuzzle wrote: »

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ATWqDTJFIYcEZGd6OXBzMm5fMGd2NHE1cmM5&hl=en

Ok never gave it a thought about posting on here!

The formatting has gone a bit odd, but I think you get the gist of it. You'll see I've done nothing to sell myself at all but thats cos I'm at a loss as to what to put on there. Do I need to list ALL my GCSE's & ALL my jobs? Do I put my DOB on there somewhere?

Hi Chuzzle

First things first, there's no need for a DOB on a CV as (a) employers are not allowed to discriminate against you on the basis of age, and (b) anyone who was interested could more or less figure it out from the year you did your GCSEs!

As you are not a recent graduate, you need to change the order of your CV so that your employment comes before your education, and these need to be in reverse chronological order, e.g., newest employment first. I think you need to give a bit more information about each role, particularly your most recent one as something like "Collating orders ready for other staff or myself to pack" is not very informative. Ideally you would have enough information to give two or three bullet points about each role, for example:

June 1998 – June 1999
Company Name, Town
Sales Assistant
• Serving customers in store.
• Dealing with customer enquiries by phone.
• Inputting invoices on to the computer.

The employment section would be followed by your education, again in reverse chronological order. I would be tempted to leave off the A Level as a 'U' grade is not worth mentioning, and as your GCSE grades are not outstanding, it would be enough to simply say GCSEs in English, Maths, etc (give full list of subjects) or 9 GCSEs including Maths, English etc (list only the few employers would be interested in).

There's always some argument as to whether interests are relevant on a CV. On the one hand, your interests could show you to be a good team player, or a willing volunteer etc; on the other hand they may serve no other purpose than to give a potential employer a small insight into your personal life. In this case, as your CV looks a little light on information, I would be inclined to leave them in for no other reason than to fill space. A one page CV is not a problem, a half-page CV looks a little empty!

If you need any assistance the layout, I am happy to help out. I have done a few CVs for people on MSE, and I assure you that I am trustworthy!

Briona

Anihilator

Also remove "references on request". If you dont want someone contacted until your offered the job then put it in the covering letter.

References being withheld should be strictly for senior management roles or those where reputation/contacts are highly relevant.

Also remove the bit about managing 4 people and change it to something like "effectively and efficiently leading a team in dealing with customer service and sales enquiries".

I also would remove all education other than to say " such and such GCSE's"

doobiesis_2

I thankfully got a job on Friday, and when I was at my interview, the guy said to me that I stood out because I didn't have my life story and that my CV was only two pages long. He also stated if it was more than two pages he got bored and stopped reading it. My advice is to make it fit the job you're applying for like I did. I know it's a lot of work but seriously if a future boss says that they liked your CV for being short with only the information relevant to him. Then I must of done summat right.

Good luck.:o

doobiesis_2

Also, having just looked at your CV you kindly posted. Take off your hobbies, an employer is not the slightest bit interested in this. Also, you only need to put the GCSE's you should take out the Summer 89 bit.

You also are in the same line of business as me, would you like to see mine? Also, too many jobs on there put them into a more readable format maybe use a table (You have an RSA so you should know how to do this) this just makes it all abit neater and easier to glance at. Should also be putting on the name of the company (or were these taken off for the purpose of showing us?) Let me know if you'd like to see mine.

Anihilator

I would also add your CV seems to have not a high turnover but a reasonable amount of jobs with you jumping between a few specialities.

I would suggest the older jobs you list the company, the job title, dates and not much else, also try and be slightly createful with the job titles so they sound similar and show advancement. If a CV has lots of similar jobs every year or so or completely different career tracks I would be asking why unless it was obvious advancement.

Willsnarf1983

doobiesis wrote: »

Also, having just looked at your CV you kindly posted. Take off your hobbies, an employer is not the slightest bit interested in this. Also, you only need to put the GCSE's you should take out the Summer 89 bit.

I disagree, hobbies show that the person has a life, can also depending on the hobby show they can interact with other people, it can show if someone has a drive to succeed or be competitive (most likely with people that play sport!)

So put your hobbies down as a person can tell alot from them!

Will

Moneywastingexpert

Just to add my thoughts (I'm also looking around for a job, so am in the 'CV-centric zone' or I like to think that I am )

As has been mentioned, reduce the GCSEs to the number of passes.

Also add more detail to the last three jobs to show the kind of skills you picked up.

Personally , I do have hobbies on my CV. I think the best thing is mention the one's that show skills required for the job. For example your hobbies are all solitary affairs whereas your job history indicates you're seeking roles that involve a great deal of interaction.

Chuzzle

Morning Guys & Gals

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas.

Here is my 2nd attempt. http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ATWqDTJFIYcEZGd6OXBzMm5fMWNtdnpuZmhq&hl=en

I've left out my name & company names on purpose, obviously they will be included on the official CV

Now I need your help on the covering letter as well, absolutely hopless me! The job I am applying for is Administrator/Secretary for the Architectural Services Department of a local estate agent & Auctioneers. Main reason I am applying is because I'm bored with my current job! Other reasons are i want more money (had to take a 5% paycut earlier this year), and we've made several people redundant this year and if we make anymore then office staff are to be next and as I have only been there 5 or so years I'll be first out. I like the sound of this job as its a different type of trade iykwim I've never worked in. At the same time I am looking to stay for several years, even though my job history would suggest otherwise . My jobs have had to fit around my young family, they are no longer young enough to need to rely on me so much, I think the 2 most recent jobs do show that I am capable of lasting more than a few months! The job before my current one my reason for leaving is because the office manager took a dislike to me and made me feel awkward, I left before it go too bad.

Here is the wording of the advert .....

We are a multi-disciplined firm and our busy Architectural Services Department is looking to appoint an Administrator/Secretary.
Excellent IT Skills required, good communicator, must be organised, accurate and capable of working on own initiative and within a team. Full-time position.