CV Help - Employment or Education first?

scottishgirl87

I've been out of uni for 2 years now (graduated in 2008) and have still to find a job in relation to my degree.

I recently carried out a temporary 3 month contract in a role relating to my degree, previous to this I worked in retail (which I had done since the beginning of my course).

I'm trying to re-do my CV seeing as it hasn't got me anywhere so far. Should I maybe put the Employment section before the Education section to show that I have carried out some recent work experience in relation to the role I'm applying for? I have carried out some other work experience relating to the role but this was in 2007.

Or should I stick to listing my degree first?

fengirl_2

Definitely always put work or volunteering experience first - employers are much more interested in your experience and skills than your degree (unless maybe the degree is in something which the job really demands, such as medicine).

Savvy_Sue

Why would employers care about your degree rather than your real life experience in the world of work?

Put what's important first.

Gingerbiscuit_2

Yes agree your real work will matter far more to employers than your degree. As you know so many people have degrees and are yet to find work so its something that you want to advertise.

Ive had so many people send me their CV and they start with their high school education...no I dont want to search through pages to find out where you are working now (same goes for putting recent jobs last!)

Keep it brief I was always told CV should be on one page, if I need to know more I will ask you. I dont need a full outline of every module you have taken.

Good luck

scottishgirl87

Thanks, I think I'm going to go with this.

serious_saver

Do you mind if I ask what area you would like to work in? It can make a real difference to how you should tailor you CV.

I've done reasonably well getting jobs with my CV and I've been complemented on my CV by several employers. I do mainly contract work ranging anywhere from a couple of weeks to 6 months so my CV is REALLY important to me.

Roughly this is how I lay out mine.

Name and contact details – pretty self explanatory

Personal Profile - this is a short sentence describing you in the third person. Make it short, catchy and relevant to the job you are going for. You'll need to sell yourself here because it's the first thing they'll read.

Key skills - mine are bullet pointed and I have between 4-8 depending on the job I’m going for. It can be things like

• Research
• Communication
• Organisation
• ICT including proficiency in most MS Office applications

Experience – here I list all of my relevant experience whether it’s paid of voluntary.I know lots of people put voluntary work and employment separately but for a lot of people starting out the voluntary work is far more relevant than the paid work. I used to arrange this by order of relevance to the job but now that I’ve got a few more projects under my belt I list them by date with the most recent first.

Training – Any professional training you have done. This can include training course you have received a certificate for or simply workshops put on by your previous employers. Under this I have things like health and safety courses and my first aid at work certificate.

Qualifications – I have my BA degree and a City and Guilds qualification. I used to include my A-levels and “10 GCSE’s grade A-C” As the experience section builds up you can cut these back.

References – Available on request. I don’t list references in case my CV is kept on file as they may not be the most relevant by the time a job comes up.

Where possible keep you CV as short as you can. I try to make mine 1 page but it’s started to creep over onto 2. If you keep it short, it doesn’t really matter what order you put things as it will be easy for them to find. The real trick is to find a format that is easy to read and says as much as possible in the shortest space. A well formatted CV shows so many skills on its own before you even start reading it.

I hope this helps.

scottishgirl87

Thank you for the help I will take this into consideration.

I did a degree in events management, however, the last 2 years have got me down and I just feel this might not be what I want to do anymore. The job advertised is in events management.

Half of my battle right now is I don't know exactly what I do want to do!

Gingerbiscuit_2

Meant to say take time and adapt your cv to each job dont say things like "I have superior customer service skills" When the job is nothing to do with this. Or say "Highly motivated team player" Im sorry the job is for you working on your own.

And theres nothing wrong in saying alittle about your self these days everyone has CV sounding the same, add abit about yourself what type of job you are looking for, why you want to move, your personalility and hobbies you never know the boss might have a keen interest in cricket or in french cooking it could just help get them interested long enough to read your CV.

serious_saver

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

Thank you for the help I will take this into consideration.

I did a degree in events management, however, the last 2 years have got me down and I just feel this might not be what I want to do anymore. The job advertised is in events management.

Half of my battle right now is I don't know exactly what I do want to do!

I know how you feel! Everyone feels like that at some point. However events management is a great position to have on your CV for the future. So many jobs call for skills in project mamagement these days and the skills you will get can easily be transferred to other jobs. If I was you I would push your communication skills, ability to build successful working relationships and general knowledge of project management. Any one can show these abilities in their cover letter you just have to believe it youself.

Communications - you're on a web forum right now - that shows you are up-to-date with modern multi-platform communication methods

Successful working relationships - think of a time you got on well with colleagues or clients and solved a problem together.

Project management - Think of a time you succesfully organised something where you had a significant role: It could even a party, a holiday, moving house or (my favourite) travelling. If you had to do it on a budget, even better.

The problem I find with a lot of people's CV's is that they don't realise all of the skills they poccess. They play the skills down and the job ends up going to someone who either exagerates just has a neater looking CV.

By the way I'm thinking about going for a voluntary post as a careers advisor for my trade union so I'd be grateful for any feedback

scottishgirl87

serious_saver wrote: »

I know how you feel! Everyone feels like that at some point. However events management is a great position to have on your CV for the future. So many jobs call for skills in project mamagement these days and the skills you will get can easily be transferred to other jobs. If I was you I would push your communication skills, ability to build successful working relationships and general knowledge of project management. Any one can show these abilities in their cover letter you just have to believe it youself.

Communications - you're on a web forum right now - that shows you are up-to-date with modern multi-platform communication methods

Successful working relationships - think of a time you got on well with colleagues or clients and solved a problem together.

Project management - Think of a time you succesfully organised something where you had a significant role: It could even a party, a holiday, moving house or (my favourite) travelling. If you had to do it on a budget, even better.

The problem I find with a lot of people's CV's is that they don't realise all of the skills they poccess. They play the skills down and the job ends up going to someone who either exagerates just has a neater looking CV.

By the way I'm thinking about going for a voluntary post as a careers advisor for my trade union so I'd be grateful for any feedback

Thank you for all your help, I think your advice has been great! To be honest, I actually think there should be alot more support for people looking for work! Yeah the internet is great but every website tells you a different way of doing thinks. I actually e-mailed Careers Scotland recently with alot of questions I wanted help with and they basically replied quoting what I said and telling me to go speak to my old uni. No help whatsoever!

FATBALLZ

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Why would employers care about your degree rather than your real life experience in the world of work?

Put what's important first.

Completely unbiased, balanced opinion with no hint of chip-on-shoulderism at all.

As somebody with a degree, excellent work history and industry qualifications, my education goes first in a small section, then my work history in the main section, finally my industry qualifications in another small section. However if your work history is weak, you may wish to elaborate on your education more if it is one of your strengths.

This format makes sense in my opinion, as it demonstrates in a sensible order how my career has built up, it shows my grounding in the subject, and how I have progressed myself over time. Once you have your foot in the door though you need your work history and any other relevant information to convince why you should get the job.

Take with a pinch of salt anyone who says employers don't care about degrees and they are worthless. Most of these are borne out of envy. My experience is that your degree gives you a foot in the door, most decent companies don't hire into good positions if you don't have one.