Please critique my CV

pinkmoo

Really desperate for a new job... have seen a few I like that I know I would be good at but are at a higher level than I am now. I am intelligent enough to do them, and am a quick learner (hope that doesn't come across as big headed )

I really struggle with my CV as I feel I put too much in... but at the same time trying to let them know I'm varied!!

Please any help advice info would be so gratefully received!
I really struggle on length and the "Personal Profile" bits!! I also worked at two other companies between April 03 and May 07... do I include these too?


Profile:
I enjoy new challenges and learning new things. I am a sociable person and I enjoy spending time with my friends and new people. I enjoy broadening my mind and trying new things.

Key Skills:
I am a fast learner, with a positive manner and am enthusiastic. I am reliable and flexible and a team player and have great communication skills, both written and oral. I am very organised and can adapt to changes quickly. I can pick up new systems and computer programmes very quickly.
I have a full clean driving license and own transport


Career History:

XXXXXX Customer Care Sept 2008-present
Working in both the Admin Team and Communications. I have enjoyed my time with XXXXXX immensely I first started as a member of the Admin Team however my manager decided I would be an ideal candidate for the Comminication Role. I was successful in gaining the role and have developed my skills further and been given more and more responsibility, include some supervisory tasks of a small team.
Key Duties as Communication Coordinator:
• Liaising with departments across the business to ensure all new projects are communicated to Customer Care and trained out
• Working with the Operations Manager to create new processes
• Chairing meetings to ensure the leadership teams are fully appraised of issues and new projects
• Organising Children in Need for the department – we turn the call centre into a Children in Need donation line.
• Organising Christmas briefings and engagement for the Customer Care department
• Maintaining databases of information to ensure product information is up to date and accurate
• Contacting Opticians Branches to ensure their re-branding is going smoothly
• Maintaining spreadsheets of information and “What’s coming up”
• Ad Hoc Admin duties such as mailing customers, and helping the Admin Team when they’ve been busy
• Supervising the Admin team’s holidays and rotas, logging of errors and training out new processes


XXXXX January 2008 – Sept 2008 – Temping Role
Working in the warehouse, going to exhibitions, banking and customer service including debt reconciliation and banking.
Key Duties:
• Taking phone calls from customers in regards to product information, requesting catalogues, placing orders and raising problems
• Processing orders via telephone, fax, email and post
• Ordering goods in using SAGE
• Warehouse duties
• Reconciling BACs remittances and Cheques for banking – allocation them to the correct customer account.
• Setting up new accounts for new and existing customers
• Going on exhibitions to market the company and products
• Checking information on mailing lists to ensure the details are correct
• Using an in-house system for processing orders and checking order status etc
• Liaising with the head office in France via email and telephone
• Developing Mail Merge systems to enable quicker letter writing
• Chasing outstanding payments
• Proof Reading of Catalogue



XXXXt April 2007 – December 2007 – Made Redundant
During my time at XXXXX I worked in the general Admin department, and then was promoted to Meetings Administrator with more responsibility. My duties included:
• Supporting the Meetings Officers in producing timely ‘post-meeting documentation’ as a result of the meeting of creditors:
o Multiple sets of documentation for onward transmission to multiple parties
o Updating of the internal IT system as well as the physical file
• Ensuring that votes are entered onto the system with high level accuracy
• Quality checking the IT and physical file to make sure all relevant documentation is present and correct
• Ensuring the team has all the resources it needs to do its job (stationery; printers etc)
• Updating creditors on meeting outcomes and dividends
• Communicating via e-mail and telephone
• Working as an integral part of the Meetings Team, responding to additional duties as required


Education/Qualifications:
NEBOSH Credit

GCSE’s
English - B
Maths - C
Science - CC
R.E - C
German - B
History - B
Food Technology - D

Interests
I enjoy watching films, going out for drives and reading – I can get lost for hours in a book. I enjoy going on holiday and experiencing new cultures, I enjoy spending time with family and friends.

References: Available on request

Thanks In Advance:beer:

Lokolo

Haven't read in great depth, but there are a lot of 'I's.

I also wouldn't put the reason why you left the jobs, just leave the dates are they are and end it.

ferien_uk2011

I include any jobs I had since since leaving education - that way there are no gaps in my CV. Having said that, I only graduated 5 years ago, you could probably just include jobs from the last five years.

Generally speaking, past roles should be written in past tense (I got this advice from a CV website - if anyone disagrees, feel free to say so).

Think your personal profile needs to be more specific to work and state what sort of thing you are looking for.

Don't think you need to use the word 'I' so often. Instead of saying 'I am reliable and flexible and a team player', you could just put 'Reliable and flexible team player'.

Don't think you ever need to say you enjoy socialising/ spending time with family and friends on a CV as this is true for most people. And the word 'socialising' can imply that you spending all your free time in the pub. You could say you have good interpersonal skills/ communication skills if this is what you are trying to get across.

DCFC79

Yes i second theres alot of I's, my cv was the same, maybe your profile could be a bit more in depth but im not an expert but im just passing on my experience

Naf

Some general advice; specify your CV to the company/job you're applying to. If they want more info they'll ask so include jobs that are most relevant to that job role. Don't just have 'Your CV', have an outline that you can vary depending on what you want. I change the order the jobs are listed, and which aspects of each job I talk about on my CV depending on the type of role and company I'm applying at. I was once told not to litter my CV with "I...I...I" and write it from a 3rd party perspective. I do this on mine, and feel it had served me very well (whether because of this, or despite it I don't know lol). I have difficulty with the profile section too, I don't have a separate section for profile, hobbies, key skills; I have made one paragraph containing all the same information linked together, and it looks longer that way too...

ferien_uk2011

I also don't bother with a hobbies section unless it is relevant to the job.

DCFC79

ferien_uk2011 wrote: »

Don't think you ever need to say you enjoy socialising/ spending time with family and friends on a CV as this is true for most people. And the word 'socialising' can imply that you spending all your free time in the pub. You could say you have good interpersonal skills/ communication skills if this is what you are trying to get across.

ive got socialising on my cv and the next step advisor didnt say to remove it, the word socialising is on an example cv i was given by the next step advisor and sociable is listed as 1 of the useful words you could use in your profile

surely if you say your sociable it shows your friendly etc

also i have an interest sectin adn the advisor didnt say to remove it, theres also interests on the example cvs i got given

PoppyHoppy

Here's my opinion. I'm not a CV expert. I think it's a good effort, but I'd re-jig a few things.
Your profile should be a introduction to you - what can they expect? This is where you do the personality stuff. Avoid socialising info - I'd assume you were out with your pals all the time and therefore expect you to be distracted by this (silly assumption as hopefully we all socialise, but it happens).
Your key skills should focus on actual skills, IT? Numbers? Dealing with difficult situations.
In the employment history you use note form in the intro but full sentences in the 2nd job - best to be consistent. I'd restrict the bullet points to maybe 7/8 max - include whatever are most relevant to potential job. This would then give you space to put previous employment.
I'd ditch the interests, unless your an avid gardener and want to work in the garden department at B&Q, I doubt they're that interested/
Hope this helps and comes across as constructive and not too critical. Happy job hunting!

dugdale_2

I would rewrite the profile as it really needs to sell your skills, not the fact that you enjoy spending time with your friends. Consider writing it in the 3rd party.

Key skills could do with being rewritten too, maybe bullet points

I would add your two previous employers plus whittle down the bullet points for each employer.

Qualifications how about 8 GCSE's including English and Maths

A bit late now but if you like I could have a bash at rewriting it for you tomorrow as I'm off work. What type of vacancy are you actually looking for? Do you have any specific job adverts that you would like to apply for?

Naf

REMEMBER you can make good use of modern word processing for styles/formatting etc to include more info without really taking much extra space.
For example, the title section at the top of my CV doesn't just have my name, in the same space I have shifted my name across and included my address, contact numbers, marital status and other info... but at a glance it doesn't look like its taking up a huge amount of space...

19lottie82

hi pinkmoo -looks good, but if you are looking for some input...

- make the first part of the cv, a list of bullet points, describing your main skills and qualities. try to keep them specific and factual, such as "experienced administrator from a customer service background", "experience of supervising staff", "clean driving and own transport" (V valuable!), and a list of what PC packages you can use and so on, rather than broad statements such as "works well in a team, or alone". This is the first thing an employer will read, so keep it snappy and to the point!

- your profile, key skills and interest sections seem a bit overlapping. Personally, I would just put a short paragraph and the end going into your personal attributes and skills (expand on your key skills section). IMO emplyers don't care that you like to go to the cinema or play badminton!

- include 2 references, try to keepthe whole cv to 2 pages a4 maximum, and finally, if it was my CV, I would take the D in food tech out, I have a D in woodwork but don't include it in my CV, why include a bad grade in a subject that is in no way relevant to the jobs you are applying for?


Hope this is of some help, but as I said, this is just what I think, so don't take it as gospel!