Should i dumb down/reorganise my CV?

SilverCloud_2

Hi,

I've been applying for jobs since August and had 3 interviews since then, all of which were unsuccessful unfortunately.

I am starting to think however that the problem lies in my CV. I graduated from Law in summer and so i put my qualifications near the top, however all the roles i have been applying for have been basic admin. Its not that i am applying for anything that comes my way, i genuinely decided very early on in my degree i dont want a career in law, and hence im looking for an entry level role and so all i seem qualified to do is the general admin stuff that comes up. (I want to eventually go into HR, but even HR admin jobs require exprience and certain qualifications, which i dont have at the moment)

So my question is do i need to explain on my CV i dont want a job in Law? Because im starting to think they take one look at this and think why on earth am i applying cos ill soon run away! Another reason i think this is because 2 out of the 3 jobs i was interviewed for didnt ask for qualification details on the job app, the 3rd interview was working with a probation officer so here my degree was kind of relevant.

So..

on my CV should i explain i dont want a career in Law?

should i put my experience section before my qualifications (im kind of wary of doing this because i only have some admin work experience and both of these are from last year, hence not very recent)

Also, when applying online ive tended not to include a covering letter..thats probably very silly of me, but i assumed because it was optional and many of the job ads are very vague that i didnt need one as my CV could do all the talking. But is this wrong, do you have to do a covering letter for every online job app?

scheming_gypsy

If it isn't relevant to your CV then you might as well knock it off.

From my experience, recruiters want to see what you can do rather than what bits of paper you have. So my experience comes first, then skills, then education and then personal profile. Although some agencies tend to have a generic layout so they'll copy and paste the info from your CV into their format.

KiKi

Hi OP

To be honest, I doubt your degree is stopping you from getting admin roles. Lots of people have degrees who are in admin roles or roles which aren't at the 'level' or sector they trained for if lawyers, doctors, teachers etc.

It's much more likely to be because you:
a) don't have enough experience
b) are not tailoring your CV to EVERY single job, being very specific
c) not tailoring your covering letters, using keywords and linking their 'wants' to your experiences

Your CV is not the place to explain why you don't want a career in law. Sell yourself to the job they are advertising - put in the covering letter that you really want to move into HR, or admin, or whatever. Make it positive about that job, not negative about your degree.

Put your quals first, as you don't have recent experience.

Yes, always do a covering letter. If they don't read it, they don't read it. But if they do, it may just grab their attention. Obviously, don't send a covering letter if they tell you not to, but perhaps put one or two lines in the email (if applicable).

HTH
KiKi

KiKi

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

If it isn't relevant to your CV then you might as well knock it off.

Sorry, I disagree here! If it was someone with a current job with current experience fair enough. But if you are just out of uni, then showing that you've held down a job, even if not relevant, I think is very important.

And if that experience is not recent, then I would usually put quals first as some recruiters won't look further than experience and assume you've got a large gap in employment.

I think your profile and skills should come first and be tailored. Very short sections, then launch into experience where you have it. Otherwise quals then experience.

KiKi

Wyndham

You need to stress what you DO want to do, not what you DON'T. The covering letter is a good place to do that, and you don't need to explain that you don't want to go into Law - that should be obvious enough from the application.

In terms of your CV, you could try putting experience first, then qualifications later, and see how you get on. If it doesn't make a difference, you'll know it's not that. But it's tough out there at the moment, and there are lots of graduates going for all sorts of jobs. It was the same when I graduated nearly 20 years ago, but I've had a good career since then, so don't get disheartened!

scheming_gypsy

KiKi wrote: »

Sorry, I disagree here! If it was someone with a current job with current experience fair enough. But if you are just out of uni, then showing that you've held down a job, even if not relevant, I think is very important.

I'm looking at the 3 interviews since August and thinking that people may be put off by the fact the OP could be using it as a gap filler.

planning303

If you are applying for perm positions directly to companies and struggling to get in due to work place experiance, possibly signing up to some admin temp agencies (office angles springs to mind) might help...

They'll be able to get you into short contract work, covering sickness / maternity / holidays etc and wont care if you are using it as a stop gap as it or not

Once you've got some work experience get back to applying for the perm positons (or you might find that one of the temp jobs offers you a perm role any way)

HTH

PurplePow

When I first finished Uni, temp agencies for admin work were the most uninterested - as I didn't have the experience. I got lucky in the end by applying for an admin job in the public sector done solely on an assessment day and standard interviews. I was very lucky to then get an internal seconmdent to working in HR, which then enabled me to move elsewhere in HR.

SilverCloud_2

Thanks for all of your responses, they really helped.

Temp agencies dont seem to be much use in my experience, they seem flooded with people to choose from, so im just applying directly.

Im going to try and tidy my CV up a bit and make sure i do a covering letter. If im applying online, how long should it be?

scheming_gypsy

SilverCloud wrote: »

Temp agencies dont seem to be much use in my experience, they seem flooded with people to choose from, so im just applying directly.

by doing that you're reducing available jobs as a LOT of employers go through agencies as it means they don't have to hack through the paper work.
There's no reason why you can't apply direct while being with agencies. It just means you've more chance of getting a job

claire16c

KiKi wrote: »

Hi OP

To be honest, I doubt your degree is stopping you from getting admin roles. Lots of people have degrees who are in admin roles or roles which aren't at the 'level' or sector they trained for if lawyers, doctors, teachers etc.

It's much more likely to be because you:
a) don't have enough experience
b) are not tailoring your CV to EVERY single job, being very specific
c) not tailoring your covering letters, using keywords and linking their 'wants' to your experiences

Your CV is not the place to explain why you don't want a career in law. Sell yourself to the job they are advertising - put in the covering letter that you really want to move into HR, or admin, or whatever. Make it positive about that job, not negative about your degree.

Put your quals first, as you don't have recent experience.

Yes, always do a covering letter. If they don't read it, they don't read it. But if they do, it may just grab their attention. Obviously, don't send a covering letter if they tell you not to, but perhaps put one or two lines in the email (if applicable).

HTH
KiKi

I agree. Dont knock your degree off. Dont knock your jobs off.

Write a good covering letter and tailor it to the jobs.

If you knocked your degree off the employer is going to wonder what you were doing for 3 years!

dont say anything about not wanting to do something in law - employers know that not everyone does a job that exactly follows their degree course.

I would also send your cv to companies who have good HR depts to try and get your foot in the door even if they dont have jobs advertised.