Should i dumb down/reorganise my CV?

**Juice**

I would highlight the things about your degree that would make you suitable for the type of role you're going for in your cover letter/application - e.g. if it's an admin role the planning/meeting deadlines, report writing, communication/presentation skills, typing, etc that come as part of doing a degree. You could maybe use an online programme that works out how many words per min you can type and include that on your CV?

You should be proud of your degree, don't miss it off your CV. My CV is 2 pages long and I make sure that my cover letter is 1 page long - if you're a recruitment manager with hundreds of CV's to look at, you don't want reams and reams to read for each candidate.

AllyS

I used to work in Recruitment, it was pre recession but my advice is:

Don't delete the fact that you have a degree in Law, it is something to be incredibly proud of and that you have a huge amount of dedication to a very complicated degree - concentrate on the positives of having a degree and what skills it could bring to your employer.

The thing is employing someone new is pretty expensive and I am guessing a lot of companies simply do not have the budget for this anymore, so you need to convince them that you are not going to go after the first available job that interests you or pays more

I do know someone that had a Masters in Business and was desperate for money so had a normal CV and a Masters CV, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are totally desperate for a job, it only causes bad feeling at a later stage.

Another tip is to call the company you are applying for a job with, ask for a meeting or tour or just speak to the employer on the phone about the role, make up some questions to ask and sell yourself a little. They will remember you more and be pleased that you made an effort.

Good luck it is not easy job hunting at the mo x

dawyldthing

I've got a similar thing as I failed my final teaching practice. When writing my covering letter I put (before getting the job i have) ' I have decided to have a break out of the education field as I am not sure if it is right for me and I think that a job like this will allow me to apply the skills I have learnt in my degree and in my work life in another role and it would be a delight to work for your company'

SilverCloud wrote: »

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?