CV advice, please can anyone help?

katies_mum

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I did wonder!!

What he wants to do it put his CV round some local businesses in the hope that there might be something (this is how he found the last job which at the time thought could permanent). Would you suggest that he just hands his CV in? we thought it might be better with a letter but this is where we are stuck as knowing what to put.

If he is lucky enough to get a job, he would stick at it unless it was really terrible (hubby is quite a creature of habbit and would still be in in job of 19 years had he not been made redundant).

This is why I asked for a little advice as we are a bit out of our depth as to how to approach this.

Thanks.

National_Careers_Service

Hello again Katie’s Mum,

I’m really sorry to hear your husband has lost his job.

I think Slinky has made some good points about tailoring applications. Hopefully tailoring a CV and letter to each role will give him the opportunity to explain to each employer what he can offer that’s relevant to each specific role that he’s applying for and could help him to put across his motivation to apply for the role in a more positive light. Try to bear in mind that, for each role, he is likely to be up against people who specifically want to work within that role. Therefore it’s a good idea to try to do the same, rather than coming across as someone who is desperate for work and will do ‘any’ job to get by. This type of applicant could be perceived by an employer as somebody who potentially might not be a committed and motivated employee.

Looking at the CV that you’ve posted, I can see that he’s spent time thinking about the skills and experience that he’d like employers of a specific type of driver to know about.

When considering putting together a CV, for a different type of role, some of the skills and experience might be transferable to this role, while others might be specific to a particular type of driving role.

Tailoring CVs is all about having a good understanding of what employers are likely to be looking for and using a CV to help the employer to understand how you meet their individual expectations and criteria.

He could begin by thinking about the skills, experiences and qualifications that each employer might be looking for. To help him get started he could focus on a specific type of role, such as cleaning. He can get a good impression of the kind of person the employer wants by reading the job description/advert and person specification for the job (if there is one).

Alternatively or in addition, information in ‘The work’ and ‘Skills and knowledge’ sections of the National Careers Service Job profilescan give him a place to start from. Have a look and see if there are profiles for the type of jobs that he’d like to apply for. He can check out the skills and knowledge required for each of the roles and think about how his own experiences meet the requirements. That will then inform which he needs to emphasise on his CV depending on what he is applying for.

A useful rule of thumb in relation to the layout of CVs is that, as people tend to read from the top of a document down, employers are likely to scan the first half of the first page or the first page before deciding whether they are going to continue to read your full CV.

It could therefore be a good idea to make sure that the key information/sections that he wants to draw the employer’s attention to are included or briefly referred to within the first page or the even better, the first half of the first page.
To help him with this, you might find it useful to have a look at examples of Functional CVs and Targeted CVs.These can make it easier to emphasise his transferable skills, rather than focusing primarily on the responsibilities of previous roles, some of which might be irrelevant.
And you’re right, a CV is definitely better when accompanied by a covering letter. Here are some things you could include:

• explaining why he’s applying for the job – what motivates him about it and how it fits in with his ambitions
• drawing the employer’s attention to the skills that are most relevant to the job
• providing more information about the skills and achievements on his CV, possibly including examples
• showing he understands what the job involves and what and the company does
• persuading the employer how keen he is to work for them.

How does that all sound, do you think it could help him to think about how he could make the most of his skills and experiences for each role?

Good luck!

Emma

katies_mum

Thank you Emma, some great advice there and also from everyone else who has posted replies to help us.

Much appreciated.

TopQuark

Hello OP,

May I ask why your husband isn't doing his CV for himself???

katies_mum

He can`t even switch the computer on! but as soon as our daughter has finished her exams she has said she is going to teach him.