1 Page CV or 2 Page Cv

bristol_pilot

If you have a PhD and a first degree obtained 20 years or so ago, you will look a right plonker if you put your 'O' level results complete with grades on your CV. Just put your PhD and subject/class of your first degree. After 23 years of work experience, it is your experience that will count not your qualifications. The OP is at a completely different stage of his career - he should list all GSCEs with grades and put down any work experience he can (except for the leaflet distribution).

lethal_2

hey thanks for everyone who has posted, My one page CV contains:

- Personal Details
- Personal Statement
- Skills and Interests
- Employment History
- Other Work experience
- Education
- Additional Qualification
- Referees
......ALL ON ONE PAGE

Am i missing anything? Do you think I should spread it out over two pages?

Oldernotwiser

shameless-about-money wrote: »

cvs do require all the information re qualifications, otherwise they are simply not complete!

If you've had a major change of career you don't need to put the qualifications you've used for your earlier career, unless they are still relevant.
The most common mistake that people make with CVs is to include every qualification and bit of experience they have, regardless of whether it's appropriate or not. CVs need to be targeted to the relevant work area and sometimes to a particular job. If you're looking at a variety of work areas you need a variety of CVs; a "one size fits all" CV is really not appropriate these days.

Oldernotwiser

lethal wrote: »

hey thanks for everyone who has posted, My one page CV contains:

- Personal Details
- Personal Statement
- Skills and Interests
- Employment History
- Other Work experience
- Education
- Additional Qualification
- Referees
......ALL ON ONE PAGE

Am i missing anything? Do you think I should spread it out over two pages?

I would have thought you might be better off with 2 pages, making sure that all the good, interesting stuff is on the first page. If you want to have it on 1 page you can save space by saying "References available on request" rather than giving contact details. This is often better anyway as it enables you to tailor your references to appropriate jobs (assuming you have a choice of referees).

lethal_2

Yeah but I would of thought that by doing so it could show the employer that you may have something to hide as you are not telling them the an name/ddress/number of your previouse employer?

Savvy_Sue

how do you show a complete employment record?

Because I was always told that you shouldn't leave any unexplained 'gaps' - you might have been doing something you consider irrelevant to your current application, but equally you might have been staying at Her Majesty's Pleasure!

When I do one now (fortunately not often necessary) I give very brief details of the old and irrevelant stuff, and major on the 'interesting' bits. But it's still a struggle to keep it down to two pages!

Oldernotwiser

lethal wrote: »

Yeah but I would of thought that by doing so it could show the employer that you may have something to hide as you are not telling them the an name/ddress/number of your previouse employer?

Your previous employer may not be the most suitable person to give as a reference, for instance if you've been a student and the job has been part time while you've been studying.

LittleVoice

shameless-about-money wrote: »

I am starting new work - totally new career path. All of the application forms I received required ALL qualifications back to "O" level!

I received my newly signed contract yesterday.

I have a PhD.

This thread was supposed to be about CVs not filling in application forms.

A CV is to get you an interview - you need to make sure you provide enough to get the interview.

The Americans use "resume" as the name for the document. I think that shows that they aren't looking for your full life history. (Don't bother to tell me what CV means - perhaps it is misleading if you forget its purpose.)

LittleVoice

shameless-about-money wrote: »

cvs do require all the information re qualifications, otherwise they are simply not complete!

As I've just written, CVs are to get you an interview. They are NOT meant to be a complete picture of the person. We'd be heading for 45-page documents in that case.

If I want to work in a sports leisure centre, will my "O" level (yes, I'm that old) in Latin have any relevance to work as a lifeguard? No - but my recent life-saving and first aid at work certificates will - so they go on and the Latin doesn't!

Oldernotwiser

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

how do you show a complete employment record?

Because I was always told that you shouldn't leave any unexplained 'gaps' - you might have been doing something you consider irrelevant to your current application, but equally you might have been staying at Her Majesty's Pleasure!

When I do one now (fortunately not often necessary) I give very brief details of the old and irrevelant stuff, and major on the 'interesting' bits. But it's still a struggle to keep it down to two pages!

Apart from certain jobs with security implications (and these will normally have an application form), gaps don't seem to matter so much nowadays. So many people have experienced redundancy, caring responsibilities, gap years, returns to study and other breaks in employment that a continuous working history has become comparatively uncommon! Many people think that a CV shouldn't go back more than 10 years and whilst I don't totally agree with that school of thought you certainly shouldn't go into much detail before that time unless there's a specific reason for doing so.

Nowadays the emphasis with CVs should be much more forward looking; emphasising the skills that you can offer a future employer rather than the more traditional backward looking CV which concentrated on jobs you have had in the past. Presenting yourself in this way is far more dynamic and makes for a more interesting and relevant read.