Reduce size of CV but keep knowledge/achievements?

trailingspouse

When an employer is looking at a CV, they will also have the job spec in front of them. They will skim-read the first half of the first page looking for things that tie in to the job spec. It's easiest to do if the CV uses the same words as the job spec (that's why you need to tailor it for each job). They'll only read the rest of the CV (if they read it at all) if you make it to the short list.

So, if the job spec says 'must be able to call a spade a spade' and you write 'I know a shovel when I see one', it's likely to be missed. However, if you write '10 years' experience of calling a spade a spade in a variety of industries', it's more likely to be noticed.

Don't make it difficult for them. They don't have time to wade through pages and pages of verbiage that may or may not be relevant.

ssparks2003

For my sins i have reviewed 100's of CV's, time is precious and i need people to provide me the relevant information in a concise manner; so any CV that is more than 3 pages is rejected without reading.

ohreally

Energize wrote: »

Good lord, get rid of sex, dob, marital status and nationality asap! Not only is that stuff completely irrelevant but there are all kinds of discrimination concerns.

This is why cv's should be retired in favour of application documents, cv's rarely comply with equality legislation.

engineer_amy

ohreally wrote: »

This is why cv's should be retired in favour of application documents, cv's rarely comply with equality legislation.

Theres also cultural differences to consider - I would say the vast majority of UK nationals (or long term UK resident) would know not to include their photo on a CV, however this used to be standard practice for eastern Europe. When the UK labour restrictions were lifted some years ago and we got an influx of Polish workers, we had to ask our receptionist to remove/cut off any photos from CVS before they were handed to the consultants, simply to avoid any bias, intentional or not.

lincroft1710

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

From my experience of corporate business, just put that in your CV and no more. They will hire you like a shot.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Wyndham

You may want to consider a 'functional' or 'skills based' CV. I've had several jobs, and use this format. Page one is basic personal details, then four or five 'skill' areas, so I have one for Communication Skills, one for Project Management etc. Each of these is a header then a few bullet points. I have many things I could put in here, but have several and swap in the most relevant to the job. The second page is then a little about each place I've worked, followed finally by qualifications and professional training. I do have an interests section, which is short, and is sometimes in, sometimes not, depending on space.

The advantage is that it's easy to tailor for each job, and the information they are most likely to be interested in is on page 1.

My marital status, nationality, date of birth and gender are none of anyone's business at this stage, and I would not dream of including them on a CV.