Cv Writing, just found this free 40 min online course , what do you guys think?

danilejacob2020

Hi guys, like many I have been left out of work recently and currently looking for other roles. I came across this free online cv writing course on Udemy and would like to get some more opinions on the course from others who take it? 

Check it out and Let me know what you think below?
Udemy.com/course/cvmasterclass/

TadleyBaggie

Ummm, new poster pushing an online service. Not suspicious at all...

danilejacob2020

I just thought I’d share it as I can imagine whoever has made it just wants to help people with sharing their experience... 

Dox

If it's free you can check it out for yourself and see what you think. You don't need other people's opinions when your only investment is 40 minutes of your time.

kinger101

I wouldn't waste your time.  His profile is littered with the type of vague statement employers hate.

https://www.udemy.com/user/andrew-james-148/

I'm sure there's plenty of free advice out their, but I wouldn't rely on one source.

My advice would be always include a cover letter.  At worst, nobody will read it.  But if they do, it shows you thought more carefully about how your skills match the role, and have been motivated enough to explain why you're applying.  One page should be enough.

Second, always tweak your CV for the job.  If they can't see a fit by the first half page of CV, it's not likely you'll be interviewed.  The recruiter will probably know you've tailored your CV, but that's more likely to be taken as a positive.  You've taken time over the application for their post rather than just send of the same CV to hundreds of employers.  

It's better to focus your efforts on a few vacancies you're well suited to than using a blanket campaign of sending the same CV to hundreds of jobs.

danilejacob2020

kinger101 said:

I wouldn't waste your time.  His profile is littered with the type of vague statement employers hate.

I'm sure there's plenty of free advice out their, but I wouldn't rely on one source.

My advice would be always include a cover letter.  At worst, nobody will read it.  But if they do, it shows you thought more carefully about how your skills match the role, and have been motivated enough to explain why you're applying.  One page should be enough.

Second, always tweak your CV for the job.  If they can't see a fit by the first half page of CV, it's not likely you'll be interviewed.  The recruiter will probably know you've tailored your CV, but that's more likely to be taken as a positive.  You've taken time over the application for their post rather than just send of the same CV to hundreds of employers.  

It's better to focus your efforts on a few vacancies you're well suited to than using a blanket campaign of sending the same CV to hundreds of jobs.

Thanks for the advice! Out of interest what sort of statements do you mean? I don’t want to be making any of them! 

danilejacob2020

Dox said:

If it's free you can check it out for yourself and see what you think. You don't need other people's opinions when your only investment is 40 minutes of your time.

I thought it was good and it covers a lot of what kinger advises below but open to other people’s views so I can take the best from all round! 

Middlestitch

danilejacob2020 said:

Dox said:

If it's free you can check it out for yourself and see what you think. You don't need other people's opinions when your only investment is 40 minutes of your time.

I thought it was good and it covers a lot of what kinger advises below but open to other people’s views so I can take the best from all round! 

So you want other people to spend 40 minutes of their time reading this so they can give you an opinion?

Sandtree

The problem is that CVs are marmite and what one person hates another loves. I've submitted my "traditional" CV to some agencies and gotten back an email/telephone call saying that clearly have everything they are looking for but the CV is old fashioned and only suitable for junior roles. I've rejigged it and the agent has been happy with it and then submitting that new CV to another agency and get told that I've fantastic experience but can they have a more orthodox chronological CV.

On another role before applying the agent forwarded the anonymised feedback he'd received from the hiring manager on the other CVs to date. Whilst I've not seen the CVs they related to that hiring manager put a fair amount of focus on the "personal statement" saying both a few were odd for not having one and another was odd for apply to a Programme Manager role with the opening sentence being "I am a qualified accountant".  Outside of that were lots of comments on spelling, grammar, readability, use of acronyms and mixed tenses. Unfortunately there was some less clear feedback like "I feel he could clearly do the role but his CV provides insufficient evidence of this".

I am a strong believer in the covering letter too!

danilejacob2020

Sandtree said:

The problem is that CVs are marmite and what one person hates another loves. I've submitted my "traditional" CV to some agencies and gotten back an email/telephone call saying that clearly have everything they are looking for but the CV is old fashioned and only suitable for junior roles. I've rejigged it and the agent has been happy with it and then submitting that new CV to another agency and get told that I've fantastic experience but can they have a more orthodox chronological CV.

On another role before applying the agent forwarded the anonymised feedback he'd received from the hiring manager on the other CVs to date. Whilst I've not seen the CVs they related to that hiring manager put a fair amount of focus on the "personal statement" saying both a few were odd for not having one and another was odd for apply to a Programme Manager role with the opening sentence being "I am a qualified accountant".  Outside of that were lots of comments on spelling, grammar, readability, use of acronyms and mixed tenses. Unfortunately there was some less clear feedback like "I feel he could clearly do the role but his CV provides insufficient evidence of this".

I am a strong believer in the covering letter too!

Interesting! I think I will look at a few different courses and things to see the different opinions. I think I will almost certainly include a cover letter as that seems to be commonly suggested.  Thanks!

kinger101

danilejacob2020 said:

kinger101 said:

I wouldn't waste your time.  His profile is littered with the type of vague statement employers hate.

I'm sure there's plenty of free advice out their, but I wouldn't rely on one source.

My advice would be always include a cover letter.  At worst, nobody will read it.  But if they do, it shows you thought more carefully about how your skills match the role, and have been motivated enough to explain why you're applying.  One page should be enough.

Second, always tweak your CV for the job.  If they can't see a fit by the first half page of CV, it's not likely you'll be interviewed.  The recruiter will probably know you've tailored your CV, but that's more likely to be taken as a positive.  You've taken time over the application for their post rather than just send of the same CV to hundreds of employers.  

It's better to focus your efforts on a few vacancies you're well suited to than using a blanket campaign of sending the same CV to hundreds of jobs.

Thanks for the advice! Out of interest what sort of statements do you mean? I don’t want to be making any of them! 

"Hi there & [too lazy to type "and"] welcome to my Udemy profile. I am a Career & CV expert [never heard of that, what is it ?  And how is that expertise quantified or qualified?] with extensive [what is extensive?  Six minutes?  Three centuries?  Why not specify] corporate [meaning?] and recruitment experience which I am now on a mission to share with a global community of individuals [what is a global community of individuals?] seeking to develop themselves [develop themselves how?], land that dream role and to take the next step in their career journey".