can anyone offer me some advice on creating my cv? I, have never had to do it before and when i send my draft off i get no responses, i know i should know at 44yrs old but as i say i have never needed one before.

What do i need to include in it? thanks in advance

No responses doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with it, it just means that the recruitment person you sent it to can't be @rsed to have the common decency to even send you a template 'thanks but no thanks' email. Apparently they're all far too busy to care about the little people.

On a more positive note – you should include name, contact details, brief summary of what you can do, highlights of the best bits you've done, more detail on past employment, and a summary of education, all in 2 pages if poss. No gumph on stuff like how much you like riding an expensive toy around the woods at night or your marital status (unless its relevant to the job).

I will send you template of one I produced for a friend of a friend if it is of any use to you.

Sent you a template to your mail addy. May be useful. Loads of internet sites which may be of help too.

thanks picto will have a look now,
thanks too thepurist

I've just gone through the same process.

A point to consider about the 2 page restriction – it doesn't necessarily apply if the position you're going for is technical. You may need more space to get all your technical skills on paper.

Try not to make it too busy. All the most relevant stuff on the first page. etc, etc.

The job I've just started (a pretty niche role) had 311 applicants for one post. So don't be surprised if the recruiter doesn't get back to you immediately – they've got to do a few sifts of wheat/chaff. I'd given up on this post when they called me back after almost two weeks.

Don't give up. There's a surprising amount of work about at the mo. What do you (want to) do/where are you located?

Make a seperate one for each job you apply for………

If the advert says "We're looking for a dedicated team worker with a good grasp of urea solution thermodynamics"

give examples of those things specificaly
– I'm dedicated to my current job, been ther e20 years etc etc
– I work as part fo a team of X doing job Y and regualarly join other teams for smaller projects.
– My current boss boils my piss

300+ aplicants, 1 position, they'll narrow it down very quickly and based on arbitary things like did you reply to the advert or just send your CV everywhere, however brilliant you are you need to get past that stage.

urea solution thermodynamics

lol

read the job spec and try and tailor the cv to the application. We're in the midst of trying to recruit (junior support/dev role, IT / databases in the city). You'd be amazed at the amount of cv's we get without a covering letter where you look at the cv and the spec and find NO common points of any note. Straight in the bin.