In the past I’ve usually been pretty hot at this kind of thing, but am feeling a little lost these days. Due to a series of circumstances, my CV is punctuated with quite a few gaps in employment in the past few years, and also quite a number of different job roles.

What I want to know is what would you do regarding the CV now. I’m not trying to apply for job roles such as ones I would have 3/4 years ago, which would require the qualifications and experience that I have got, but am a little rusty with perhaps. I’m actually applying for much more casual work, probably less than half the wage I used to earn, with the ability hopefully to allow me to continue going to college a couple of mornings a week come term time starting up again in September…

So what to do? Junk a load of the information where I’ve made some high profile improvements to the companies I’ve worked for before? Just put in some recent, relevant information about customer service and retail type work? Like I say, I’m a bit lost… I’ve always been good at selling myself as such, when I know what I’m aiming at. I feel like I’ve lost the direction, or at least now I have some direction but I don’t know how to aim my CV at it any more.

Help appreciated!

it’s got to be relevant so it sounds like you can lose a lot of detail and I doubt they will be worried about any gaps.

A section at the start describing your transferable skills may help?

A section at the start describing your transferable skills may help?

Cheers, got that, though I could tailor it a bit better thinking about it, as it’s all quite industry specific at the moment.

Don’t obfuscate the gaps. They are there for a reason. Honesty is key here. You can explain why you had the gaps, but can also explain why you have some direction.

As Al says, a little personal statement up top to stress what you can bring to a company and why you want to do so would be good. Tailor that to each application.

Having a “gap” is no bad thing. My CV is littered with ’em, but I still got the job I wanted!

Good luck!

FWIW I have a ton of gaps in mine, unemployment, jobs that duplicate other experience, courses I CBA discussing and/or aren’t relevant to what I am after. I am 43 tho and have done lots of short jobs etc, many duplicated…also applying mostly for work that that experience is not relevant to.

Remember you are looking for pt work to get you though uni…employers will be realistic about this and wanting to know you can do the job, not look for every single weakness in your past.

I think.

I was in the exact same position as you, apart from the college bit. No doubt it is hard out there. The best thing is to be honest. A couple of the gaps in my CV were due to bad decisions by me. Briefly mention the reasons in the content and if the employer wants more information they can ask.

Edit: forgot to add I start a new job on monday that I’m really excited about so it works in the end 😀

I went to a seminar on CVs about six years ago. Basically the man taking it (also called Bill….disgrace to the name) said……….LIE. Thankfully I’ve still not had to do one.

Your CV should be customised to suit the position you are applying for – perhaps you need to be brief on the historical jobs which have lost current context and focus on the more recent skills that you will bring to the job you are applying for.

Career change and working your way through college is takes lots of guts and determination so good luck with it all. 🙂

Would it be wise perhaps, to go into a bit of detail on say the last 3 roles I’ve done, and then just list the previous roles afterwards?

One specific role I’m applying for is in the bike trade, they’ll be keen to hear about my experience of managing customer expectations and my methodical approach I’m sure, as well as having worked in and managed retail outfits, but I don’t suspect I need to go into detail about my significant Continuous Improvement experience etc.

I’m thinking that for this one job in particular, a brief CV might be wise, but with a much more in depth covering letter…

Why not split your work experience into “bike retail” sections and others? Then you can have a bit more detail on the relevant experience. Also tends to hide the gaps.

Why not split your work experience into “bike retail” sections and others?

Last time I worked in bike retail was 11 years ago! NOT so good…

Have much more relevant experience inside the last few years though. And have spent a number of years doing lots of well paid, highly involved jobs that haven’t had so much to do with the skills needed other than managing customer expectations.

EDIT: Basically, without sounding like a big headed prat, I’ve got waaaaaaay more skills than they require for the job, and I fear that in me applying for it they might worry that I’d be trying to take over the business inside a month. Whereas in reality what I want, is a job I can do for 37 hours a week out of term time, and about 28-30 hours a week in term time them allowing me to carry on going to lectures as and when necessary to carry on with my course.

simpelz then – just dumb down the cv 😉

simpelz then – just dumb down the cv

Yeah, but how much? 😕

If you’re going to write “gizza job” in purple crayon on a sheet of A4, that’s probably too far.

Enough so that the hiring manager doesn’t see you as a potential threat to their position of power.

You need to tailor your CV to the job whilst also being truthful – check this link out (it is transferable to other job types)

http://www.caterer.com/careers-advice/cvs/should-i-dumb-down-my-cv

Keep it simple and to the point with a well written (not too lengthy) personal statement and you won’t have a problem.