Considering a change of job after 19 years. Haven’t touched my CV in that time so I am looking at getting mine done properly.
Any online recommendations.? (don’t mind paying).

We had a discussion on here a couple of years back (just tried to find the old post but can’t). I found it both enlightening, frustrating and reassuring.

Basically I had asked people on here who recruit, what they look for in applications/CVs. From what I remember, some of the replies were along the lines of

– I throw out any CVs that are on any colour other than white.

– I throw out any CVs that are not in my one and only favourite typeface (which could be anything!).

– If I see a spelling mistake I don’t read any further

– If I see a spelling mistake, I don’t care as the general experience and tone of the CV/application is far more important

– I read all job applications sent to me

– I grab a random handful from the pile sent to me and throw them in the bin unread, as those applicants are unlucky and I dont want unlucky people working for me (!!!! who could forget this comment!)

– I pick a random number out of the pile and never get round to reading the rest

After all that stuff, I realised that you will have no idea if your CV/application will be read by someone decent, someone overwhelmed and desperate or by a total prat.

Having also been involved in a multi person panel interview, as one of the people giving an assessment of the candidates, the same applies. People have preconceptions, fail to listen, choose people by personality even if clearly they will be crap at the job, ignore huge warning signs because ‘I expect he is only like that in interviews’ (he wasn’t and failed to talk to anyone he managed unless forced to).

I even had a colleague tell me they tried to get someone appointed (luckily they failed) as they thought they might like to try to sleep with them at some point.

After the CV/application discussion on Singletrack, I stopped worrying about my own failures and successes at applications as unless you write something really rubbish or give a terrible interview, its all down to chance so much – your own carefully made efforts are just a tiny tiny cog in the process of random human hangups and odd behaviours.

Basically, don’t worry yourself to death over doing a mint perfect CV given what will happen to it once it gets there and what people might read it 🙂 Just do your best but don’t get worried or obsessed over getting it flawless, as there is no flawless due to recruiters own failings and fallibilities.

Personally I know of 2 people who got more professional advice about CVs and neither of those felt it made a huge difference to employment searching as the people who rewrote them turned out to not be all that good at it, despite charging.

I would suggest you do a web search on modern CV styles or go to the local library for a book on CVs – if a book, check the publishing date so its fairly recent and not 10 years old.

Write out a list of stuff you want included about yourself, try to limit it to enough material to fill a single page or 2 at most on the end product CV (the readers get bored with long or complex), then either do it yourself and get someone else to then edit it, or just get a reasonably literate friend to run something up direct from your list and you edit it.

Thing go in fashions too. No one likes photos included with CVs any more – presumably because of anti discrimination laws as photos allow discrimination. You should no longer be asked about your age or marital or children statuses, so do not put stuff like that on your CV.

I would also consider getting a few job application details for jobs you would like and look at what info they ask for, then match up info on your CV to what most companies are looking to find out about you.

Also many people when very keen on a particular job, tailor/adapt a new CV for each application they make, as they can make it fit better to each companies needs. Its not so practical to do that if someone else is employed to write it.

If you do employ someone, get them to give you a computer file copy, so that you can do your own editing. It would be a real pain to have to copy a print only version into your PC by hand.

Hope this helps. Also, don’t get disheartened if no one bothers to even contact you to say you did not get an interview. I know quite a few people looking for jobs the last couple of years and almost no employers even bother to tell you to get lost, its just like you do not exist despite several hours of careful application writing. Its not about you, or you getting stuff wrong. So very many applicants for not so many jobs these days allows employers to be both worn down and heartlessly rude.

Good luck, you will get a position if you keep trying. 🙂

Another memory from the past post on here – some recruiters love stuff about your hobbies and interests and others said they saw that info as a total waste of space on a CV as they want to know about your work experience, not your private life.

See… you just can’t do perfect! 🙂

@midnighthour very good advice. It’s a game of chance beyond being concise, relevant and literate.

I grab a random handful from the pile sent to me and throw them in the bin unread, as those applicants are unlucky and I dont want unlucky people working for me

Sometimes madness is touched by genius.

My advice would be to get your skills listed first, then when you describe your work experience, do so in your own words. A common theme I hear now is that CV’s suspected of being “professionally” written get binned.

Have it proofread !

Thanks guys. @ midnighthour, taking your advice I will probably do it myself.

I don’t think I’d be impressed by a professionally done CV, if anything it would put me off.

Put all the important stuff in the first half of the first page.

I’d leave hobbies and interests out. They take up precious space on your CV (if you’re just out of school then they are worth putting in).

Have it proofread !

+1

If you do get it done by someone else see that as a starting point.

I have always tailored mine to fit each role I apply for as the CV is just to get to the interview. Trying to fit everything you’ve done onto a single page or 2 never works as it would be too much to read properly.

It never fails to amuse me when I see adverts asking for specific detail skills in things that I would never expect to do in a particular role. It makes me think they have an internal candidate they want to get a position or they are naive to think they can get someone to fit another persons experience and skills exactly.

Not a company I want to work for which is why it takes me ages to change jobs when I do. Equally I have walked out of interviews when given a coding test when the role doesn’t involve coding, been asked to attend a second interview at 7.30am to suit a very busy person. Maybe I’m a bit picky though 🙂

I grab a random handful from the pile sent to me and throw them in the bin unread, as those applicants are unlucky and I dont want unlucky people working for me

I think it must be a HR meme as I’ve heard it more than a few times. I doubt it actually happens.

the last few times we’ve tried to recruit, getting enough applications in has been the issue not thinning them down.

If you do it yourself – and it’s not that hard – definitely get someone else to read it through afterwards. Double check for speling mistakes, gaps in your professional experience where you’ve got the dates wrong, and a general impression.

And use comic sans, everyone loves comic sans and it breaks the ice nicely in an interview 🙂

I think it must be a HR meme as I’ve heard it more than a few times. I doubt it actually happens.

It definitely happens – I’ve seen it done.

Write out a list of stuff you want included about yourself, try to limit it to enough material to fill a single page or 2 at most

I’ve said this before but, being clear and concise is more important that shooting for an arbitrary page count target; a CV should be as long as it needs to be. By definition, a CV for a highly skilled or high profile role is going to be longer than that of a school leaver wanting their first minimum-wage job. I’ve seen CVs where folk have used tiny fonts and no white space to achieve the “no more than two pages” goal and it looks bloody awful.

What Midnighthour says is true though, in that there’s no right answer. What any two recruiters are looking for could be completely different and you’ve no way of telling. If they receive 200 applicants for a post, the first cull is likely to be rejecting fairly glaring problems – bin all with spelling mistakes or ugly formatting, for example – but beyond that you’re into the realms of guesswork and luck.

I’d leave hobbies and interests out. They take up precious space on your CV (if you’re just out of school then they are worth putting in).

I always liked to see them personally, especially if you’ve got interesting hobbies. Anything that makes you stand out (compare “shall we interview the bare-foot skiier?” with “what did you think of CV #137?”) is a good thing IHMO. But, see the previous paragraph.

And use comic sans, everyone loves comic sans and it breaks the ice nicely in an interview

As an aside, I pulled up an engineer the other day whose internal emails were all in Comic Sans. He told me he’d done it intentionally cos it winds people up. (-:

What level are you going in at and how much are you likely to get paid?

If you’re going in senior then you’re probably looking at using headhunters or search agencies, they’re worth speaking to first, and can probably help with your CV

If you’re going to write a CV, learn that the plural of CV is CVs, not CV’s. Same as BMWs, ISAs, PCs, HGVs, etc.

OK a student’s CV handed in for ‘mock interview day’. Have removed his name and details so I don’t get sacked.

Personal Statement. I’m highly motivated I also have a good sense of humour I’m hard working in secondary school I achieved GCSE grades

Skills. Good at creating conversations and good at meeting new people

Education. GCSE
The ***** School
• Chemistry – C
• Physics – C
• Biology – C
• Math’s – C
• Spanish – C
• History – E
• English – C
• English Literature – C
• Resistant Material – D
• Betec P.E – Merit
• General studies – D 05/2014 – 06/2014

Work.

vet
****** veterinary 06/2012 – 06/2012
cleaning out the kennels, Cleaning out the theatre

Interests & Hobbies. My animals are my interests as I have got to take a lot of care of the animals and also I like online gaming occasionally

Achievements. I have got a reptile licence what allows me to breed reptiles of and variety

Referees. • if any references are needed I could get it for you

Seriously if you can do better than that then you are winning!

To be honest, I’ve seen worse.

He’s a got a reptile licence

Sales?

Learn how to use apostrophes and apply your new knowledge throughout the CV! 😉

The best part of it all was he handed it in late so I couldn’t get it edited for him.

Oh well, hopefully he learns from this.

Although I don’t think he will.

with grades like that I think they’ve found their level

cleaning out the kennels

I’ve seen CVs where folk have used tiny fonts and no white space to achieve the “no more than two pages” goal and it looks bloody awful.

Did the CV say they had excellent communication skills?

worst i saw

Hand written three different colured inks used and an oily footprint on it

Wnated it photocopied insisted it was good enough

Favourite questions [ when completing the pro forma for a CV]

What does education mean?

Me – just leave it blank

If you want to e-mail me I can send handouts and advice

Hilldodger – he got let into our 6th form.

Somehow.

I think he is currently failing biology, chemistry and maths.

I’m a recruitment consultant, well, sort of, close enough for this discussion anyway. My advice is:

3 pages max, 2 is ideal. Make sure you have interesting stuff in the first half of the first page, stuff that will make the person want to read on to page 2 or 3. This interesting stuff will the headlines that will get you your next job.
Font is, within reason, unimportant. Ariel, Tahoma, Calibri, all fine. Comic Sans best avoided as is Times New.
Remove all education bar your highest level. Put it towards the bottom of the CV unless you are recently out of education.
Remove all experience more than 10 years old (arguably 5). You will get your next job on what you have done over the last 5 or 7 years, expand that out.
Treat it as a sales proposal. Every word should be there to sell yourself, no waffle and nothing that would not be considered a positive to you.
Think about what you want to do and make sure you CV is written towards that goal. Emphasis the experience you have that will make you most suitable to the job you want.
By extension of the above, you could have 3 or 4 different versions tailored to different kinds of job if you’re going for a couple of different things.
Get it proof read by a member of the grammar police, some people really bother about this, others don’t but it’s worth doing.
Personally I like to see interests but it’s a bonus, if you have the space put them in there, if you don’t have space then leave them out.

Hope that helps, if I can think of anything else I’ll post it up here.

Your doing well if a person reads your CV …

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-20255387

That article is a bit sensational but there is some useful stuff in there about key words and the like. It happens when the CV is views by people as well, “ctrl-F recruiting” as it is sometimes known.

We’ve had some shockers sent into us, including one recently where the personal statement also included ‘I’m looking for a job where they’ll keep me on for longer than 3 months’

TBH – Provided it is clear/concise and relevant, the rest is down to chance.

+1 for getting it proof read.

euain – Member
Learn how to use apostrophes and apply your new knowledge throughout the CV!

But don’t take lessons from rickmeister 🙂

It was from Viz:

EMPLOYERS: Avoid hiring unlucky people by immediately tossing half the CVs into the bin.

About a lifetime ago I was in charge of govt dept for employment covering a sizeable chunk of Northern Australia, and also a senior member of the Inst of Personnel Management in Oz.

What I learned from that was that the hardest thing is getting the employer to accurately describe the job so that unsuitable applicants self deselected themselves.

Knowing this I would write a CV that is a bit larger than the job advert.

As a subsequent business owner and employer, the best advice is lunge’s especially if you are being interviewed by the person running the business unit that’s going to employ you rather than a box-ticking HR person.

lunge – Member
…Treat it as a sales proposal. Every word should be there to sell yourself, no waffle and nothing that would not be considered a positive to you….

If you check what AIDA means in adverts, you’ll get the idea.

As far as jobs and hobbies, I’d only be interested in seeing that if it was something that interested me or had potential benefits for the company.

So if you rode SS etc, I’d give the benefit of doubt and interview you. But that’s because I’d be wanting to see if you had been smart enough to have researched not only the company, but the people who ran it.

It’s a minefield and chance plays a larger part than most HR practitioners care to admit.

Have it proofread !

This seems the best advice, and might be the bit worth paying for if you can’t get anyone to do it.

Lunge’s advice above seems spot on.

I’ve recently rewritten my CV from scratch (looming redundancy/redeployment) and trawled a lot of the blog posts at avid careerist which I found helpful.

Dez, confused I am ..

Some great advice. Cheers guys. I am in no rush to leave my current employment, so just keeping an eye out for something that suits me. Having an up to date CV will allow me to send one out if I see a job I like.