To date I have largely gotten by without the need for a CV.

My career to date has been primarily public sector (Health, LA, CG etc) where the application form seem favored over the CV.

I’m looking at changing jobs and as such am in the process of applying for something new.

This requires a CV and personal statement.

I’m happy with the statement bit but less so with the CV part.

Any pointers/examples/help?

looking to create something agile, dynamic and one that the ground comes a live under the feet of the reader ……. 😉

Attention to detail. No spelling mistakes, all your headings the same size, columns aligned consistently etc. If you get that wrong it doesn’t matter what you write because no-one will read it. As “a live” is actually one word and no-one says “gotten” or “favored” outside of the US, I’d respectfully suggest you also ask someone to be a proofreader rather than relying on F7.

Ignore anyone that tells you it must be a certain length. Getting to the point is good, but a CV is as long as it needs to be. I’ve seen CVs where people have crammed three pages of information into two pages because of some fictitious ideal someone once made up, and it looks bloody awful.

Bullet points, as many as possible.

Focus on the most attractive skills and experience you have to offer, instead of just listing your current duties with no thought for their relevance to potential employers.

🙂

Bullet points. So for each position held, something like this:

My role did this this with a team of so many people. Key responsibilities included:
• blah
• blah
• blah

Try an avoid ‘excellent communicator and able to work as part of team or under own initiative’. every time I see this I quietly weep.

and a photo, include a quality photo that reflects your intelligent dynamic personality*

*not serious about this bit

The above* + Tailor your CV to each job that you apply for.

If you want to get a job as a bike mechanic then the CV for that job should highlight the parts of your experience related to bikes, fixing bikes, drinking tea and eating biscuits. If you are going for a job that requires IT skills then highlight everything that you have done that relates to those skills and so on.

* not the picture

Try searching for Blue Sky Resume.

Takes you step by step on how to put one together and they way you work through it really helps to make you realise what you are good at which helps greatly in the interview.

Good luck.

Tailor your CV to each job that you apply for

This, many times over. There is no such thing as a generic CV. Bit of a ball ache to do but well worth it.

If you get that wrong it doesn’t matter what you write because no-one will read it.

I’m ore interested in what the content tells me, rather than whether they were anal enough to waste hours formatting the thing. YMMV.

one man’s good CV is another’s nightmare. it’s very subjective. If you keep it short but to the point and it has no spulling mistaks then that’s all you can do. Do not include a ‘personal Statement’ they are pointless and annoying. Say what you have to in the covering letter and make sure you sell yourself there without the use of cliches and tag lines [shudders].

Make sure it has at least 2 modes of contact info on it – nothing worse than not being able to get in contact!

I’m ore interested in what the content tells me, rather than whether they were anal enough to waste hours formatting the thing.

I disagree, running a spell check, proof reading and passing it to a mate to check doesn’t take hours but does show that you care.

I worked for a shameful year in recruitment, we had a good laugh at one CV for a guy that worked in publishing that included the line

‘experianced poof reader’

Make it clear and easy to read. Do not underline every word (seen this twice now!) Use a comedy email address or title you first paragraph ‘attention to detail’ when you have just sent a generic cv and not bothered to even change the job title from the last application….you would be amazed how many terrible cvs there are

I disagree, running a spell check, proof reading and passing it to a mate to check doesn’t take hours but does show that you care.

Well, having been responsible for the recruitment of a number of people over the last couple of years, I can safely say it was what was in their CVs, how they performed at interview, and what their referees had to say about them that won them their jobs, not the presentation of their CV.

Avoid fanciful formatting. Write it in notepad first so you can focus on the content and not the presentation. Bullet points and how you demonstrated the skills you claim to offer. Tailored to each job application.