I use Verdana – 14pt for headings and 11pt for body text.

No joke – I just read a report from a paediatric occupational therapist that was entirely in Comic Sans. FFFfffuuuu…

That wasn’t from my mum, was it? She submitted her OT degree dissertation in comic sans.

No way am I getting this down to one page, one and three quarters if I’m lucky!

Might add a summary at the top as well though, which will take me back to where I started.

:S

So how do I achieve this ‘impact’ that everyone keeps talking about?

Is it obvious if you’ve used a basic template from Microsoft word?

I’m more or less redrafting my CV from scratch as until recently there wasn’t much to put on it. Its concise, and bullet pointed, so I’m hoping that however many other CVs a recruiter has to read, they’ll pick up everything they need off mine wether it has ‘impact’ or not.

Anyone got any tips for speculative CVs?

So how do I achieve this ‘impact’ that everyone keeps talking about?

Is it obvious if you’ve used a basic template from Microsoft word? to me “impact” is more about the content (and ensuring the key parts are jumping out) than style / format. Yes its obvious if you use a MS Word template – but that is not necessarily a bad thing unless you are applying for a design type job.

Its concise, and bullet pointed, so I’m hoping that however many other CVs a recruiter has to read, they’ll pick up everything they need off mine wether it has ‘impact’ or not.

mmm… unlikely! most recruiters are crap at it, most CVs don’t properly highlight the relevant job skills amongst all the other less important stuff. In the current climate MOST adverts get many dozens of applicants.

Anyone got any tips for speculative CVs?

it would be interesting to hear what others say – but in the present environment I wouldn’t send speculative CV’s unless I had a name of someone who might be interested – and probably had spoken to them on the phone.

So how do I achieve this ‘impact’ that everyone keeps talking about?

Be really, really good at the job you’re applying for.
Really, your cv can be the most amazing sales pitch ever but if you get to an interview and you’re not up scratch, everyone is going to be really pissed off.

Whilst I like to see the key stuff highlighted on page one (technical skills) I also want to see a good breakdown of previous experience, highlighting where the required/desired skills were used. I’m happy with CVs around 4 pages, anything more is usually someone who hasn’t tailored it for the role. I really don’t want to have to do a telephone interview just to find out if the person has the experience I’m looking for.