[Closed] What makes you read or throw aside a CV ?

then 2 min later you get there cv through

If I was commanding £100k+ I'd hope that the person landing me that job would be marginally more competent at English... No offence!

So we've had:

If anyone uses a font other than helvetica or times new roman they can **** off.

And

Times new roman would land your CV in the bin.

So you also need to be able to read minds.

I'd personally just say to use a simple, professional font. TNR is generally 'safe', as boring as it is. Comic Sans etc just no. Never.

+1 for not applying for 2 jobs. Most big companies will have a recruitment portal. I could see applicants for my jobs and the other previous and current applications the person had made. One external candidate had applied for 80! roles in total and had 14 live applications. I didn't even read that one.

"Cinema, cookery and Reading

Actually we find these great topics. They are opportunities to get people talking on a non work subject which can relax them and make the interview easier. Don't put them down unless you are prepared to talk about them though. Don't put down reading unless you are actually reading something at the moment

Facebook is always an interesting one and at least once a week is the cause of some hilarity in the office.

Its a cliche but true nonetheless - there has to be something unique to catch the eye.

I like the way recruiters give the impression they are efficient and have method.
I applied for a job some time ago and spoke to an agency who said I didnt have the right skill set. I worked out who the company was and sent them my CV and a speculative application.
I was interviewed twice and they offered me the job. I refused it in the end and glad I did as they went into liquidation a few month later.

Point is many recruiters are simply there to keep apllicants and employers apart.

CV's are difficult - make sure it talks about your skills and experience though, there is nothing I hate more than saying; "So you have an item here about piece of work X, tell me about that" and the reply being "Oh, well I didn't really work on that"

Then don't put it on your CV - bye now!

I throw them if they are written on Toilet Paper.

Comic Sans is an appalling choice for a CV. Same with any CV where people write in big text to fill out space.

I had a conversation with one of the guys leaving our department (a temp) about his future plans. I asked him whether his CV was up to date and in order, and he responded that his girlfriend (a recruitment consultant) helped him with it and he had it out to eight pages. After that gem, I didn't really need to wonder why he wasn't in his next job yet...

My cv and cover letter seem to work pretty well for me. I just keep it simple with contact details at the top of page 1, basic education details, list of software and equipment i have experience in, then on page 2 i have my 2 previous places of work, out of work interests and references. Cover letter always tailored to the job/ad. Gets me interviews, just I'm not always great in those!

I always use the same font for everything, tahoma. Times and arial are boring and I don't use calibri as its the default font for word, just seems a bit "cba"

jfletch - Member

Might just be me but even a slightly miss aligned paragraph signifies the applicant doesn't have an eye for accuracy and detail and given its a document [s]you[/s] your whole career could depend on it really should be correct.

BigButSlimmerBloke - Member

- brevity apart from the above. 1 or 2 paragraphs [s]int he[/s] in the covering letter, 2-3 pages of cv

Check it, check it again!

All good comments, I am off to check my CV and remove the Comic Sans and family pic!

7 Years in executive search for the big 4 and others.

Keep it simple
Use a decent font
List your major achievements and skills on the first page. Stuff more than 5 years ago isn't of much interest initially.

If you're in sales list your targets and achieved for the last three years minimum on page one - at the top - in bold.

Tahoma is ok its clean modern looking (I have just checked), Times NR is old fashioned typewriter style which to me gives the wrong impression.

Now - font size. < 9 = bin, > 12 = bin.

So a question I have been wondering about for a bit...

Do you bother listing the responsibilities of your previous roles?

for example, PM role...

- risk/issue managment
- budget management etc...

Or is it better to use the valuable space for achievement style statements like

- picked up a failing business critical project and turned it round to become a success....

I have gone for achievement based but it niggles me things like risk management aren't explicitly mentioned, however it is bloody obvious you have to do those things to be a successful pm....

I am also amazed at the people who are so particular about font and the such, you could be excluding candidates who would be perfect based on your opinion of a rubbish font? Really? When CV's get to me, unless it is terrible I look past format / font / spelling to see what the person is actually trying to convey.

I also have 'keen cyclist' on my CV, I actually want to be asked about this in interview, shows the interviewer might be human, might be a nice person to work for and may even be interested in bikes too, making it a more attractive place to work. Interviews are 2 way.

I was told years ago to use coloured paper to make the CV stand out in a pile, is this still relevant?

DT78 - re. fonts and stuff, I won't bin something just because I don't like the font, but I will if it looks like a total dog's dinner, particularly if written communication is part of the job role!

I'm generally recruiting for my own business (chalet / bike / snowboard/ski holidays) so spelling isn't necessarily a deal-breaker as it's hardly required for the job, but it's got to look like you've at least made an effort - making an effort IS a big part of the job.

There's a lot more to a CV than its format. Bearing in mind that many CV's arrive on the person responsible's desk via an agency who will have butchered it, screwed up the formatting and generally given a poor impression of you, it shouldn't be that hard to make your CV look professional. If you can't work out for yourself what looks OK then I don't want you anyway.

Any nonsense about a font that doesn't conform to expectations, or a personal statement is either in an area with too many candidates or a manager who has no idea how to do selection and recruitment (beyond irrational selection criteria). Do you want to work for such a person?

On the other hand if you are going to claim to be computer literate or 'experienced in word' etc - then if you have obviously used the inbuilt templates, or are all over the place in layout then I'll see through it. Anyone claiming to be an expert in Word or Excel should be happy if the interviewer asks them to write a macro, use some pivot tables, produce h or vlookups and apply conditional formatting and insert table of content/figures in a document. If you mean can use it - then if it is a specific job requirement, describe it as competent or regular user - but don't over cook it.

I like to see some hobbies / interests on there. Last time I was interviewed the headhunter had removed that from my CV and the interviewer commented on it being odd I hadn't mentioned life outside work!

xcgb - coloured paper is a bit of a risk, it makes you look a bit wacky. I did get a couple of interviews when I left Uni using off-white paper, but I probably wouldn't do it now. 99% of the CV's I see are electronic anyway.

I would expect specific detail of only 2 or 3 previous jobs max, no point giving detail of your tea making days.

So, role title + employer/location + dates. Followed by two statements
1, the responsibilities of the role
2, what was achieved.

I would be aiming for two pages for the whole CV so you can expand on this as much as space allows.

Also, for Gods sake, don't take everything a recruiter says at face value. A lot are phone jockeys who play the numbers game, have no knowledge of your sector and don't understand the needs of their client or you. SOME are excellent, most are average, some are actually damaging to your prospects. This is from both 16 years dealing with them as well as 5 working at one of the UKs largest IT recruitment groups.

#1 tip - read your own damn CV. It's a sales document; would you but what this person is selling?

I'd disagree with a couple of other points here. I like to see interests on a CV as it personalises it; the CV should tell me about a person not read like a D&D character sheet. Also it's easier to remember "the rock climber" than "the guy with an A in Physics" when discussing and referring back later. Anything (positive) that makes you memorable is a bonus.

Also, the "no more than x pages" line is bobbins. A CV should be as ping a it needs to be and no longer, but that length is dependent on the role and the interviewee's skillset. It should be concise but compromising layout or content to achieve some arbitrary length restriction is pointless.

The other thing which should be apparent is, there's no right answer here. Two similar employers might have wholly different ideas about what they look for in a CV.

Good luck.

Staple a £20 note to the CV - it's not a bribe, think of it as an investment in your career.

What do you all mean by 'personal statements' on a CV? I have always applied for academic posts, and was told that a one-short-paragraph summary of research interests at the beginning could be very helpful. It certainly got me a few interviews.

But maybe that's not the sort of thing you're talking about?

My friend had to turn down an applicant that couldn't spell the name of the town he lived in. Likewise, my dad would throw out any that were in fonts too small for him to read (less than 12), silly lay outs, over eager role descriptions (for say, bar work) etc.

Any thoughts on splitting education and work/industry experience as opposed to putting the whole lot in chronological order? The former looks a bit nicer as it splits up the CV, but the latter means the most relevant/advanced qualifications and experiences will be at the start of the CV.

Lots of conflicting advice! Have spent the last 4 months applying for jobs and not even getting to interview stage, I'd like to ask your opinion on the following aspects of my CV:

- I have a [i]very[/i] short summary about my career and aspirations at the top of my CV under the title “Profile”. Is this what you mean by personal statement, and do you think it should be removed?
- I have included a previous manager’s recommendation quote, taken from Linkedin. Is this acceptable or should it be removed?
- Due to a lack of space (I’m at three pages) I’ve written “References on request” rather than include my referees contact details. Should I condense my CV and include their contact details?

Your advice would be very much appreciated.

Just my tuppence worth, but it seems to really depend on what industry and what level of job you are appyling to. As long as you tailor your CV to each application (and also the covering letter) and it's concise, is someone really going to throw it in the bin because of font/colour/layout? I agree that it needs to look professional and convey an understanding of what 'professional' means in that industry, but other that, really?

Smallpedals. Personally I would remove the recommendation and try to reduce the CV to mainly fit into 2 pages, with a third for affiliations, referees etc (in my academic CV it also includes publications). Although I am finding it difficult to stick to that if there is no separate application form, because I feel like I have to match each "skill" in there somewhere so HR don't bin it before the technical guys have a chance to see my skillset! But that's just my opinion, and I haven't got a job yet!!

My qu to the recruiters would be, how do I convey my broad expanse of knowledge in a sector in just 2 pages whilst matching each of the skills required (with an example)? How would you structure the sentences without sounding like you're ticking off a list?

Simple: Skim-read it in 60 seconds. If you lose interest before getting to the end, discard it.

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1000 yards 🙂

Doesnt any firm use an application formm anymore, i havent applied for a job for a long time.

Simple: Skim-read it in 60 seconds. If you lose interest before getting to the end, discard it

I haven't had time to read through all the posts, so some of this may have been covered.

buzz-lightyear has a real point here. I am in the US and having worked in the UK, know resumes/CVs are written a little differently, but in the final analysis, if you can't wade through it quickly and pick up high points, you lose the interest of the reader.
I read/review in-depth, on average, 20-30 resumes/CVs a day (in the headhunting business) and some lose me in the first 5 seconds. I was told many years ago that you only have about 30 seconds to get the attention of the person reading your resume--if you don't capture their attention in that span, your resume likely goes to the "no thanks" pile, or at best the "maybe pile".
My biggest turn-off is a resume written in a long, narrative style. Just simply boring and you have to read every single line to ferret out the key info. Much prefer the brief summary about a specific position, then bulleted items on responsibilities and accomplishments.

Another thought--having been in the search/headhunting business for 30 years, I have found that what my client companies are really interested in is accomplishments and results outlined succinctly, clearly and briefly. Of course, in different kinds of jobs, i.e. technical/IT/engineering, etc. one has to also convey specific experience with hardware/software/systems/applications, etc.

Things that piss me off on a CV:

Mis-spelling (if you can't be bothered to use spellcheck, it's not great)

Education that goes too far back - if you've got a PHD or MBA, no one is going to care about that GCSE Art B.

TLAs (three letter acronyms) - if they're from a previous job, they won't mean anything to a prospective employer.

Things that look good:

Nice, airy layout - be concise and don't make it look or read like an essay.

Team Sports - seriously, I really think that if you can rub along with other people in a sports team for a long time, you can't be a total arse all of the time (J. Terry esq being an exception rather than the rule!)

Good and relevant points from employment history - not easy, this, but if you can mug up on the company you are sending it to and tailor the experience to their requirements you are on to a winner. Be subtle - this is a subconscious one!

Mis-spelling (if you can't be bothered to use spellcheck, it's not great)

Absolutely right----I hve seen individual rejected for mis-spelled words and bad punctuation

My biggest turn-off is a resume written in a long, narrative style. Just simply boring and you have to read every single line to ferret out the key info. Much prefer the brief summary about a specific position, then bulleted items on responsibilities and accomplishments.

First things first - 2 pages, perfectly proofed, no typos, misspellings or misuses of vocab.

That said, something that's just bullet points actually says eff all about what you did. "In this role I achieved: perfect score at office chair olympics; 100% customer satisfaction; results growth of 12%" - is all well and good, but what was your actual job, and what did you do day to day?
And how does one explain that "project management" actually means "dreaming up a development plan for the company through exploring and designing suitable projects, then managing them to completion" through something other than prose?

I can't believe people who think it's correct to write "CV's" are in the position to give the thumbs down ! Oh well, rejected by an illiterate, can't be so bad.

Mis-spelling (if you can't be bothered to use spellcheck, it's not great)

When my advert says 'chainsaw licence essential', if you don't say you have one on your CV, you will be binned. Annoying as poor grammar and spelling is to me, it's not relevant for the job generally. Looking for the right experience and interest.

Obviously, this is at the opposite end to £100k financial controller and we're not as picky over the same things.

you people use CVs?

Doesnt one get head-hunted?

😉

I can't believe people who think it's correct to write "CV's" are in the position to give the thumbs down ! Oh well, rejected by an illiterate, can't be so bad.

Nobody ever types something on this forum that isn't absolutely, gramatically correct--so I stand appropriately chastised.

Does your spellchecker discrimminate between US and UK candidates?

Good thought--there are obviously words that are spelled differently in the US and the UK, wonder how spellchecker deals with that