Any CV specialists?

I've been tipped off about a job I've wanted for years, and been told get a CV ready.

Not done a CV in 15 years, so few questions for those in the industry if I may.

* Should I include a personal statement on a CV these days?

* How crucial is full employment history? Should I go back to days of final education and part time roles?

* Key Skills - Are these worth a section to draw in what key skills are?

On the basis that people get bored within 30 seconds of reading a CV, what order should I be looking at?

Keep it relevant to the role. Put as much history in as you want but keep the older stuff brief unless it actually relates to the role you are after. Personal statments make for wank reading IMO but if you can keep it snappy and relevant then go for it. I don't like Key Skills type sections either, the rhetoric for experience in previous jobs should bring these out.

Well CV's these days are a lot different to what they were 15 years ago.

Avoid saying shit like "i am enthusiastic", "hard working", "skillled". No one would employ anyone that wasn't right..?

No point listing skill like MS Office. It's kind of a given these days.

List your roles, but not the duties, just the achievements.
...

That's all i have now,,


DJ OD

You can't knock a CV together in 5 minutes - these things take time and need tailoring to the role you are after - they are your foot in the door (but i'm sure you already know that). You especially need to make it 100% right if it is your dream job.

I don't know what area you work in, but go on linkedin and look at people in the same/similar field. Quite a few have their CV on their linkedin profile which you can then steal. You can also use some of the jargon they have in their profile too.

If you PM me your email addy i can send you a CV.

Thank for that, great advice. I've been working on the CV for a few days on and off now, and keep changing a few bits, it's not my dream job, but it's a very good step that way, certainly my biggest jump yet career wise.

So, a few don't scenarios I need confirmation on:

- No colours, Black & white only
- No picture (I will be dealing with the public, but it's not a main factor IE Sales role etc)
- No jokes (whilst in my nature, keep a CV strictly professional no mild humour
- lies, don;t lie, in any circumstances, even if it's twisting the truth, expect to be called up on any aspect of the CV and questioned on it

Yeah none of that. When i was recruiting, a mugs picture was bin food. Don't lie, u will be caught out. In an interview you might be asked 20 questions. At least half are the same but asked in a different way to catch the bullshite.


DJ OD

I always kept mine to a maximum of two pages of A4 paper. I must have been given that advice sometime in the old days.

Mine is currently 3 pages with a 1 pager covering letter. I'm waiting on more details on the job to amend the covering letter

I found that CV's that are too long to read usually get binned too! No-one wants to read an essay when looking through applicants. Short, sweet and to the point.
Pick the most relevant things that will catch their eye that match the role and make sure they see it - nothing on page 2 or 3 gets read. It's binned by then!

Yeah 3 pages it too long, as Ivry said rob some one elses and plagiarise ;-)

Thanks chaps. Will have a go at condensing.

I have a standard sort of template cv, which I will customise for each job I go for: as said, expand on some previous roles that might be relevant to the vacancy and condense other jobs that aren't whilst trying to keep the cv to a couple of sheets. If the vacancy is advertised, I also note down 'key words' they have used in the job description and use those terms as near to the top of my covering letter as I can. Some years ago, one of the I.T contracts we had with a local authority generally used keyword analysis software to pick out cv's that had those words/ phrases within them and were shortlisted.

You needed confirmation on not lying on a CV? Dude...

No, I didn't, it was more to prevent someone piping up and saying "make sure you don't lie", and also to cover the aspect of a "white lie" by stretching the truth with any figures/facts etc.

Stage 1 of the CV must have been OK, have an interview for the role on Wednesday coming!

Got offered the job today :) Great way to end the Friday.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BigBrand

Got offered the job today :) Great way to end the Friday.

---

congratulations