Who fancies looking over my CV?

...don't forget to say that you look like Prince Harry

[Viney]

Originally Posted by Ed

Maybe it's because you can't spell 'suitable'

I cant spell a lot of things, but the CV is spell checked 100%

Originally Posted by Ed

...and make it interesting. I have a team of 10 and I get unsolicited CVs pretty well every day. Most are based on the standard CV that comes with Word and tell me what great A levels they have. B-O-R-I-N-G. Personally I like to see interests as it gives me an idea of what sort of person they are, most put 'socialising, cinema, theatre' - well don't we all like going to the cinema, but what makes this person different??? - very few put 'motorbikes' and if I see it it immediately jumps out, but then some might think 'thug' and put yours in the bin.

Myne wos like that wen eye stared out init!

I was told to take motorbikes off. My old Cv was 3 pages and rambled on and on. My firend who is pretty good at the onld english language helped me out and its now much shorter. Deciding on a layout was the difficult bit, you read a book that says 'do it this way' then another that contradicts it. Lots of white space is all that did keep coming up, so choose your font, and layout carefully. I find/found that doing your CV is the most difficult thing ever, it shouldn't be as its only about you and what you have done, buts it's thinking about how to put it conciesley (Sp?)

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Viney

I cant spell a lot of things, but the CV is spell checked 100%


Myne wos like that wen eye stared out init!

I was told to take motorbikes off. My old Cv was 3 pages and rambled on and on. My firend who is pretty good at the onld english language helped me out and its now much shorter. Deciding on a layout was the difficult bit, you read a book that says 'do it this way' then another that contradicts it. Lots of white space is all that did keep coming up, so choose your font, and layout carefully. I find/found that doing your CV is the most difficult thing ever, it shouldn't be as its only about you and what you have done, buts it's thinking about how to put it conciesley (Sp?)

White space is good in a CV in the right way. In 2005, my old business partner and I sent out a questionnaire to over 2000 employers, covering all businesses from Blue Chip multinationals to SME's and cottage industry set ups. The most predominant result was that everyone wanted to see the same things.

A clearly defined header containing name, address and contact details. Most wanted date of birth as well.

A consistent structure throughout the CV to make reading easier. So, choose your font style and size and stick to it. If you are going to use bullet points, use them throughout the CV rather than have bullet points under one heading and stars under another.
Make the Headings, underlines, bold type, font size etc the same for each section.

As far as mentioning motorbikes is concerned, it depends on your age. If you are more mature and have 5+ years of work experience on your CV, you can just mention it as being a way for you to unwind in your spare time. If you are younger, I would advise that you mention it, but in a way that will enhance your profile to the recruiter.

Bad example:

I have a motorbike which I love riding on the weekends and spend a lot of my time cleaning. I enjoy being able to get out and explore new roads with friends and feel the freedom that it can give me.


Good example:

I am a keen motorcyclist and find great satisfaction in exploring new roads and expanding my riding skills. I think that it's important to understand how things work and are maintained and so I always do my own servicing on the bike and am constantly looking at ways in which I can improve through taking riding courses, safety courses and training.

The latter shows a level of responsibility that the first example lacks. In a yound candidate, this can make you stand out from the crowd in a positive way. The first example just makes you sound like you go for a blast every weekend.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

A clearly defined header containing name, address and contact details. Most wanted date of birth as well.

Why does this need to be in the header? It is taking up unnecessary space on my front page. The front page is what grabs the employers attention and makes them think bin / further investigation. If they need to contact me, it's because they have read my CV and want to take things further. This means they will have read up to page three where my contact details are or they are probably intelligent enough to look on the covering letter....

I don't get the need for contact details to be the first thing a prospective employer sees.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Why does this need to be in the header? It is taking up unnecessary space on my front page. The front page is what grabs the employers attention and makes them think bin / further investigation. If they need to contact me, it's because they have read my CV and want to take things further. This means they will have read up to page three where my contact details are or they are probably intelligent enough to look on the covering letter....

I don't get the need for contact details to be the first thing a prospective employer sees.

So that when they want to call you, they just grab your CV and there it is, rather than having to look for it. I used to put my contact details as the very last thing on my CV until we did this study.

I totally get your point about not wanting it to take up space though. I have mine like this:-

Cheryl Bray
My Street, My Little Village, My area, My County, My Postcode
Telephone: 00000 123456 Mobile: 07000 123456 Email: myname@hotmail.com

__________________________________________________ _____________

then on with the CV. It looks a little different on my actual CV, but I've just done that quickly without taking care over it.

If I remember correctly, it was well under 10% of the 2000 surveys we had back that didn't choose having this info in the header. To me, that means I advise people to do it. Same with using bullet points to show your responsibilities and achievements in each role instead of using text. Employers want to be able to easily refer to things in your CV when they are interviewing you and that can be difficult when they have to trawl through paragraph after paragraph.


It's all little things though. If your spelling and grammar are correct, you have a tidy CV and your skills and experience match the job role, people won't mind looking for your contact details. I just like to make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to find the information they need as it saves them valuable time.

on the bottom of mine i just have

interests - avid motorcyclist.

i think this got me the job

turns out my future boss has just bought JTs car and we spent half the interview talking about GP racing...

[gruntygiggles]

Also Mike.........if people are using agencies, cover letters ofen don't go very far and are very rarely passed on to the actual employer. I always write cover letters, but when applying on websites like Monster, the cover letters are not always picked up or bothered with, especially by agents, so it's a good idea to keep the contact details on your CV.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by custard

on the bottom of mine i just have

interests - avid motorcyclist.

i think this got me the job

turns out my future boss has just bought JTs car and we spent half the interview talking about GP racing...

Yeah, I think it's important to put everything that you are genuinely interested in (except, "I am a swinger/like to wear a nappy and be spanked)lol. You never know what your interviewer will be interested in, so if you put down all of yours, you increase the chance of finding a common interest.

[Viney]

I have always wanted to put


Month/Year - Month/Year - Worked for Government

Resposibilites - Classified!

Obviously witht he correct spellling

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

If I remember correctly, it was well under 10% of the 2000 surveys we had back that didn't choose having this info in the header. To me, that means I advise people to do it. Same with using bullet points to show your responsibilities and achievements in each role instead of using text. Employers want to be able to easily refer to things in your CV when they are interviewing you and that can be difficult when they have to trawl through paragraph after paragraph.

It's all little things though. If your spelling and grammar are correct, you have a tidy CV and your skills and experience match the job role, people won't mind looking for your contact details. I just like to make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to find the information they need as it saves them valuable time.

Point taken Cheryl, but to me that smacks of folks not thinking about what they want but what they expect to be there. I was advised by a CV 'doctor' during an outplacement exercise not to waste my 'one page advert' space by stating non-essential information such as name and address. I'll certainly be bearing in mind what you said in future though and if I feel I have space I'll include my address in the header.

Good thread this, reminds me I have not updated my CV for ages and my latest job role needs to be added, plus all my new skills.