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Unread 30 May 2006, 13:59   #1
Demon Dave
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CV Help

Like most Uni students at this time of year, I'm trying to get some temporary employment so that I can earn some extra ma-honey. I've got a CV written up, but I would really appreciate any input that anyone has.

Quote:
Name
Address
Date of Birth 11 July 1987 (age 18)
Availability Immediately, until return to University, beginning of September

EDUCATION

Dates
September 1998 - June 2003 Swanmore College of Technology
General Secondary Education to age 16
Qualifications Achieved:
GCSE
Physics A
Geography A
Biology B
Chemistry B
English Language B
English Literature B
Mathematics B
Design & Technology: Electronic Products C
French C
Drama C
GNVQ
ICT Pass
Sept 2003 - June 2005 Barton Peveril College
A levels
Computing C
Electronics D
Physics E
Sept 2005 - University of Hull
Undergraduate student, reading Computer Science with Games Development. First Year completed

PART – TIME EMPLOYMENT

Dates
August 2003 – October 2003 Budgens Stores
Checkout Assistant
August 2004 – September 2005 T & S Stores (One Stop)
Sales Assistant

INTERESTS

Formerly Corporal in Army Cadet Force from August 2000 until September 2005. Represented Hampshire in several rifle shooting competitions.

Member of University 12-bore club (Treasurer as of September 2006)

Member of University Computer Society (Vice-President as of September 2006)
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Unread 30 May 2006, 14:12   #2
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Re: CV Help

i'm going out so i'll give advice later but www.alec.co.uk/cvtips had loads of info

edit : include a small 2/3 sentance summary of each job, what the main responsibilites were etc.
same for the degree, i'd explain a bit more about it.

also no-one cares about your gcse grades, write it is' x GCSES grades A-C'
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Unread 30 May 2006, 14:21   #3
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Re: CV Help

yeh cut down on the GCSE section.

My CV goes:

contact details
Personal Statement
Qualifications and Education
Training Courses Attended
IT Skills
Work Experience (although I just realised I should change this title to Employment History)
Other Achievements

My personal statement is this:
Quote:
I am an enthusiastic Engineering graduate and count my confidence and communication skills among my main talents. I enjoy working in a varying environment in which my engineering and personal skills can be utilised and developed further. This allows me to express my ambition to succeed.
I have regularly demonstrated my interpersonal skills during presentations to peers and previous experiences with clients and I have the flexibility and initiative to apply these skills wherever they are needed.
I am able and willing to work anywhere in the country or overseas if necessary. I have my own car and a driving license.
It's quite a good section to have near the top I think.


EDIT - Oh change your education (and employment) things around as well - most recent first.
Write a bit more about your degree, for example "relevant modules studied" or "Skills learnt" or something to pretend you haven't spent the whole first year in bed.

As far as interests go - try and tailor them to the job you're applying for - do they care that you were a member of the computer studies society? Stress that you were vice-president rather than someone who paid membership and just went along for the piss-ups.
Put what skills you learnt, a bit about what you did (yes you can exagerate) and why this achievement/interest is useful for the application.

EDIT2 - Put more detail in your employment history - what responsibilities you've had, was it part-time or full-time, what skills you've learnt, why what you did is useful for the job you're applying for.
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Last edited by Ste; 30 May 2006 at 14:28.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 14:22   #4
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Re: CV Help

Your interests say "nerd with a gun obsession". Would a boss want to take the risk that you won't go postal if he fires you?
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:06   #5
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
I am an enthusiastic Engineering graduate and count my confidence and communication skills among my main talents. I enjoy working in a varying environment in which my engineering and personal skills can be utilised and developed further. This allows me to express my ambition to succeed.
I have regularly demonstrated my interpersonal skills during presentations to peers and previous experiences with clients and I have the flexibility and initiative to apply these skills wherever they are needed.
I am able and willing to work anywhere in the country or overseas if necessary. I have my own car and a driving license.
I know its not you asking for advice but if I was you Ste I would rewrite that into 3rd person form. Your CV shouldnt include any I's. I would rewrite it something like (and this is far from perfect as its a quick attempt which ive tried to stick close to your own)

Quote:
Is an enthusiastic Engineering graduate who is confident and possess excellent communication skills . He enjoy's working in an environment where his engineering and personal skills can be utilised and developed further.

Has regularly demonstrated his interpersonal skills while undertaking presentations to peers and meetings with clients. Has the flexibility and initiative to apply these skills wherever they are needed.
Is willing to work anywhere in the country or overseas if necessary. Has a clean driving licence and owns his onw car.
As I said not perfect but you get the idea

Quote:
Personal Statement
Qualifications and Education
Training Courses Attended
IT Skills
Work Experience (although I just realised I should change this title to Employment History)
Other Achievements
Additionally Id probally suggest that it goes

Contact Details
Personal Statement
Key Skills (Bullet point list of any key skills relevent to the kind of positions your applying and ideally backed up by qualifications. So if you have say MS Office skills even something as simple as Clait would be mentioned as proof)
Employment History
Qualifications and Education
Other

I guess if your leaving uni with no employment that in any way relevent (and dont dismiss something like like working in a shop as irrelivent as there may be transferable skills) you could put education first but in most cases Employment is more important and should eb first
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Last edited by wakey; 30 May 2006 at 15:14.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:18   #6
pablissimo
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Re: CV Help

Mine currently has education history before employment history only because my previous work experience has been stewarding and bar-work over the course of the year with nothing of technical relevance to any IT job I might apply for.

Also don't forget that you can tailor your covering letter to give an indication of your aptitude for the post before they even read your CV so that they're looking at it in a more informed (or perhaps cynical) frame of mind. I tend to keep my CV reasonably static between different jobs in roughly the same area (for instance I'd leave it the way it is now for office work, web dev or programming but perhaps re-jig it for jobs outside that scope) but the covering letter pretty flexible.

Granted the only thing I've needed to actually give a CV in for of late was for a teaching job but since it was technical teaching I didn't need to make too many changes to the thing.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:34   #7
Demon Dave
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Re: CV Help

Thanks for all the advice. The trouble is, there isn't really a specific job that I'm going for. My general plan was to email some people/drop into some shops and go "here's my CV please give me a job please please please"
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:41   #8
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Re: CV Help

I have been told not to individually list my GCSEs any more by people who sounded like they knew what they were talking about. Just put 12 A*-C or whatever you got.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:43   #9
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Re: CV Help

Well since you've retail experience I'd go with wakey's route and prioritise highlighting that over your education. You can also probably compress your education section by grouping by grade or ignoring grades altogether for your GCSEs and putting them only as having passed them, though that's only if you need the space. I always try and keep mine below or at 2 sides and avoid it looking cramped, if you had an extensive work history then I imagine there might be a need for it to be longer.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:45   #10
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by wakey
I know its not you asking for advice but if I was you Ste I would rewrite that into 3rd person form. Your CV shouldnt include any I's. I would rewrite it something like (and this is far from perfect as its a quick attempt which ive tried to stick close to your own)
The advice I was given from my current manager was to write it in the first person.
It sounds really bad in the third person that you've written it in. If I read a CV written like that I would think "who the hell is he talking about?" or "Did someone else write this about him?"
No. First person for a personal statement is how it should be.

Quote:
Additionally Id probally suggest that it goes

Contact Details
Personal Statement
Key Skills (Bullet point list of any key skills relevent to the kind of positions your applying and ideally backed up by qualifications. So if you have say MS Office skills even something as simple as Clait would be mentioned as proof)
Employment History
Qualifications and Education
Other

I guess if your leaving uni with no employment that in any way relevent (and dont dismiss something like like working in a shop as irrelivent as there may be transferable skills) you could put education first but in most cases Employment is more important and should eb first
In all cases you should write what you think is your most important asset in the eyes of a potential employer.
If it's your work experience that sells you better then put that first, if it's your education or even your other achievements then put them first.
You should think like that for every section and put what is most of interest to the employer first.

For me my masters degree is definately much more of a selling point than my 2 years working in Currys or my 6 months working in a mobile phone shop.
In fact, until I've been working here for 2 years it will stay that way. My employment history is at the top of the second page of my CV and so is still in a prominent position. But I will be employed on the basis that I am an engineering graduate rather than an ex mobile phone salesman.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:52   #11
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by pablissimo
I always try and keep mine below or at 2 sides and avoid it looking cramped, if you had an extensive work history then I imagine there might be a need for it to be longer.
NEVER have it longer than 2 pages unless you have a super employment history.

Noone will read the third page unless you are an outstanding candidate or you're going for a very prominent position.

Mine was kept at a single page until I was near the end of uni.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:55   #12
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Re: CV Help

bullet point the key areas of each job you have done/ experience you have had

you have 30 seconds to impress the employer enough to give you an interview. dont make him read a load of waffle
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Unread 30 May 2006, 15:57   #13
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Re: CV Help

pabs policy of keeping it at no more than 2 pages is the way to go. If its longer than 2 pages people wont read it.

Also it should be full pages, you dont want 3/4 of a page which is white space. If you do have alot of white space you either need to find a way to fill it (perhaps spacing sections a little more or giving a little more detail on skills you learnt or the duties you had) or you need to cut a bit to get or combine a few sections (For example if you did have more places of employment to list then perhaps you could combine some of the older ones into one heading if the jobs were basically the same)
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Unread 30 May 2006, 16:17   #14
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Re: CV Help

Your A-level grades are terrible, so you'd be better off not listing them and instead saying "I have got 3 A-levels". Your GSCE's should be cut down to something like "I have 10 GSCEs including Physics (A), English (B) and Mathematics (B)". You should talk more about your degree and list the skills you've gained during first year, especially if you've done any projects. I wouldnt bother including the 'games development' part unless thats relevant to the job youre applying for, but I would list the programming languages I was fluent in. Your 'interests' section is bad because a) they arent interests, they are positions of responsibility, and b) you shouldnt be listing them without comment, you should be describing the skills and responsibilities you had and why they are relevant to the job. Noone cares that you can fire a gun, but they do care about why you were chosen to represent the college, what you gained from the competition, and so on. Similarly you should be talking about what you done as vice-president and what you have gained from the experience.

Your employment section is terrible for the same reason. You were a 'sales assistant'. Great. Did this involve working in a team? Did you improve your customer service skills? Here's a CV I used earlier this year for something, I hacked it together in a couple of days so its not particularly great, but it shows what I mean by expanding on things rather than making uninformative lists.

Last edited by Nodrog; 30 May 2006 at 16:23.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 16:29   #15
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ste
The advice I was given from my current manager was to write it in the first person.
It sounds really bad in the third person that you've written it in. If I read a CV written like that I would think "who the hell is he talking about?" or "Did someone else write this about him?"
No. First person for a personal statement is how it should be..
You manager is in the minority, most recruiters and such like will tell you the thrid person is better. Yes it flows better in first person but it comes across less like fact and more like opinion. You are supposed to be stating what your good at and throwing in the key words to spark their intrest not telling a story about your opinion of yourself.

My current personal statement for example is

Quote:
A dedicated and self motivated problem solver who is free thinking and approaches problems in a methodical manner. Is capable of working either as part of a team or on own initiative. Has a varied interest and knowledge in computing and is looking for employment in the IT sector.
Its snappy and is littered with key words that describe my skills and which grab the readers attention. It isnt filled with any qualificataions or anything which is mentioned later or would be better placed in the Cover letter. The cover letter is where your supposed to be more personal and suits the first person format better
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Unread 30 May 2006, 16:31   #16
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Re: CV Help

Just a couple of quick ones Nod - to save space you could put "References - Available on request"
It means you have more room for other bits and pieces without going over to a third page. They shouldn't contact your references until after you have an interview and you wouldn't want them to contact them straight from your cv.
(I was told to do that by a recruitment company)

Also, it looks very boring, nothing jumps out at the reader - it's just blocks of text. You should bullet point more rather than write long paragraphs.

Just trying to be helpful...
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Unread 30 May 2006, 16:31   #17
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by wakey
Is an enthusiastic Engineering graduate who is confident and possess excellent communication skills . He enjoy's working in an environment where his engineering and personal skills can be utilised and developed further.

Has regularly demonstrated his interpersonal skills while undertaking presentations to peers and meetings with clients. Has the flexibility and initiative to apply these skills wherever they are needed.
Is willing to work anywhere in the country or overseas if necessary. Has a clean driving licence and owns his onw car.
If I was an employer and someone sent that to me then I would recommend them for psychiatric counselling.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 16:32   #18
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Exclamation Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by Demon Dave
I've got a CV written up, but I would really appreciate any input that anyone has.
You need to list the length and girth of your penis. The best bit is that you can lie to your heart's content, and it'll really impress the employer.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 16:39   #19
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nodrog
If I was an employer and someone sent that to me then I would recommend them for psychiatric counselling.
I did state it wasnt that well written and was just used as an example. If I was writing something to be used I would cut alot of the info out and move it to elsewhere in the cv (for example the Driving licence goes in key skills, the examples of the skills goes under employment and edcuation where your detailing the skills you learnt) and I would also cut out most of teh He's as its implied anyway so isnt needed
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Unread 30 May 2006, 17:06   #20
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Re: CV Help

I know it sounds silly, but when you print off your CV and send it off to employers, print it off on paper that "stands out". This could be slightly different coloured paper, or maybe paper of a better quality.

If an employer is sifting through loads and loads of CVs, one that stands out a little bit will give you a slight edge.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 17:21   #21
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomkat
I know it sounds silly, but when you print off your CV and send it off to employers, print it off on paper that "stands out". This could be slightly different coloured paper, or maybe paper of a better quality.

If an employer is sifting through loads and loads of CVs, one that stands out a little bit will give you a slight edge.
Thats fine when your applying for a specific job and it does seem to help however if your just just sending out a load of spec letters it gets bloody expensive
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Unread 30 May 2006, 17:24   #22
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Re: CV Help

I liked what was in Nod's CV, but I thought it had stuff that belonged in a covering letter rather than in a CV which is supposed to highlight what's in a CV and thought it might be tl:dr as it's just a mass of text.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wakey
A dedicated and self motivated problem solver who is free thinking and approaches problems in a methodical manner. Is capable of working either as part of a team or on own initiative. Has a varied interest and knowledge in computing and is looking for employment in the IT sector
This doesn't actually say anything because it doesn't show how you acquired, developed or executed those skills.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 17:47   #23
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Re: CV Help

Just as a side point I cannot understand why you would get a temp job in a shop, if you join a employment agency then you'll have a job in a week (if you can type) and nobody will ever see your CV, and you'll get an extra pound an hour.

I know this is hardly the question but you really should look into doing office admin for an agency, try find £7 an hour in a retail job.

I was also told to write my personal profile in the 3rd person, but without tweaking it does just sound silly.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 17:52   #24
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Re: CV Help

Definitely compress the GCSE list, but do specifically mention that 2 of them were Maths and English - they're basic skills but the employer cant assume it for low level jobs, so its worth a mention.

Generally flesh it out a lot more - as others have said, giving your course title and job titles tells them nothing about what you actually did, which is what is going to get you the job.

Will you be moving away when you return to uni? It could be worth mentioning that you will be available for part time/seasonal work beyond the start of next term - or not mentioning that there is a limit to your availability at all (though any employer with any sense should realise this). Some will bin you automatically for not being available for the rest of your life, even though their average staff member leaves within a month. This can also mean that for future holidays you have a ready prepared job waiting for you which will save all this hassle all over again.

At interview, be able to provide a neat (preferably printed) list of references, where at all possible providing names, addresses, phone and fax numbers and an email address. As someone who does all the referencing for an employment agency its amazing how much quicker I get round to doing it when all the info is there and ready for me, rather than having to dig around the internet, call people up for addresses, and generally faff about. Always give your most recent employer as a reference. This wont be as 100% vital for shop work as it is for people coming to my agency (social care, where we HAVE to get all references in before we can provide any work) it can't do any harm, and gives a good, organised impression.

Key point for this style of job hunting - follow up! After dropping in a CV/app form, pop in a couple of days later and ask if they have had a chance to look it over, mentioning you are free over the next few days if they would like to interview. CV's and application forms get lost in piles and they wont care about pulling yours out unless you make them notice you
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Unread 30 May 2006, 18:22   #25
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ste
The advice I was given from my current manager was to write it in the first person.
It sounds really bad in the third person that you've written it in.
I'd never write a personal statement/'intro' to a CV in the first person, it reads as amateurish. If you even just Google for other people's CVs the ones that I consider to read as 'good' are generally of the style wakey presents. I've never heard of anyone prefer a CV's personal statement bit to be written in the first person before, perhaps it's just a stylistic thing that some people prefer but it's certainly new to me.
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Unread 30 May 2006, 18:25   #26
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomkat
I know it sounds silly, but when you print off your CV and send it off to employers, print it off on paper that "stands out". This could be slightly different coloured paper, or maybe paper of a better quality.

If an employer is sifting through loads and loads of CVs, one that stands out a little bit will give you a slight edge.
except a lot of times they'll simply photocopy it.
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Unread 31 May 2006, 02:35   #27
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Re: CV Help

right, I've been on Monster.co.uk and have created a CV on there. You can see it here and here
The extra bits of information about my education (not seen in those two screenshots) are:
Uni
College
School
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Unread 31 May 2006, 15:17   #28
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Re: CV Help

Quote:
Originally Posted by lokken
This doesn't actually say anything because it doesn't show how you acquired, developed or executed those skills.
Your personal statement isnt there to backup your 'claims'. Its there to grab the readers attention with impact words. Your personal statement should be backuped elsewhere in the cv (for example under the employment section where you will mention your duties and skills learnt or also at the education stage) or in your cover letter. If you dont grab them in the first few sentances they are more likly to just bin it and explaining how you got the skills just takes valuable space that could otherwise be used for more key words
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