CV help needed

[rhino_neil]

Is there anyone who would be prepared to give my CV a once over this Sunday?

There's an internal post come round which I need to get my CV up and ready for next week.

Any help gratefully appreciated.

Comments

[pharrap.livejournal.com]

This is the CV advice I received on the self-marketing course I took on
Tuesday. Use or ignore at your leisure.

Things you need:

Full name, centred, bold

Contact details. Address can be on one line, phone and email another. No
need to put "phone:" or "email:" (it's obvious what they are and it uses
space)

Personal Profile. A one paragraph statement of how great you are. The
first real opportunity to sell. Mine currently starts "A versatile IT
professional with ten years industry experience in the full project
development lifecycle, strategic planning and customer service." although
I'm not sure how to finish it yet.

Employment History. Including responsibilties and especially achievements.
He recommends 5-6 "skill statements" for your most recent job and up to 3,
if they are relevant, from one or two previous jobs. Skill Statements are
bullet pointed paragraphs of achievements which should try to include what
and why you did something and some measure of success "Designed and
Implemented a system for Roll Tracking on the business-critical Z-Mills
improving availability from 70% to 95%".

All this lot should virtually fill page one. It's the only page people
properly read so it should include the good stuff. Moving on to page
two...

Name again, in case two pages of CV get separated in the pile!

If there's more then a summary of other employment, again only where
relevant, perhaps with a line of "part-time employment history available
on request" or "employment pre-1990 available on request" or similar. No
need to list every burger joint job when you were a kid!

Qualifications, Education, Training. Again emphasise where relevant,
contract down as small as possible where not.

Interests. Brief descriptions of up to 3 interests. Avoid the following
"boring five" unless you have something special to say about them:
reading, walking, swimming, DIY and gardening. Reading might be OK if
you're in a reading group, for instance, and can talk passionately about
the subject.

Age/DOB if there's space, perhaps lumped under a "Personal Details"
heading with Interests.


Stuff to avoid:

The words "curriculum vitae". Everyone knows what document it is and it
takes space.

Irrelevant fluff like health, vital statisitcs, family, marital status,
driving license (unless it really could be relevant, like the job
specifically asks for it).

It doesn't matter school you went to or which specific GCSEs you got.

Leave off references. Don't even mention references. Let them ask you for
referees at interview.

Salary expectations: can only (1) lose you a job or (2) get you a lower
salary for a job you get. To discuss at interview.

Reasons for leaving current job, again can't help your CV so be prepared
to discuss at interview but don't write it on the CV.


Printing and formatting stuff.

2 pages should be on 2 sheets, not double sided on one.

Don't staple together - remember photocopying will happen - so attach with
a paperclip if at all.

Use 100 GSM paper, off-white is OK (cream, ligher grey) but always
remember it'll be photocopied. Photocopy it yourself and make sure it
comes out ok.

Bold is good, italics and underlining are bad.

Avoid stupid fonts, but moving away from Times New Roman might give some
impact. Verdana, Arial are both quite good. Try to keep most of the text
at size 12. Main headers at 14 perhaps, although creative use of bold or
caps can emphasise headers without taking up too much space!

Avoid borders, boxes, decals or anything else that makes your CV look more
like a diner menu or a tombstone. (almost his exact words ;)




I don't suppose it's an exact science but any advice is always handy.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for that.

Its actually going by attachement on an work intranet, so no hard copy at my end.

[rhino-neil.livejournal.com]

and Oi 'O'-levels if you don't mind - I've worked hard to be this old!

[silverixnay.livejournal.com]

If you email it to me at sannah at arafel dot org dot uk I'll read it over, apologies my English is pretty shocking, but I can usually help sell other people.

[morecake.livejournal.com]

I would, happily, but somehow I think I'm in *no* position to be offering CV advice!

[rhino-neil.livejournal.com]

Thanks to everyone.

silverixnay, I'll do some work on Saturday and then send it over.

ta