CV advice

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by Col, Apr 9, 2010.

  1. Col

    Col Byte Poster

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    Thought it was time I put my current CV up here to see what people thought. I've not been having much luck getting interviews for 1st/2nd line jobs so far, so there must be stuff that can be improved upon.

    Thanks in advance for any constructive advice/critical maulings that you hurl in my direction...
     

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  2. westernkings

    westernkings Gigabyte Poster

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    I can see why you're not getting interviews. The CV is terrible.

    You have listed your professional qualifications twice? there is no statement about YOU as a professional at the top. The dates on the work experience is difficult to get my nut round. There is no real substance to the work experience, just a job title and a very minute description. Get rid of the Freelance crap, that basically says to me "I've been unemployed" unless you have figures and facts in the description to back it up with. There is no accomplishments in the work experience sections. Hobbies and interests is kind of irrelevant (my personal opinion on that) and skills is right at the bottom? in a nice and exceptionally illegible lay out.

    Layout like this instead:

    Personal Details
    Personal Statement
    Skills
    Professional Qualifications
    Education
    Work Experience (Company, April 2010 to April 2010 (Not 10/10))


    :-) Hope this helps mate.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2010
    Certifications: MCITP:VA, MCITP:EA, MCDST, MCTS, MCITP:EST7, MCITP:SA, PRINCE2, ITILv3
  3. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    In my opinion to add to what WK already said...

    1. Stop mentioning your professional certifications, on the first page you've mentioned them 3 times... Once is enough.

    2. Personally I would list your academic qualifications in highest to lowest order, not date order.

    3. Computer Skills part, you've listed PC programs - not skills. This should be merged and tidied up in the experience summary and renamed to Skills.

    4. Create a cover letter
     
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  4. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    Apart from whats already been said

    Where, when and how?

    This actually goes along with the lack of substance elsewhere, if its proven then wheres the proof? For someone whose work experience is in design and content creation you've forgotten the content in your own CV.
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+, MCDST, ACA – Mac Integration 10.10
  5. Col

    Col Byte Poster

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    Blimey. I didn't think it was that bad.
    I did have a more detailed CV but was told to pare it down to the absolute bare minimum. I guess that particular piece of advice was completely bogus. I guess I'll go back to that one and adapt it.
    Thanks to all for the feedback...
     
    Certifications: A+ Network+ MCP MCDST MCITP
    WIP: CCENT Security+
  6. Len

    Len Byte Poster

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    did you really use a table in your cv? what were you thinking?

    :lolbang
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2010
    Certifications: BND IT Practitioners
    WIP: Comptia A+
  7. westernkings

    westernkings Gigabyte Poster

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    Why would you put the bare minimum? It's designed to get you an interview, missing half the stuff off because you wanted "minimum" is just shooting your self in the foot. As long as it's neat, concise and not full of waffle. It's fine. Catch their attention with the first half of the first page.
     
    Certifications: MCITP:VA, MCITP:EA, MCDST, MCTS, MCITP:EST7, MCITP:SA, PRINCE2, ITILv3
  8. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    From that CV I had no idea you wanted a 1st/2nd line job. :ohmy
     
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  9. Col

    Col Byte Poster

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    bloody hell. Right, tomorrow I'm going to start again from scratch.

    Thanks all...:(
     
    Certifications: A+ Network+ MCP MCDST MCITP
    WIP: CCENT Security+
  10. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    No probs mate, post the new CV when you can. :thumbleft
     
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    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  11. Len

    Len Byte Poster

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    Literally say in your opening statement what sort of job you are looking for.
     
    Certifications: BND IT Practitioners
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  12. GSteer

    GSteer Megabyte Poster

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    Just been through the same thing myself, although had to convert my UK CV into a Canadian Resume, at first I thought my UK one was pretty good but after reading a few books and getting some thoughts I realized that it wasn't as good as I thought, looking back at it now I shake my head.

    I did find the following books had useful information, got them out of the local library, you might want to see if yours has them:

    What Colour is Your Parachute - general overview of job hunting etc with a section on cvs.

    101 Best Tech Resumes - now this one I pulled a load of ideas from and molded in to something that was mine, good for keywords / different layouts / presentation of yourself.

    Games Companies Play - not directed at cvs exactly but was a very interesting read, worth spending and hour or two on, the writings big :)

    Don't overlook the importance of a good cover letter to present the cv either, that's the first document they see most of the time, not the cv/resume itself.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2010
    Certifications: BSc. (Comp. Sci.), MBCS, MCP [70-290], Specialist [74-324], Security+, Network+, A+, Tea Lord: Beverage Brewmaster | Courses: LFS101x Introduction to Linux (edX)
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  13. Col

    Col Byte Poster

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    OK, back for more. This is by no means brilliant, but I've tried to take on board all advice, get all the relevant stuff (such as it is) on the first page and fill in career gaps in the second. It's in PDF format this time because I did the new version on InDesign which I find easier to work and more manipulable than Word. Though I guess I'll have to do a Word version too as I've found that a lot of agencies get uppity if they don't get a text version that they can open.

    Once again, thanks for any feedback.

    And special thanks to GSteer for his help with this.
     

    Attached Files:

    Certifications: A+ Network+ MCP MCDST MCITP
    WIP: CCENT Security+
  14. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    Sorry, I showed my wife your latest cv (she has hired and fired in previous roles) and her first words were "Messy" and I agree, it's still far too messy and bitty.
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA
  15. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Dude, what is the font all about!??! Try and keep things looking professional.

    Have to agree with Simon here, it’s far too messy and the second page is a complete waste of time, especially if you are looking for a job in IT.
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
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  16. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    Just to give you an idea, attached are two of my cv's, one is current, the other was used for a good number of years (successfully).

    The top one is the old one, the bottom one obviously the new one, I would suggest having a look at the older one more because the second one is aimed more at the consultancy line of work.

    You should get an idea of what is required.
     
    Certifications: CNA | CNE | CCNA | MCP | MCP+I | MCSE NT4 | MCSA 2003 | Security+ | MCSA:S 2003 | MCSE:S 2003 | MCTS:SCCM 2007 | MCTS:Win 7 | MCITP:EDA7 | MCITP:SA | MCITP:EA | MCTS:Hyper-V | VCP 4 | ITIL v3 Foundation | VCP 5 DCV | VCP 5 Cloud | VCP6 NV | VCP6 DCV | VCAP 5.5 DCA
  17. Col

    Col Byte Poster

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    Professional doesn't have to mean boring. I like courier and use it all the time - and it wasn't so long ago that that was the only damn typeface (not font) you could use.

    I also didn't think that it was a good idea to have a 10-year gap in my CV so had to explain what my previous career history was. I'm thinking of condensing down the detail a bit though. But this was the reason I lifted out the more relevant stuff and put it on page one.

    It is still a bit 'bitty' but there's only so much I can do about that. I guess I've had kind of a 'bitty' career to date. I guess that might be problematical from an employer's point of view but again there's only so much I can do about that. The best I can do is order the information in the most relevant and appealing way that I can.

    But thanks for the feedback, guys...
     
    Certifications: A+ Network+ MCP MCDST MCITP
    WIP: CCENT Security+
  18. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Sorry, but a cool looking font does not help things here. I think it’s the style of the titles that cause the biggest problem.

    For example look at Simons CV, it uses Arial 10 like mine and this helps the CV. Why? Because when someone reads the CV they don’t think twice about the font. The first thing I thought when I read your CV was “weird font being used here”.

    You want the content on the CV to do the talking\selling for you mate.

    Try and sell your IT experience as much as you can. You mention you were involved in the installation of a back end computer system but you give no detail of what it actually was. Was it Windows NT? A bunch of Macs?

    Also you mention tutoring Information Skills but you only give one line of detail. Again with the technical support there is no info to what it actually was.

    Don’t mean to be harsh mate but you really need to push all the IT skills\experience you have on the front page to get your foot in the door.

    HTH :thumbleft
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  19. Col

    Col Byte Poster

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    No, no, harsh is good - and appreciated.

    Will beef up the details on the tech stuff on page one. The problem is that it is kind of sporadic and that there is a real disparity between what I do now and what I want to do in the future. I'll also give some thought to changing the typeface. But I just hate those dull sans serifs - they just scream dull dull dullitty dull to me. And courier's kind of a classic, I think. I mean, I'd understand if I'd done the whole damn thing in Comic Sans or CreepyGirl or something.:dry
     
    Certifications: A+ Network+ MCP MCDST MCITP
    WIP: CCENT Security+
  20. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Haha! Fair point mate. As long as you are comfortable with the CV that’s the main thing. I mentioned Arial 10 because it is a dull non-offensive font but it seems to work.

    Defiantly revise what you have on the first page. From the experience and certs you have you should be able to land a first line job. After that the tone of your CV is definitely geared towards IT so you shouldn’t have this kinda problem with your CV in the future. :thumbleft
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs

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