CV critique

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Can you guys and gals have a look at my CV and let me know of any changes you think i should make to improve it. Cheers.

 

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I like it and my only comment is cosmetic.

Too many lines and boxes close to each other. For example, the two lines above & below your profile. Also the lines under each title heading (pro exper and so on).

 

Raffaz, I like the overall look of your CV, nice and professional.

What type of job are you going for? I dont want to assume its going to be IT related, but if it is, the CV doesnt really spark me as an IT Engineered CV. I can understand its hard when you have no IT work experience but it doesnt really show me that you want to break into the industry. Maybe playing abit more on the certs would achieve this, im not sure.

Lets see what others think

 

What he said. While the CV in and of itself is ok, it really is too future oriented. You're talking about all the things you are going to do rather than what you've done. While professional growth is a factor in the hiring process, employers what to see your track record of successes.

Lose things like "Home Study" and replace them with something like "Achievements" Don't say you passed certain tests, just state that you have the certs. Here's my online CV (yes, it's long):

http://www.wiredwriter.net/about/resume_web2.html

Notice the first things I put after my name are my certs. I didn't say I passed the tests (that's assumed), just that I have them.

If you want to mention what you are studying for, create an area of your CV called "Professional Goals".

 

My position is very similar to Raffaz in terms of no IT experience, commercially anyway. I helped out our IT dept few times but that's it.

If I'm not mistaken, certs are certs and employers would/should know what skills any cert would cover. So, beefing up one's cert is fruitless IMO.

What I think is very important is one ability to learn from previous jobs and eventually transfer those skills to the new job. Such skills would include, team leadership, project management, communication or interpersonal skills etc.

 

Volunteer experience still equals experience. My A+ got me more short term (evenings...weekends) contract jobs than I ever imagined. They all went on my "technician" CV (yes, I maintain more than one CV depending on what sort of job I'm going for) and pretty soon, I looked "really" experienced.

 

Im trying to get some sort of entry level IT job, and like you say its hard to know what to put on there when i havent got experience. Although i have been building and repairing systems for family and friends since about 98, but i dont know how to incorporate that into the CV or even know if i should because im not sure if an employer would count that as experience.

 

Pretend you were "self-employed" or a "freelance hardware and desktop technician".

 

been re doing my cv, i have read that for someone changing careers its best to put a skill set at the top, i am thinking bullet point the main IT skills you have to offer employers, and then put your employment history at the bottom so anyone speed reading it can quickly see what you have to offer.

 

Seriously!!!! Should i realy do that mate

 

I don't mean lie about it. But your experience can be worded so that it doesn't come right out and say "and I built some PCs for my auntie and some mates for beer money".

Indicate a start and end date for these sorts of projects and call it "PC hardware building and support" or something like that. Then list the kinds of jobs you did (built 10 PCs from scratch, upgraded RAM in 10 PCs, installed 5 local printers, so on and so forth). You can even put in there that it was volunteer work.

In the interview, when they question you about the exact nature of this experience, be completely honest. In fact, you can talk it up like an advantage because you had to be a total self-starter to teach yourself those skills and then put them into practice.

 

Hey Raf,

Your CV looks smart and professional but I don't think it does you justice.

I only know you from what I read in your posts here on CF but I can tell you have a good knowledge of IT and posess a lot of desirable skills. But where are these on your CV?

Personally, my first section on my CV (after the Profile) is a list of my skills. Short, sharp, sweet sentences that tell the employer what I can do. Bullet points are fine.

I think you could trim down your Profile a bit or re-word it slightly. It starts off well, but the bit after project management doesn't read too well. The last sentence about energetic and dynamic is fine.

I think you could also pimp your job skills as well. I don't really get a sense of what skills you have developed from your previous jobs.

I wouldn't say my CV is the best in the world, but I had a lot of help from my gf who just so happens to be an HR consultant. So she sees 100's of CV's a week which helped me no end with mine.

If you would like me to email it to you for some ideas let me know. I don't have anywhere to host it otherwise i'd post it up for all to see.

HTH