CVs & Logos

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Hi folks,

I was wondering what peoples views were on having Cert logos on CVs?

As an IT manager I was quite content to see logos on CVs but one of my peers hated it and used to discard CVs straight away as being "too show off". Now as an IT trainer I have students who leave with 2 or 3 Microsoft and Comptia certifications and they ask for advice on what logos to put on their CVs. Particularly with the Microsoft qualifications, some want to put the logo up for MCP and, for example, MCDST. My view being there that if you only have 271 & 272 then just put up MCDST, but if you have another one that doesn't give you another "title" then add the MCP also.

Off course the problem being you end up having more logos than text after a while.

Cheers

Gogs

 

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I'm not a big fan of logos on CV's.

For some off us on here, if we did that, we would actually need an A4 page just for the logos

 

The manager who gave me my first break in IT didn't like them.

I remember him going through a pile of CVs and then calling me over saying "bit of advice for you, don't put logos on your CV like this...", showing me a particularly messy CV with logos all over it. Any CV with a logo on was tossed.

If someone can hate them that much I figured that it wasn't a good idea to put them on a CV.

As you pointed out, one of your colleagues hated logos too and wouldn't consider a candidate who put them on his CV. Therefore, I wouldn't take the chance.

You get the same message across by simply stating that you're an MCSE or whatever - and surely potential employers can't think you're showing off by just listing your certs!

Cheers,

Ben

 

Worthless IMO - also the majority of jobs will be advertised via agencies who normally strip out personal information and add their own logos before passing onto their clients

 

Like others I don't like logos' on CV's, it detracts from the content of the CV. It's the written content of the CV and not pretty pictures that should get you the position.

 

But a small logo in the top right corner of a cv with mcse or mcitp: ea on it would immediately show the qualifications a lot quicker than skimming through the cv surely.

I also don't understand this whole point of throwing away cvs for a little picture in the corner, yes if it's ugly but if it's tidy, clear and helps to ligthen up and brighten a cv, someone that would throw it away for that reason just comes across as having no patience at all.

 

I've known people to turn people down simply because they didn't like the suit jacket they were wearing. Point being, don't add any more reasons for someone to go "I don't like that" than you have too.

 

Searching a two or three page document that's formatted correctly (with a qualifications area) isn't that hard a job.

As far as having patience or not, you have to understand that for each position you are likely going to have upto 30 cv's to go through, trust me when I say that you end up binning candidates because of spelling mistakes or poor grammar, it's an employers market and they can choose to be fussy.

 

Perhaps one reason that hiring managers discard Cvs with logos is because prior experience has shown them that most candidates who include logos are very rarely selected for interview or, when they are selected, don't interview well.
Anyway, if some people hate logos and the rest don't care it seems wise to leave them off.

 

I've gone through phases. When I first got certified I had logos and post-nominals all over the place. I thought it made me look smart.

Then I met a load of people who were more highly qualified and experienced than me that didn't use any of either on anything, and I realised that was even cooler.

I suppose it depends on how it's done. A few small logos in the gutter somewhere to add a bit of colour... But on the whole, anyone hiring in the IT world knows what an MCSE is (err... most people I should say) and what the logo looks like.

If I received a CV covered with logos, I'd feel that the person was insulting my intelligence and assumed that I needed pictures to help me understand the words.

 

Binning CVs because of spelling mistakes or poor grammar is fairly justified, it shows a massive lack of attention to detail etc.

Binning them because of a logo is fairly harsh.

However, as someone else commented, recruiters generally strip CVs of any personal information and logos before they pass them on to employers so even if you do include them most of the employers on job sites are never going to see them anyway.

 

Obviously, I don't include all of my certification logos. However, I do have five of them neatly arranged in the upper-right corner of my resume. And it's worked quite well for me over the years... I've gotten more than half of the jobs I've applied for.

 

The first time I read through a CV I always used to check spelling, layout etc first. If they hadn't spent time checking it then I used to feel why should I and they'd have to have amazing content to win me back over.

Thanks for all the replies folks, I guess it's a case if you use logos use them in moderation

 

I never used to use logos... but I started to, however I only display one of them... I attach it to the upper left corner where I have space and it's just a small logo that doesn't take up much space in the corner. I think it's one of those things where it's each individuals preference. There's a reason why certification companies put out logos, if they were useless I don't think there would be a need for the company to spend time doing so. Also like Craigie and Michael stated, when you have so many certs, putting too many logos is also not a great idea.