My cv, why i am not hearing anything??

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Hey,

About to leave the army in april and i have heard nothing from any recruiters about jobs which i have applied for on Reed and CWJobs, thought i'd put my CV up here to let people have a look and see if there's any glaring errors, it seems really small to me, i have experience of a helpdesk role in the army but i struggled to put it into achievements and only came up with 3 in the end. I'm really pissed off and downhearted at the moment, all of the jobs i see advertised on the sites i know for a fact that i can do, and have been bloody doing for the past 7 years but when i try to put it into words and sell myself i just hit a f****n wall, like some sort of writers block or something.

Like i said, ive really hit a low point atm, just seems like i cant effectively put into words how i've been basically doing helpdesk work for the past 7 years, dealing with the worst type of customer the world has ever seen (army officers), i'm getting quite worried about my employment prospects tbh and can see myself drivin lorries or fork lifts for the rest of my life, which would obvs suck!

Thanks for any advice dudes

 

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First of all it's very plain, quite boring in fact. You need to have a CV that stands out, not one that bores people to sleep.

To give you an idea I have attached my CV so that you can see what people are looking for.


One thing to advise you, I have never actually had much success at this time of the year getting a good job, they have always been stop gaps until the budgets are renewed come April.

Oh and I would drop your school qualifications (GCSEs etc), they really aren't relevant at this stage of your career.

 

I'll have a look, but to be honest, hearing nothing back from recruiters is the norm at the moment and isn't necessarily a reflection on your CV.

There's just a blanket policy of not responding to you, a bit like Tony Hart not sending you any of your artwork back. B*****ds.

 

A couple of things occur to me:
1) Most companies looking to start new staff in April probably don't even know they'll need them yet, and very few will have them advertised now.
2) You don't really give any indication as to the types of technology you work with and what your specific duties were. For example, it's all very well saying you were part of a team (which part) that set up communications for a mobile headquarters, but you give no indication as to what that entails (us civvies won't know) or how long you did it for.

 

It's really bad so don't worry you're not getting any responeses as it's something that can be fixed

1. Absolute lack of structure, qualifications, experience scattered across 2 pages. A+ for example appears in 2 places and fact you're studying for N+ is mentioned somewhere else too.
Try to build a structure first and stick to it. Mine for example looks like that:
- Profile
- Achievements
- Skills
- Coursework and certifications
- Work experience
- Education
- Additional Information

2. Take off A+ and maybe Security clearance off Profile section. It's about you and your personality.

3. Key strenghts, first point makes me think you deliver pizza regardless of the weather. Second should be reworded and stuck in your profile. Same for third.

4. Have you got any achievements you could put next after profile section? I'm sure you have. Think about it.

5. Skills is the place you can put all the keywords in. Your CV lack them. No "Windows XP", "Windows Vista", etc. Employers these days filter CV's by keywords. No match = bin. It's also a place to put you interpersonal skills, ability to work under pressure, ability to prioritize work, etc.

6. Coursework and certifications - all certs go there, bullet points, no essays. Underneath write a short statement what you're studying towards.

7. Work experience - try to put some more technical details. What systems did/do you use, etc. Also job titles could do with some boost. Was it IT Support Team Member, what was the team? (apologies, never been in forces so don't know what's structure like).

8. Education - GCSEs go there, same as plans for OU

9. Additional info: Driving License, Languages spoken, Security clearance (you're cleared or not, making it visible won't get you hired. If you apply for SC position you are expected to be cleared which will be checked later on).

Works for me.

Please try to make changes and post the updated version. It will be a lot easier to take it from there to boost it a little bit. Drop me a PM with your email address and I'll send you mine to look at if you want.

Good luck

 

I have to say SimonD, impressive CV.
Both layout/structure/design and content. .
I like the way older jobs fade away with less and less content and then losing bold. Nice and clear but showing off years of experience.

 

LukeP, you are just about to be PM'd to let you know, awesome answers, and i wouldnt mind seeing yours for the 'key achievements' part really to try and get a better idea of what i'm looking for.

Cheer's guys for all the advice, SimonD, i hope you don't mind but i have used your header and font as i was very impressed with your cv, we're blatantly not going for the same jobs so i'm sure you don't mind but if you do then just say and i'll change it to my own style no problem.

So i have done a quick update to my cv, changing things around and using some more technical terms to try and get found by the recruiters searches, if you could give it a quick look and see what more needs done (i'm sure there's loads)

One issue i do have is making it not boring, i have no idea how to make a CV exciting as it's a very formal and boring document imo, any tips on how to do this??

Anyways, like i said, cheers for the advice but could i just milk you for a little bit more

 

A lot better in my opinion.

Might want to reupload without personal details before you get spammed to death

 

Thanks, I dont even know how to take off an attachment from a post, ****! lol MOD!!!!!!!! Help me! lol

 

That's a lot better already. I actually have some idea what you do day-to-day now.

 

Damn - my last CV ran to four pages and was in Arial 8

Next time I move on (not for a few years, if you're reading this boss!) I'll have to trim some of the fat away from it - at the moment it's still got bullet points from jobs I worked when I was in my mid twenties (back when dinosaurs walked the Earth LOL)

 

I can't view the 2nd version at the moment but I think the guys ahead of me have pretty much hit the nail on the head with the 1st.

Two immediate things spring to mind:
1) clearance - it is worth mentioning it as you will have a very hard time getting agents to notice your CV for a security cleared job if you don't already have valid clearance. While there are rules supposedly stating that anyone should be able to apply for a job, irrespective of whether they have clearance or not, the recruitment agents get around this and will only look at you (unless they've desparate for staff) if you have current valid clearance. http://www.clearedjobs.co.uk/ and http://www.securityclearedjobs.com/ and http://www.lainternational.co.uk/ are useful links to check out.

2) I know of several DV cleared staff currently (contractors, but they have also been looking for permanent work) ranging from 1st, 2nd desktop and server staff who have been unemployed since they left my team in August, or have just finished a 3 month contract with nothing else in the pipeline. Despite it being the pre-April lull, this lull is particularly long and dragging unfortunately.

When you have finished a definite copy of your CV and if you are willing/able to relocate to Berkshire-ish area I may be able to pass your CV around to a few people I know in 1st/2nd line teams.

 

Hey guys, i've added 1 or 2 bits and removed my personal details, doh!

Re: the poker, i think i'm going to keep that in there tbh, purely b/c it does (imo) require quite an analytical and problem solving mind, both of which are good traits for a support guy to have, if it had no relevance then yeah i'd get rid (being a roulette player for example)

It's a big part of my life (at one point it was over half of my monthly income) so it can stay for now i think, plus, if my new future boss is also a poker player then it'll be a walkover for me and the interview would consist of some hand anlysis and a welcome to the team hand shake at the end lol

Anyways, the new cv is attached, for anyone who hasn't seen or commented yet, thank you

 

I agree. If you gamble and lose, is there a danger that you could take from the employer? Not saying you would... but HR would probably not want the opportunity to find out.

 

Points taken on the poker side of things, a losing gambler is not who a company wants to employ, cheers.

 

Neil,

Have a look at the attachment and see what you think about it? I have made some changes to it but obviously it's up to you.

Simon

 

Well, now that everybody is going through his CV, which apparently isn't doing the job for him just the same as mine isn't selling me either, I was wondering if you guys could have a look at it and maybe come back with some pointers as well.

Sorry mate for flooding your post but it seems we are somewhat in the same boat so I thought I could use the post. Hope you get that job interview soon.