CV Writing

[BIGALINWALES]

Morning,

I'm looking at writing a new cv and am looking for advice. Does anyone have any good websites or suggestions? I am in IT support so want a fairly technical one.

Thanks
Alex

 

[chiph]

I would actually have two CV's -- one as a Word Doc or PDF file that is "pretty" and you can hand out to people when you meet them; and one which is pure ASCII or ANSI text, that is designed for posting on the Internet.

The applicant tracking companies (I work for one of them) use software engines to scan CV/Resumes for keywords, and they frequently have problems with HTML, .DOC, .PDF files (aka proprietary binary format files). So going plain vanilla is best. Use only carriage-return, line-feed, and the space character (in addition to the usual A-Z 0-9 stuff!). Tabs may be OK, but I wouldn't rely on them.

I would have:
-- A section for contact info (name, address, phone, email)
-- A section for skill keywords (just list them out, including common alternative spellings and terms -- such as C#, C-Sharp, CSharp, etc)
-- A section for education
-- A section for work history
-- A section for what sort of job you're looking for, salary info, etc (all the "soft" info that's in a CV).

Be sure to check your CV for spelling/grammar errors. That's what the recruiters I talk to say is the biggest thing that gets candidates declined (if the person can't pay enough attention to detail on something as important as their CV, how will they do once they're hired?)

Good luck in your job search!

Chip H.



If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

 

[KernelObject]

chiph has neatly sectioned it. I'd like to add a little bit more...

0. Marketing yourself is VERY important. So..

1. Have a generic CV and use this as the base to prepare specific ones for each job offer you want to target upon.

2. Work History has to be in reverse chronological order (that is starting from now and working backwards)

3. Feel free to remove non-relevant work.

4. Its sad but true that a well formated CV gives you MUCH more of a chance to be shortlisted.

5. Have a section "About me", (maybe 5 short lines) in which you describe why you are best fitted for this role.

6. Having references is a great weightage on your CV. Ideally, your Project manager from an ex-company.

7. Pay a LOT of attention to the covering letter. Many companies will not even open your CV if the covering letter is not OK.

8. good luck!

/Srikanth

In the sweat of thy brow shall you eat your bread.
-Bible