Professional CV writing

Author
Discussion

Freakuk

Original Poster:

3,105 posts

150 months

Thursday 27th November 2014
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Is it worth it? My contract is up next month and I'm wondering if it's worth the investment to help gain another role, I don't think my CV is too bad but I know it could be better and I wonder if spending a few £££ would really make the difference to potential agencies and employers.

MadDad

3,834 posts

260 months

Thursday 27th November 2014
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I think it all depends how good/bad your CV is!

A friend on mine had his CV professionally written at a cost of £250, looked good but didn't have any kind of 'wow' factor to it.

I borrowed the format and style of writing for my own CV when I re-wrote it earlier this year, and posted my new CV on a number of job sites. As a result of uploading it to the job sites I received dozens of mails from 'CV Factories' offering to re-write my CV to make it look professional. Amongst the eMails was the company who re-wrote my friends CV and their first comment was relating to the layout - which I had stolen from them in the first place!

I would circulate your CV to a few selected/respected colleagues, managers and a couple of agencies and ask for some gloves off feedback. If there is anything significantly wrong you will probably fine it out from them. Also, do your own research, there are dozens of decent CV templates on the web, you just need to spend a bit of time reviewing them.

One thing to bear in mind is that when you apply for a role your CV is going to be reviewed by someone who is probably sifting through dozens of others and will give your CV 20 seconds of their life - if they can't find a quick summary of your skills and experience in those 20 seconds they are highly unlikely to read any further.

Troubleatmill

10,210 posts

158 months

Saturday 29th November 2014
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Freakuk said:
Is it worth it? My contract is up next month and I'm wondering if it's worth the investment to help gain another role, I don't think my CV is too bad but I know it could be better and I wonder if spending a few £££ would really make the difference to potential agencies and employers.
Yes it does.

In the last couple of years - CV's have moved on from what you think the content should look like.


Soir

2,268 posts

238 months

Saturday 29th November 2014
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Name
Contact details
Profile
Education
Work history (responsibilities & key achievements)
Interests
References (can be provided)

Times new roman 11-12 size font
Underline & bold each header
Bullet point achievements/responsibilities
Don't put fancy boxes or fonts

There you go, you just owe me a pint

Soir

2,268 posts

238 months

Saturday 29th November 2014
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As someone has touched on earlier, most HR people spend only a few seconds deciding if a CV is of interest

So all about the content and quick to read (usually education and relevant/current work history)

Steve_W

1,486 posts

176 months

Saturday 29th November 2014
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Troubleatmill said:
Freakuk said:
Is it worth it? My contract is up next month and I'm wondering if it's worth the investment to help gain another role, I don't think my CV is too bad but I know it could be better and I wonder if spending a few £££ would really make the difference to potential agencies and employers.
Yes it does.

In the last couple of years - CV's have moved on from what you think the content should look like.
Trouble - would you mind expanding on what a current CV should look like please? I find myself having to write my CV for the first time in over 8 years so am a little out of touch!

rog007

5,748 posts

223 months

Sunday 30th November 2014
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Whilst 'look' is important, content is even more so. Remember, this is your one chance to impress to get through what could be quite a rudimentary sift. There is a whole lot of phsycology going on as this is no different to general marketing in that you are marketing yourself via your brochure (your CV). Good luck!

SLCZ3

1,204 posts

204 months

Monday 1st December 2014
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Ensure they know what is important for your particular skill knowledge set, I have found that they seem to concentrate on the "saving money" aspect, which is all well and good, but for my particular niche it is not that important as the Clients usually have gone cheap Charlie already and I am there to mitigate the results, and assure that the result meets the requirements.