Discussion
Can anyone recommend somewhere that will re-write my CV and instantly get me a far better paid job? 
Actually... just a decent CV re-write will do. I think I need a skills based CV as I'm not a university graduate and as soon as a potential employer sees that I have no degree they seem to lose interest.
I'm currently an IT manager managing a one-site network with 350 workstations and 6 servers and have been since the age of 19... I'm now 24 and it's not challenging anymore... and hasn't been for about 2 years! (rant over).
Actually... just a decent CV re-write will do. I think I need a skills based CV as I'm not a university graduate and as soon as a potential employer sees that I have no degree they seem to lose interest.
I'm currently an IT manager managing a one-site network with 350 workstations and 6 servers and have been since the age of 19... I'm now 24 and it's not challenging anymore... and hasn't been for about 2 years! (rant over).
pantscat said:
Can anyone recommend somewhere that will re-write my CV and instantly get me a far better paid job?
Actually... just a decent CV re-write will do. I think I need a skills based CV as I'm not a university graduate and as soon as a potential employer sees that I have no degree they seem to lose interest.
I'm currently an IT manager managing a one-site network with 350 workstations and 6 servers and have been since the age of 19... I'm now 24 and it's not challenging anymore... and hasn't been for about 2 years! (rant over).
There's loads of threads here on this subject and the general consensus is always to take the advice and write it yourself. Professional done CVs stand out a mile as being so (read: applicant can't even write a CV...).
Gassing Station search is your friend
With that job, you should be IT literate enough to do it yourself. A lot of it is common sense and presentation. The main thing is to know how to put stuff in "wanky" terms. Don't say "I can count" when you can say "high level of numeracy"
When I say "presentation", I mean clear, smart clean presentation. Don't go mad with colours and fonts - stick to black and white, and one font.
Keep it short, no more than two (three at a push) pages of A4. I've seen CVs in the past that were so obviously crammed with padding. One guy actually submitted a 22 page CV, 18 pages of which were a list of URLs he'd worked on. Not just "www.xyz.com" but "www.xyz.com/this/that.htm" You can imagine what we did with that one!
When working in IT, your education is important, but not as important as your experience and professional qualifications. Don't give pride of place to your grade-D in GCSE Home Economics; you'd be better attracting more attention onto your MCSEs or degree.
I like to see work experience, in reverse chronological order (newest first), with a good description of your role and responsibilities.
Don't put your current salary or requested salary on the CV. Don't even bother putting "Salary negotiable"; it's always negotiable. An agency will help you barter, or you can bargain with an employer directly, knowing the minimum you're willing to accept.
Sounds stupid, but make sure your contact details and phone number are clear and correct. If you're going via an agency, they'll edit this out, but you'll want it if applying directly.
There's good advice on a lot of the job wesbites out there (stuff like monster, etc...). I also went into WH Smiths and shamelessly read the important parts in a big book on CV writing.
When I say "presentation", I mean clear, smart clean presentation. Don't go mad with colours and fonts - stick to black and white, and one font.
Keep it short, no more than two (three at a push) pages of A4. I've seen CVs in the past that were so obviously crammed with padding. One guy actually submitted a 22 page CV, 18 pages of which were a list of URLs he'd worked on. Not just "www.xyz.com" but "www.xyz.com/this/that.htm" You can imagine what we did with that one!
When working in IT, your education is important, but not as important as your experience and professional qualifications. Don't give pride of place to your grade-D in GCSE Home Economics; you'd be better attracting more attention onto your MCSEs or degree.
I like to see work experience, in reverse chronological order (newest first), with a good description of your role and responsibilities.
Don't put your current salary or requested salary on the CV. Don't even bother putting "Salary negotiable"; it's always negotiable. An agency will help you barter, or you can bargain with an employer directly, knowing the minimum you're willing to accept.
Sounds stupid, but make sure your contact details and phone number are clear and correct. If you're going via an agency, they'll edit this out, but you'll want it if applying directly.
There's good advice on a lot of the job wesbites out there (stuff like monster, etc...). I also went into WH Smiths and shamelessly read the important parts in a big book on CV writing.
Witchfinder and Rich's advice is spot on, as are the others. Definitely don't get it professionally written. It will stand out a mile.
Communicating your skills, duties and responsibilities is of key importance.
Do not overlook the importance of the covering letter. Show that you have done research into their company and are aware of current and proposed future developments. You need to also convince them that you are worth interviewing and try to stand out from the crowd. Do not be too familiar either. Above all, make sure that you address the letter to the right person (ring up the company and ask if it is not in the advert. This is especially relevant if you are writing on spec.) Make sure that their name is spelt correctly and that their title is correct. I have had letters addressed 'Dear Sirs' and that is as far as I have read. They obviously did not bother to look at my website where it is clear that two women run the company. Nothing to do with feminism. It just showed that it was a general round-robin letter and that they were not that interested in working for my company.
If you want to mail me through my profile I can give you details of a couple of books that may be worth looking at.
Communicating your skills, duties and responsibilities is of key importance.
Do not overlook the importance of the covering letter. Show that you have done research into their company and are aware of current and proposed future developments. You need to also convince them that you are worth interviewing and try to stand out from the crowd. Do not be too familiar either. Above all, make sure that you address the letter to the right person (ring up the company and ask if it is not in the advert. This is especially relevant if you are writing on spec.) Make sure that their name is spelt correctly and that their title is correct. I have had letters addressed 'Dear Sirs' and that is as far as I have read. They obviously did not bother to look at my website where it is clear that two women run the company. Nothing to do with feminism. It just showed that it was a general round-robin letter and that they were not that interested in working for my company.
If you want to mail me through my profile I can give you details of a couple of books that may be worth looking at.
One technique is to start your cv with a short summary.
State what you are looking for, and what your skills are, just in list format (ie. no wanky words).
eg.
Objective
Providing contract skills in software architecture and development and online technologies. Based in Cambridge but able to work further afield (e.g. London) for appropriate projects. I am a software engineer that works well in teams and can take on team lead roles. I have good experience of the full project lifecycle and enjoy picking up new technology and development environments quickly.
Skillset
Java - J2EE, EJB, Swing, RMI, JNI, JDBC, Servlets
C, C++
RDBMS - Oracle, Sybase, SQL, MySQL
O/S - Unix (Linux, Solaris), Windows, NT
Web - XML, WML, HTML, JavaScript
Other - CGI, Perl, UML, Delphi, Assembler, Some EPOC
State what you are looking for, and what your skills are, just in list format (ie. no wanky words).
eg.
Objective
Providing contract skills in software architecture and development and online technologies. Based in Cambridge but able to work further afield (e.g. London) for appropriate projects. I am a software engineer that works well in teams and can take on team lead roles. I have good experience of the full project lifecycle and enjoy picking up new technology and development environments quickly.
Skillset
Java - J2EE, EJB, Swing, RMI, JNI, JDBC, Servlets
C, C++
RDBMS - Oracle, Sybase, SQL, MySQL
O/S - Unix (Linux, Solaris), Windows, NT
Web - XML, WML, HTML, JavaScript
Other - CGI, Perl, UML, Delphi, Assembler, Some EPOC
Worth also listing your self a range of pro active words that describe what you have done and how it was a benefit to the company you worked for.
buzzwords like
succesfully,
managed,
organised,
headed up,
created
designed
led,
updated,
yup pretty much w*nky words as described but used correctly will allow any CV created to avoid using the same words too many times, and will show creativity and also allow the job agencies to describe you better over the phone when they make initial contact
buzzwords like
succesfully,
managed,
organised,
headed up,
created
designed
led,
updated,
yup pretty much w*nky words as described but used correctly will allow any CV created to avoid using the same words too many times, and will show creativity and also allow the job agencies to describe you better over the phone when they make initial contact
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