Writing a good CV

[MikeyMike]

A colleague of mine had his CV on Monster and was stunned by the positive respone he got. I'm seriously considering a career change myself and I'd like to test Monster out for myself, trouble is I havent written a CV for at least 4 years so I'd really like a good guide before I go ahead and start typing. A Google search revealed plenty of paysites but I'm tight. Anyone know of any free sites?

[V8mate]

Ask your mate if you can have a look at the layout of his?

[rhinochopig]

Make sure you write about a page on your personal interests. That's a sure fire way of getting an interview.

ETA, this topic has been covered on here several times before - have a search as there was some good advice posted.

Edited by rhinochopig on Tuesday 30th September 11:02

[Road2Ruin]

Sadly not, but as an owner of a recruitment agency heres a few tips.

1, keep it short (max 2 pages)
2, Keep it to the point. No useless personal information about your hobbies unless they relate to the job.
3, Avoid cliched statements. 'I work well in a team and on my own!' Come up with something original if you must put a personal statement.
4, Change your CV to go with the job, dont send the same CV for every application.

Good luck

[beanbag]

MikeyMike said:

A colleague of mine had his CV on Monster and was stunned by the positive respone he got. I'm seriously considering a career change myself and I'd like to test Monster out for myself, trouble is I havent written a CV for at least 4 years so I'd really like a good guide before I go ahead and start typing. A Google search revealed plenty of paysites but I'm tight. Anyone know of any free sites?

He might have got a good response, but how many interviews did he get?

I was contacted goodness knows how many times on Monster and all but 2 of them fizzled out into nothing.

One person even contacted me regarding an SAP position in Switzerland offering €250k per year.....oh, did I get excited.....

There are a lot of time-wasters on Monster....just a warning.

[okgo]

I stopped using monster as the response it OTT. And half of them are bullstters.

I kid you not, you literally can't have a job and use monster, the phone will not stop ringing for the first two or three days every ten minutes.

[missliv]

beanbag said:

MikeyMike said:

A colleague of mine had his CV on Monster and was stunned by the positive respone he got. I'm seriously considering a career change myself and I'd like to test Monster out for myself, trouble is I havent written a CV for at least 4 years so I'd really like a good guide before I go ahead and start typing. A Google search revealed plenty of paysites but I'm tight. Anyone know of any free sites?

He might have got a good response, but how many interviews did he get?

I was contacted goodness knows how many times on Monster and all but 2 of them fizzled out into nothing.

One person even contacted me regarding an SAP position in Switzerland offering €250k per year.....oh, did I get excited.....

There are a lot of time-wasters on Monster....just a warning.

Ah yes, that whole thing where they say they'll call you to let you know and you never hear from them again. I have taken to calling back myself to ask why they haven't bothered to get back in touch, generally followed by a bit of a tirade about rudeness (depending on whether or not I think I should keep that particular agent onside or not).

4 sincere apologies so far this year. Not that I actually wanted the jobs anyway but it's always good to have options.

[CR]

I'd recommend using jobsite. And I'm a recruiter

[beanbag]

CR said:

I'd recommend using jobsite. And I'm a recruiter

If you are looking in the UK, I always found Reed to be very good....

[okgo]

beanbag said:

CR said:

I'd recommend using jobsite. And I'm a recruiter

If you are looking in the UK, I always found Reed to be very good....

I think Reed is poo. A lot of the jobs don't really exist.

Totaljobs was good, although they send a lot of spam..

[CR]

okgo said:

beanbag said:

CR said:

I'd recommend using jobsite. And I'm a recruiter

If you are looking in the UK, I always found Reed to be very good....

I think Reed is poo. A lot of the jobs don't really exist.

Totaljobs was good, although they send a lot of spam..

Reed is st, trust me. They offer the chance for recruitment agencies to advertise on their website for free, thus ensuring you only get the tight ones advertising there. And the tight ones are usually tight for a reason - they are rubbish and have no money coming in!!

If you are a specialist in a particular field, look for relative job boards. I, for example, recruit for the Digital industry so I look for people on the relevant boards. That should help minimise the pointless phone calls from clueless recruiters!

[Geronimo]

I got my IT job via monster, and that was with a CV that was really vague because I was paranoid it would be seen by my boss.

[MikeyMike]

Unfortunately he's left now so I wont really be able to contact him. The job itself is within a very enlosed and tightly-knit industry so the job offers that he received were from known, reputable sources so that side of things doesn't concern me greatly.

[Wigeon Incognito]

Did you go to university or do some kind of higher education?

The reason I ask is that university careers services often offer free CV checking to past as well as current students. My old uni certainly does as do a few that my mates went to.

It's a while ago since I graduated but I've recently used the service - they may respond with nonsense but I certainly picked up a few good points from the advice I was sent.

Oh, there's often CV writing advice for free on university websites too.

Here's a start:

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/careers/resource...

[Vesuvius 996]

Road2Ruin said:

Sadly not, but as an owner of a recruitment agency heres a few tips.

1, keep it short (max 2 pages)
2, Keep it to the point. No useless personal information about your hobbies unless they relate to the job.
3, Avoid cliched statements. 'I work well in a team and on my own!' Come up with something original if you must put a personal statement.
4, Change your CV to go with the job, dont send the same CV for every application.

Good luck

Wot he sed.


Keep it to FACT FACTS FACTS.

None of this

Stupid CV which went in the bin said:

I am a proactive person with great people skills who is results driven and enjoys challenge."

Name
Address
DOB
Career history
Education history

That's IT.

[okgo]

Interesting you say that, because mine had some of that st in it "control what I earn ect ect" and it seems to work for the sales roles.

But I am going to update it and try and thin it down to pure fact.

[fathomfive]

CR said:

I'd recommend using jobsite. And I'm a recruiter

I've always used Jobsite and had plenty of success, so it's well recommended. Free, too.

[Vesuvius 996]

okgo said:

Interesting you say that, because mine had some of that st in it "control what I earn ect ect" and it seems to work for the sales roles.

But I am going to update it and try and thin it down to pure fact.

Certanily for professional roles, FACTS ONLY.

[okgo]

Vesuvius 996 said:

okgo said:

Interesting you say that, because mine had some of that st in it "control what I earn ect ect" and it seems to work for the sales roles.

But I am going to update it and try and thin it down to pure fact.

Certanily for professional roles, FACTS ONLY.

That's where I have been going wrong then

[captainzep]

Proof read the finished CV very closely.

People who have access to the document can 'hilariously' alter it during a quiet moment of drunken e-terrorism mischief.

As my wife found out.

When she discovered her CV had alerted a potential employer to a past sexual encounter with the 'A-Team' in BA's van.

Frosty patch in the relationship followed.