Provisional CV
Discussion
Thanks you so much to everyone that's given me advice on my CV - I've now put a semi-final version here, although the Word document is slightly better formatted than that page. Nevertheless, that page contains all the content of my cv, and any more input from ANYONE is welcome, either through private message, or through this thread.
Thanks,
David.
Thanks,
David.
Your CV should be angled towards what you want to do, not what you've done. Are you sending the CV for ARM assembly programming jobs, or rally driving jobs? If it's the former include the relevant parts, and cut out the driving stuff because nobody reading your CV will be interested. Likewise if you are applying for sponsorship to be the next Seb Loeb, cut out the Javascript reference. Whatever you're applying for, cut out the HTML reference.
Likewise cut out the society references, unless you're applying for a job on Kerrang.
I would completely remove the "exceptional academic achievements" section. Depending on where you're applying to, there are a great number of people who have achieved a great number of things. Attempting to flag up yourself as particularly special will get you popped into the "cock" folder, or it will if it crosses my desk. It's usually a lot more effective to let other people tell themselves you're brilliant, rather than sticking it in their faces.
Hope that helps, sorry if it's a bit blunt
Likewise cut out the society references, unless you're applying for a job on Kerrang.
I would completely remove the "exceptional academic achievements" section. Depending on where you're applying to, there are a great number of people who have achieved a great number of things. Attempting to flag up yourself as particularly special will get you popped into the "cock" folder, or it will if it crosses my desk. It's usually a lot more effective to let other people tell themselves you're brilliant, rather than sticking it in their faces.
Hope that helps, sorry if it's a bit blunt
mikeg996 said:
sensible stuff
A generic CV doesn't really cut it any more - they need to be tailored to the position being applied for, specifically, attempting to address the selection criteria (often found in the job ad or further details from the employer). Using what you have done/achieved as evidence.
Recruiters have little time on their hands (same for everyone I guess) - so will often use a grid or matrix system to see if the application (form or CV or both) ticks the relevant criteria boxes. If not - in the bin.
I also agree with Mike re: the exceptional academic bit, whilst it is a great personal achievement (well done by the way!), let the dates for your education speak for themselves - a good recruiter will spot that you came up to Cambbridge early by looking at the dates. As it stands Mike is right and you run the risk of "so what".
It is not a bad CV by any means - so I hope you see this as constructive criticism.
Good luck in finding a blinding career.
FG
Edited by FunkyGibbon on Wednesday 22 November 13:37
I'm a moody pedant - you can't spell 'Available' correctly on the web page. And you should have a comma between "Access Excel".
Is "II:1" really how you indicate a 2:1?
I can't see the pdf / Word flavours of your CV, perhaps firewall restrictions here. Maybe other interested parties would have the same problems?
Anyway, good luck
Is "II:1" really how you indicate a 2:1?
I can't see the pdf / Word flavours of your CV, perhaps firewall restrictions here. Maybe other interested parties would have the same problems?
Anyway, good luck
Thanks for the feeback - I've cut most of that stuff out (the societies thing was put in because I recognised the "cock factor", but if anything it probably made it worse).
The links were not supposed to work, as I wanted to get the final document completed first before making another six copies of it.
I agree that I should tailor my cv - however as I'm applying for jobs in a number of different fields I thought it would be better to create an extended CV with everything on it like that one, and to tailor the CVs that I actually send to people (which will include a link to the online one). Does this sound like a reasonable approach, or should I be looking to have several tailored online CVs too?
Thanks for the feedback!
The links were not supposed to work, as I wanted to get the final document completed first before making another six copies of it.
I agree that I should tailor my cv - however as I'm applying for jobs in a number of different fields I thought it would be better to create an extended CV with everything on it like that one, and to tailor the CVs that I actually send to people (which will include a link to the online one). Does this sound like a reasonable approach, or should I be looking to have several tailored online CVs too?
Thanks for the feedback!
a_sockpuppet said:
I agree that I should tailor my cv - however as I'm applying for jobs in a number of different fields I thought it would be better to create an extended CV with everything on it like that one, and to tailor the CVs that I actually send to people (which will include a link to the online one). Does this sound like a reasonable approach
seems reasonable to me - though make it clear that the on-line one is a generic one - you don't want the recruiters to get confused - we are but simple folk
all the best
FG
I would take out all of the car/rallying stuff if I were you. I don't think I've ever successfully interviewed somebody with the word "dabbled" on their CV:-) Combined with the fact that you have studied Geology, Computer Studies and Management Studies (not traditionally related studies...) it makes me wonder if you've got any staying power.
Regarding the investment club thingy, indicating the investment results would be helpful. Also, I would make that section more direct about what you actually achieved: "took part in group decisions" sounds like you've got no spine. "Made investment recommendations based on my individual analysis" is a bit more pro-active.
Is the Libertarian Society stuff really relevant? As far as I can see, the whole "positions of responsibility" stuff that we get fed at school is rubbish. When you're first hired, you're hired in on the bottom rung regardless of whether you were president of the islamic union of students or not. What will dictate your hiring level is your education level - e.g., non-degree, degree, post-grad degree.
One thing that I noticed is that you chose Comp Sci (the weakest of your A-level results) and then changed out of it. It might be better to not even put your A-levels/GCSEs on. The Cambridge degree implies a high-level of school academic achievement anyway. No point getting people to ask questions they need not.
As for the generic CV, I would create two or three specialised ones that are aimed towards what you want to do. Better still, decide on what you want to do first, and THEN write the CV that matches it!
I think, though, that perhaps you need a year out before entering the world of work...
Regarding the investment club thingy, indicating the investment results would be helpful. Also, I would make that section more direct about what you actually achieved: "took part in group decisions" sounds like you've got no spine. "Made investment recommendations based on my individual analysis" is a bit more pro-active.
Is the Libertarian Society stuff really relevant? As far as I can see, the whole "positions of responsibility" stuff that we get fed at school is rubbish. When you're first hired, you're hired in on the bottom rung regardless of whether you were president of the islamic union of students or not. What will dictate your hiring level is your education level - e.g., non-degree, degree, post-grad degree.
One thing that I noticed is that you chose Comp Sci (the weakest of your A-level results) and then changed out of it. It might be better to not even put your A-levels/GCSEs on. The Cambridge degree implies a high-level of school academic achievement anyway. No point getting people to ask questions they need not.
As for the generic CV, I would create two or three specialised ones that are aimed towards what you want to do. Better still, decide on what you want to do first, and THEN write the CV that matches it!
I think, though, that perhaps you need a year out before entering the world of work...
mikeg996 said:
I would take out all of the car/rallying stuff if I were you. I don't think I've ever successfully interviewed somebody with the word "dabbled" on their CV:-) Combined with the fact that you have studied Geology, Computer Studies and Management Studies (not traditionally related studies...) it makes me wonder if you've got any staying power.
It's impossible to study only Computer Science (it takes up 50% of your time, 25% is maths while 25% is a subject of your choice) in your first year, and the only way to do management is to switch to it as it's a final year course only (i.e. it was always my intent to do things this way). Perhaps I should cut out the Geology and Maths?
mikeg996 said:
Regarding the investment club thingy, indicating the investment results would be helpful. Also, I would make that section more direct about what you actually achieved: "took part in group decisions" sounds like you've got no spine. "Made investment recommendations based on my individual analysis" is a bit more pro-active.
Noted, I'll take a look at this tomorrow.
mikeg996 said:
Is the Libertarian Society stuff really relevant? As far as I can see, the whole "positions of responsibility" stuff that we get fed at school is rubbish. When you're first hired, you're hired in on the bottom rung regardless of whether you were president of the islamic union of students or not. What will dictate your hiring level is your education level - e.g., non-degree, degree, post-grad degree.
I agree that's the reality of it once you get the job, but every application form that I've looked at seems to go on about leadership and so on.
mikeg996 said:
One thing that I noticed is that you chose Comp Sci (the weakest of your A-level results) and then changed out of it. It might be better to not even put your A-levels/GCSEs on. The Cambridge degree implies a high-level of school academic achievement anyway. No point getting people to ask questions they need not.
Wouldn't that look more suspicious?
mikeg996 said:
As for the generic CV, I would create two or three specialised ones that are aimed towards what you want to do. Better still, decide on what you want to do first, and THEN write the CV that matches it!
I know exactly what I want to do: Make money, have fun, and earn responsiblity. So long as the job fits these criteria I am not that fussed what field it's in. To me, trading sounds like that job, as the market fascinates me, but I am also considering other options.
mikeg996 said:
I think, though, that perhaps you need a year out before entering the world of work...
Why?
Anyway, cheers for the feedback!
Agree and disagree with some of mikeg996's comments above.
If you're going to include anything in your CV include it in a strong and positive light. So I think you should keep the rallying bit in - people want you to perform in your job but they want someone they'd enjoy working with too - so personal interests and hobbies ARE of importance, in my opinion. But I'd remove the word dabbled - its wishy washy and makes it sound like you tried them but without any real effort, enthusiasm or motivation.
I still don't like the way you put II.1 .... what does that mean? If it is a 2.1 put 2.1 - it just looks like a lot of I's or 1's to anyone skimming your CV.
Also agree with the investment club comment. Everyone can be in clubs. What you need to demonstrate is your unique involvement - i.e. studied a market/company and proposed to the group that shares be bought in that sector, the group agreed based on your research ... and ultimately you made £££. Include real tangible facts and figures here. So expand here - what you did, and the results. This is your single biggest selling point if you want a career in trading because this is the only sign on your CV of actually getting out in the real world and applying what you've learnt. NB - this also includes learning from failure. So if you weren't successful but understand clearly why, then there is no great shame in expanding on that in your interview.
Education is great but only gets you so far. Experience and application of that experience with tangible results is of far greater importance to an employer.
I'm not sure about this Liberterian stuff - its very good to include stuff you've been involved in, developed, etc. In which case I'd expand on it - how big is society, etc, etc. Again - mention tangible results. However whilst I agree with the principles of Libertarians I'm wondering if it will come across to employers as you being some weird hippy/budist type person ?!!!???
As for including/removing your A levels and GCSEs - I'd advise you keep these in. Bit odd you only did 6 GCSEs (but explained by your age) but employers are looking for consistency of your results. So the fact your performance has been good throughout your education is a positive sign to me. I think the absence of this information will cause more doubts and concerns than including them. If anyone asks why you chose such an eclectic mix of subjects in your first year at university it would be perfectly acceptable saying you weren't sure which direction you wished to persue and so your first year gave you some breadth to your education, beyond which you narrowed it down to your chosen areas of interest.
As for the idea of a generic CV - don't do it. You will be competing with very very competent people for the very few positions companies offer. You need to find the edge to stand out just that little step above everyone else. So if you target specific companies make sure you adapt each CV to your chosen market.
Also, if you can get in as much maths / analytics based stuff as possible this will help immensely. Hate to say it but management studies / computer science won't excite anyone employing in an investment bank. They want people with strong maths backgrounds and skills. And whilst I am sure your courses include considerable maths I think it would be advisable to sell this more.
Finally I think what this thread has shown is we each have differing opinion on what a CV should contain. So take everything on board but ultimately make the decision for yourself and be happy with what you're presenting to employers. Good luck!!
If you're going to include anything in your CV include it in a strong and positive light. So I think you should keep the rallying bit in - people want you to perform in your job but they want someone they'd enjoy working with too - so personal interests and hobbies ARE of importance, in my opinion. But I'd remove the word dabbled - its wishy washy and makes it sound like you tried them but without any real effort, enthusiasm or motivation.
I still don't like the way you put II.1 .... what does that mean? If it is a 2.1 put 2.1 - it just looks like a lot of I's or 1's to anyone skimming your CV.
Also agree with the investment club comment. Everyone can be in clubs. What you need to demonstrate is your unique involvement - i.e. studied a market/company and proposed to the group that shares be bought in that sector, the group agreed based on your research ... and ultimately you made £££. Include real tangible facts and figures here. So expand here - what you did, and the results. This is your single biggest selling point if you want a career in trading because this is the only sign on your CV of actually getting out in the real world and applying what you've learnt. NB - this also includes learning from failure. So if you weren't successful but understand clearly why, then there is no great shame in expanding on that in your interview.
Education is great but only gets you so far. Experience and application of that experience with tangible results is of far greater importance to an employer.
I'm not sure about this Liberterian stuff - its very good to include stuff you've been involved in, developed, etc. In which case I'd expand on it - how big is society, etc, etc. Again - mention tangible results. However whilst I agree with the principles of Libertarians I'm wondering if it will come across to employers as you being some weird hippy/budist type person ?!!!???
As for including/removing your A levels and GCSEs - I'd advise you keep these in. Bit odd you only did 6 GCSEs (but explained by your age) but employers are looking for consistency of your results. So the fact your performance has been good throughout your education is a positive sign to me. I think the absence of this information will cause more doubts and concerns than including them. If anyone asks why you chose such an eclectic mix of subjects in your first year at university it would be perfectly acceptable saying you weren't sure which direction you wished to persue and so your first year gave you some breadth to your education, beyond which you narrowed it down to your chosen areas of interest.
As for the idea of a generic CV - don't do it. You will be competing with very very competent people for the very few positions companies offer. You need to find the edge to stand out just that little step above everyone else. So if you target specific companies make sure you adapt each CV to your chosen market.
Also, if you can get in as much maths / analytics based stuff as possible this will help immensely. Hate to say it but management studies / computer science won't excite anyone employing in an investment bank. They want people with strong maths backgrounds and skills. And whilst I am sure your courses include considerable maths I think it would be advisable to sell this more.
Finally I think what this thread has shown is we each have differing opinion on what a CV should contain. So take everything on board but ultimately make the decision for yourself and be happy with what you're presenting to employers. Good luck!!
Edited by che6mw on Sunday 26th November 03:11
I found a very useful piece of software available on the web for a small price. It is called Clip Cache.
Clip Cache is active in the background whenever you are working on your PC. It keeps a copy of anything that you cut, copy, paste in any other package. You can copy statements like bullet points one after another and then open Clip Cache to rearrange them into folders. Once in Clip Cache they stay there until you delete them. You can insert them into any document by selecting and double clicking in Clip Cache.
It is very easy to use and has features that allow you to clean up text, re-format, edit.....
I used it to store an array of different statements for my CV. I then used a generic CV starting point but removed and inserted the right bullet points and paragraphs to make the CV relevant to the job ad.
A bespoke CV can be assembled in minutes and new paras or points that you think of and want to use again can be stored in seconds.
Good Luck
Clip Cache is active in the background whenever you are working on your PC. It keeps a copy of anything that you cut, copy, paste in any other package. You can copy statements like bullet points one after another and then open Clip Cache to rearrange them into folders. Once in Clip Cache they stay there until you delete them. You can insert them into any document by selecting and double clicking in Clip Cache.
It is very easy to use and has features that allow you to clean up text, re-format, edit.....
I used it to store an array of different statements for my CV. I then used a generic CV starting point but removed and inserted the right bullet points and paragraphs to make the CV relevant to the job ad.
A bespoke CV can be assembled in minutes and new paras or points that you think of and want to use again can be stored in seconds.
Good Luck
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