Untidy houses don't sell- the same thing goes for untidy or cluttered CVs. You need to be traditional and a little boring in your CV layout. No plac...
Untidy houses don’t sell- the same thing goes for untidy or cluttered CVs. You need to be traditional and a little boring in your CV layout. No place for fancy fonts and colored paper here. The stories about getting jobs through being unconventional are the exception, not the norm
CV content. Start with your name and contact details, namely your full address, telephone number(s) and email address (private if at all possible). Avoid email addresses with funky terms- plain is absolutely the best- get a new gmail account if you need one
Continue your CV with your profile. Your profile is a short paragraph of text showing what you do, and where you fit in. The job of the profile is to show the reader quickly that you match what they are looking for- it should invite the reader to continue reading. Your profile should be interesting enough to hold interest and brief enough to make the reader want to read more.
Your career history. Starting with your most recent job, list basic details such as dates employed positions, etc. The important part of this is that you show off your key achievements- make sure you quantify exactly what benefit you had to the organisation. For example, don’t just say responsible for a sales team of 5. Rather, increased sales by 25,500 (14.6%) a month over 14 months through 2 telesales and 3 field sales people.
By separating out your professional and your educational qualifications, you separate your CV from many of the others that the recruiter will read. This is one of the fingerprints of the professional CV writer. They understand that this is important to a personnel professional and will make it easy for them to get the information that they require from your CV
Your CV should be finalized with a very brief section detailing your interests, hobbies, driving license, etc. Please make sure that you tell the truth in this section. You really can get caught out here. This is the spice in the meal- a recruiter may invite you for interview if they hold a common interest. If you lie, you will definitely get caught out!
Gaps in your career need to explained. One of the only things that managers are trained to do is to look out for career gaps. If two people are interviewing, one at least will be looking for career gaps as their contribution to the recruitment process. Explain your time away from work- it doesn’t have to be in massive detail but it does need explanation
About the writer: Glenn Hughes is the owner and director of a business based in the UK. A can really improve your chances of getting interviews
Q: Is it alright to lie or bend the truth on your CV? A: It is never a good idea to lie about anything- let alone a CV. Ask yourself this question: Would you trust someone who lied to you? The answer should be obvious- besides that, a CV often forms part of an employment contract- if it is found that you lied, you can be dismissed. Never ever lie on a CV
Why do I need a cover letter? Having a professionally written cover letter can make the difference between getting you successfully into an interview and not. A well written cover letter shows that you are able to write effectively. It also sets you very far apart from those people who did not bother- particularly important in todays information age
Q: I’m well connected, why do I need a CV? A: No matter how well connected you happen to be, at some point you will need a CV. Don’t embarrass your colleague by not having a CV ready when you are asked for it. You may find that your contact wasn’t that well connected after all. Another reason for having a CV is that people move on- its always a good idea to have an up to date CV ready- nobody knows when someone will leave, a promotion possibility arises or an opportunity for advancement comes around. People are impressed when you have a CV readily available to send them immediately.
I can get one of my family or a friend to write my CV so why do I need one done professionally. Of course you can do this, many people actually do this. Then again, most Cvs don’t get people interviews. Unless your friend is a successful CV writer, forget this idea. You may save money in the very short term but you will lose out massively in the long run. Professionally written CVs get their owners significantly more salary than those that are not professionally produced, all other things being equal
I’ll just randomly send my CV to loads of people and surely someone will look at it? This approach is just like the throwing mud at a wall process, some will stick. The problem though is that it will take an absolute age to get results. Of course, you may get lucky straight away, but far better to use the services of a serious CV distribution business like CV Trumpet
I’m going to make my CV stand out by using bright colors and send it out using the wackiest fonts. This is a recipe for certain disaster. Whilst perhaps one in a thousand will get some sort of result this way, most recruiters will take one look and put your CV straight in to the bin. Why take the risk? It’s your career so make your mind up yourself. If you want results- boring is best
About the author: Glenn Hughes is the International consultant and owner of the business, CV That Works. If your career is in need of a lift, consider employing their
Writing professional CVs for a living, I see an incredible amount of writing from lots of different people. You can actually tell from the tone of the writing in a piece of work exactly what is going through the mind of the writer. This is particularly important if you are going through a difficult time in work- for example, redundancies are being spoken about in your workplace, so you feel threatened and vulnerable
You cannot help the way you feel about an event that is going on in your life. Feelings of desperation, despair, loneliness, etc. find a way of getting in to your subconscious mind and this definitely transmits through to the things you say and write about. One of the first things to do to resolve this issue is to understand it in the first place. Once you understand that your feelings definitely transmit into writing, you can start to do something about it
Just the simple fact of understanding that your feelings affect the way you come across in writing can help you get the results that you desire from your writing. For example, if you are at your best first thing in the morning, clearly it makes sense to write then. We all have some degree of flexibility in our schedule and choosing to write at the time when we are at our best and perhaps just planning when we are not so good
It stands to fairly simple reason that good feeling come over on paper or a computer screen as clearly as they would in person. Make absolutely certain that someone that you know and rust looks over the work that you are creating and gives you a realistic, critical view on how you sound to the reader. If you are writing something important like a CV then make absolutely sure to write it when you are feeling your best
Never write when you are feeling tired. If you want to be sure to turn off your reader, make sure you write when tired. You will end up using language that turns the reader off, not on and you may as well not bother in the first place.
The best writers of every generation have always put something of themselves into their writing. Giving of yourself enables you to connect with he reader in a powerful way that stays with the reader long after the piece of writing is put down. Try and make your writing memorable. Connect with your audience at an emotional level and you’re part way there
Incredible results come from taking a few risks. Make the effort to really connect with your reader and you will stand out from the crowd. this is particularly important in a document like a CV which is a selling document. It is designed to sell you to an employer,so connecting is vital. In fact it is often the difference between getting an interview or a rejection letter
About the writer: Mr. Hughes is part of a team of professional . If you need assistance with your resume or CV, think about a service to get the reults that you deserve
