Help with writing a CV

[Adam_glover18]

Hi there I feel its time to up grade my cv I have spent three hours today trying to make a professional looking cv but still to no avail. I used a website were you fill in all the required info then download it into word but it came out at 4 pages long and not very professional. I am still a apprentice just waiting for my NVQ 3 and gold card. So any advice or tips would be great
kind regards

adam

 

[cossie400]

I need to update mine, it's about 8 years out of date lol, one thing I will say is I was told by a guy that any potential employer, rightly or wrongly, will scan over a cv and if they like the look of what's basically in the first paragraph they might choose you for an interview.
So you need to make sure yours stands out straight from the beginning, big yourself up straight away, experience, quals hard worker etc. you'll go over the rest of the crap in an interview when you get one

 

[Richard Burns]

A few quick pointers that you no doubt already know:

A CV should be short and easy to read, as said above you probably have 30 seconds of them assessing the CV to make an initial decision so you must catch them then.

An initial statement can sometimes be useful:
An experienced electrician with competence in design and construction of industrial and domestic installations.
Qualified to NVQ3, JIB gold card holder, backed by ten years of practical on site work.
Very capable in installation inspection, testing and fault finding
Good team worker, with independent capability

That is a bit rough and quick but gets the main points across quickly.

Make it clear what you do and how you are able to do this; qualifications, experience etc.

Then go on to the detail of jobs, and qualifications but only include those items relevant to the job, having a cse in politics is immaterial, wastes space and the employers time.
But also if you are going for a job in a factory downplay the nine years of domestic installation and emphasis the one year of factory inspections and the like.
Try and make it easy to change to suit the job for which you are applying.

Always be positive not "I have little 3 phase experience", but "I am keen to build on my initial 3 phase work".

Check your speeling!

Good luck.

 

[stef]

Don't use templates, always create your own. Make sure all margins are equal
and the headings are in bold, make sure the spacing between paragraphs is equal,
don't use more than two different font sizes. Don't use fancy fonts. Select your wording so that it appears positive and pro-active to the reader. The majority of CVs end in the bin because of the initial appearance. Show it to someone else first before you post it, take in any criticism.

 

[dan86]

Hi adam
as above really. get the main points across first, then all the bumf just fills up the space.
if you wanna send it across to me I can take a look and possibly give you a second draft if ya like? I'd like to think I'm pretty good at writing cv's. written a good few in the past for various folk.

 

[oldtimer]

When emailing it always save it as a PDF document as this is locked never send it in Word format as your prospective employers IT system will chuck it down as word files can carry a virus

 

[Hawkmoon]

Hi there I feel its time to up grade my cv I have spent three hours today trying to make a professional looking cv but still to no avail. I used a website were you fill in all the required info then download it into word but it came out at 4 pages long and not very professional. I am still a apprentice just waiting for my NVQ 3 and gold card. So any advice or tips would be great
kind regards

adam

Yeah the 'speeling' as R. Burns said is important - also grammar

Bear in mind spellcheckers in software (eg word) don't pick up bad spelling if, for example, you write 'their' instead of 'there' - its worth running a grammar check also.

May be worth posting your final text on here for second opinions (not saying you're crap at spelling or anything but there are 1 or 2 howlers in your post that you definitely don't want in a CV - speed typing for a forum I know).

 

[Englishman]

Bullet points for previous work experience as well instead of long paragraphs about each.

 

[Silly Sausage]

A few years back I went to the jobcentre for CV advice and they referred me to some associated help centre who help with CVs.
It was free for starters. Went down there for 2 or 3 days, CV TOTALLY rewritten, got a new job soon after!

So, get down your local JC!

Good luck!

 

[dan86]

Adam, check your emails lad!

 

[7029 dave]

buzz words

 

[Geordie Spark]

Bullet points for previous work experience as well instead of long paragraphs about each.

Agreed ................. and try not to make it more than 2 pages long. You can cheat by using both sides of the page, so it's 2 pages of info on just one sheet.

My full CV runs to almost 8 pages, but I never sent it like that. Instead, I pulled-out the bits that were relevant to the job I was applying for at the time and used them in the CV.

I always thought a Sans Serif font (Tahoma usually) sized at 10 points looked better than a Serif font such as Times New Roman which I think tends to make the thing look more like a legal document or a "pay-up-or-else" letter from a debt collector.

Try to deliver your CV by hand if possible, and follow up with a phone call a few days later.

Take notice of what Stef has said in post #4 too.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Sans Serif font (Tahoma usually) sized at 10 points


Good God man, NO! Regular Times Roman or Ariel!

And as for length, in this case it does matter, 2 sides of A4 MAX.



O aye, don't left and right justify whatever it's called, left side only.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Sans Serif font (Tahoma usually) sized at 10 points


Good God man, NO! Regular Times Roman or Ariel!

And as for length, in this case it does matter, 2 sides of A4 MAX.



O aye, don't left and right justify whatever it's called, left side only.

I was specifying a Geordie CV.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Suitably stained with a bit of Dog I trust?

 

[Geordie Spark]

Suitably stained with a bit of Dog I trust?

Oh aye ....... and with the Newcastle Brewery blue star as a watermark on the page.

 

[ayjay]

try this?
i,m an electrishin innit?
ive deone fousands of fings aint i?
i is even chande the dareeys in me head part from tokin grasss i wuld be gud to imploi anc can get up from bed aboyt 12
i want 40 sqid a hour

 

[Knobhead]

A few years back I went to the jobcentre for CV advice and they referred me to some associated help centre who help with CVs.
It was free for starters. Went down there for 2 or 3 days, CV TOTALLY rewritten, got a new job soon after!

So, get down your local JC!

Good luck!

I tried that. Under no circumstance would I send it out until I’d rewritten it and corrected it. They were useless!


In later years I had a fair number of CV’s across my desk. Short and succinct wins every time. Two pages maximum. The first thing I’d look at is your Key Skills.
References can be a nightmare, be sure your referees will back you up. I rarely followed up references. One caught my eye and I made the phone call, “Who? Never heard of him!” the supposed referee was an old colleague.
I couldn’t give a damn if you’ve got two wives and twenty seven kids, that comes under other information.

If needs be you can add a separate sheet outlining any special projects you have undertaken but don’t attach it to your CV. If I was interested in you I would read it later. But again, keep it short.

Whatever you do, never “over egg the cake”, you get caught out and it’s good bye!



BTW I had my heart removed a long time ago and replaced with a block of limestone. (Cheaper than granite!)

 

[Geordie Spark]

I tried that. Under no circumstance would I send it out until I’d rewritten it and corrected it. They were useless!


In later years I had a fair number of CV’s across my desk. Short and succinct wins every time. Two pages maximum. The first thing I’d look at is your Key Skills.
References can be a nightmare, be sure your referees will back you up. I rarely followed up references. One caught my eye and I made the phone call, “Who? Never heard of him!” the supposed referee was an old colleague.
I couldn’t give a damn if you’ve got two wives and twenty seven kids, that comes under other information.

If needs be you can add a separate sheet outlining any special projects you have undertaken but don’t attach it to your CV. If I was interested in you I would read it later. But again, keep it short.

Whatever you do, never “over egg the cake”, you get caught out and it’s good bye!



BTW I had my heart removed a long time ago and replaced with a block of limestone. (Cheaper than granite!)

That's complete B S ....... I know for a fact it's a 24 carat gold ingot.

 

[Knobhead]

It's still cold!