Human Reasources anyone ?

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are you talking about the layout and looks of the document or the fact that you want to make if full of sparkly bs?

Im happy to work with word documents and can re word stuff a bit but not necessarily a HR person, just someone who has had to try and make Milking and bum wiping sound interesting!

On the other hand, dont underestimate your cv, depending on what sort of job you are hoping to go for, i think that a lot of companies see straight through the big re wording thing the same as most people can interperite estate agents blurb!

If you dont get any joy from anyone else here, I might know someone who can help, she is a life coach, (and very long time friend) but has a way with promoting things
 
:D Somehow Hedgerow Pete and sparkly bs don't go together...
 
"Pete- by all means pm a copy to me and I'll cast an eye over it"

likewise

richard


BTW the OH once offered to look over a nursing colleagues' CV - was entertained by the entry under professional skills: "liaisons with medical staff".

we never did find out whether that was a typo or not!!!!
 
ok people i have uploaded to here with it as a pdf. so you can all laugh at it

there are several ommissions to it, the main ones being having two sets of 5 months off in 2008 and 2009 to deal with postrate cancer and then dealing with the wifes in 2010 and in several places i have extended the working dates of the jobs to cover over enforced unemployment , like late jan to may of this year etc,

i have on purpose deleated alot of the personal details like emails and phone numbers, its more the lay out and look rather than the wording to be dealt with first then after that lets deal with the words them selves and i would rather not publish all my contact details to the whole online planet


View attachment 5098
 
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Since I worked in the oil business, they were very keen on photos... esp the Americans, you may have to wonder why... but I was told by several very senior (non American) managers a photo was essential.

PH
 
Well, 30 second scan, and I have already put it in the bin!

Harsh, but true.

Its Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to long, to many lonngggggggg sentences, and not designed for the role you want.

2 maybe 3 pages MAX

Also ditch the references, and hobbies.

And no need for title "curriculum Vitae" we are not stupid, we know its a CV.

Bullet points and straight to the point, not what you had for dinner last week.
 
Well, 30 second scan, and I have already put it in the bin! - Agree

Harsh, but true. Agree

Its Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to long, to many lonngggggggg sentences, and not designed for the role you want. Agree

2 maybe 3 pages MAX Agree

Also ditch the references, and hobbies. Agree

And no need for title "curriculum Vitae" we are not stupid, we know its a CV. Dis-Agree

Bullet points and straight to the point, not what you had for dinner last week. Agree

I would also:
Pick a different font (Arial or something simple - but not Courier or what ever that is)
Lose DOB (shouldn't matter - although other might dis-agree)
Lose Marital status
Personally I stick to Mobile only - I send my cv to lots of places and the EMail and other info might get sent if requested (generally I send it via EMail so they have that... but if its sent elsewhere I am not casually giving out lots of personal info)
Persona Attributes: Gist OK but I would reword it
Overview ditto
Education - Not sure if its relevant (I get the impression that you have a few years under the belt so I would think your experience is much more relevant)
Training Courses: Just list them separated by comma/semi-colon and lose the verbage.
Hobbies: Lose them (or if you really want to include them list/comma list
Job details - Bullet points only
References: "Can be supplied on request"
Planned education - put historic stuff in "Education/Training" (assuming its relevant to what you do - if so possibly expand the acronyms - pimps (oops I mean Agents) often don't know which way is up let alone what industry acronyms mean)

I am (also) a contractor so have a similar high turnover of roles and "they" are only interested in "Can you do the job" not are you a nice bloke.
 
agree with much of what has already been posted.

sorry PH but let the yanks keep their photos.

employment history:

timeline with just dates, job title and employer and maybe a brief summary of project in a phrase.

eg

jan 11 to present site manager cowboy ltd 6 lift refurbishment
jun 10 - dec 10 video director bee-shed productions training videos

i'd keep interests/hobbies but again single words phrases with commas or semi-colons eg GYO/allotment, beekeeping and beekeeper education/training, white coat model.
 
ok wolves heres your next feeding of a shortend version of my cv.

so far none of you have said anything i was not expecting and so far your all right with it being rubbish

i have tried to shorten it to two pages but i am worried if it gets any shorter i lose the importence of the work history and experiences?

but i was surprised at it being as long as 30 seconds before bin, i was thinking it was nearer five
 
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Looking much better already.

Haven't had chance to pick over detail of the freestyle text bit but just make sure that the format is consistent down the job history. keep everything in same order throughout and use full stops in same places and insert all the missing "to"s.

If it were me i'd merge "continuous" blocks of employment and list roles/projects. gives a little more space for extras elsewhere.

eg Dec 01-Jan 08 Papa Build Ltd various roles:
Site manager £150k office refurb
Site manager £3m DWP
Site manager £1.6M Private dwelling
 
I'm an HR Manager and see loads of CVs, I think the improvements you have made are a lot better and agree with most of the feedback above, although I would add back in the Training that you have undertaken/planning to and add a bullet point list of key strengths and skills at the beginning rather than the personal attributes which would be better placed in a cover letter relevant to whatever role you are applying for.

Basic rules to CVs are don't put anything that could make someone discriminate against you, i.e. date of birth, photo, marital status. Keep it to the point and factual and make it logical to read. Believe me after looking at 80 CVs in a row you want something that will point you to the key information without a lot of waffle so you can tell whether the person fits the role or not.

More and more people are asking for Cover letters with CVs, so the CV states the factually key information clearly and the cover letter becomes the reasons for why you are suited to the role and what strengths you have to bring to the role.

Good luck
 
thanks off to re edit the edit and will upload it later on
An example of how little of a CV can actually be read or checked beyond scanning for 'buzz words'. A couple of us were expected to work with a 'consultant' who was provided by one of the big companies attached to accountancy firms. We were at a FTSE100 company, not a small outfit. The CV was passed as a courtesy to help us plan what they would be doing, the 'consultant' had already been assigned.

We noticed a 9 month gap in the experience, queried it with our general manager and he raised it with the assigning company. The 'consultant' arrived and spent a couple of days making contacts and bluffing what they didn't know (the usual). She then disappeared. We were later told they had been sacked because the 9 month gap was a prison sentence in the US for fraud. No-one in the big consultancy company or our own personnel department had spotted the gap or thought to question it.

If I can offer anything from what I've seen, every business has an expected format. To be honest I don't know what the building trade expects. In general, once you are past the 'out of education' stage it's experience that is expected up front. So the most frequently seen layout is:

* Name and contact details

* Work experience starting from most recent. Detail depends on type of employment but bullet points are going to get scanned more readily then paragraphs of text. Older detail that goes over a page can be summarised.

* Qualifications relevant to the business. Include general detail such as clean driving licence, CRB checks, status to work in the UK if work experience does not make that clear.

* Education, at least the highest level or two in reverse order. It can be relevant to list GCSE subjects to show breadth, e.g. modern languages for a post graduate level statistician, but keep it brief.

Anything else goes in a covering letter starting with why you are suitable for the post covering the points in the job as advertised. A covering letter is where any statements about your enthusiasm, interests or ambitions should be but only if you can make them relevant to what you're applying for. If there is anything you want to add about why your work experience is relevant it goes here although you might want to put a note in sequence in the work experience section of the CV if there is a long gap.

Offer references on request, you don't want them pestered. Many companies these days refuse to go beyond confirming your employment dates although references (or referees as they are often termed) are still rated in education.

Photos, in the UK anyway, are only expected for the entertainment industry (actors/singers) in which case you will already have paid for a stack of 8x10 glossy head and shoulder shots with your stage name on. There may be other sectors but I'm not aware of them.
 

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