CVs - am I being fussy?!

[Ponzischeme]

Recruiting at the moment and we just have a sea of terrible CVs

Example:

Name: Sarah Jones
DOB: 15/6/1980 (don't need to know that)
Gender: Female (don't need to know that)

• Convoluted work history including saturday job at M&S in 1996
• List of all awards and achievements ever up to an including ballet certificate

I don't feel like I am that fussy when it comes to CVs - I just want an overview of the person's relevant employment history, skills and qualifications.

Am I wrong? Am I, in fact, expecting too much?

If you have work history dating back many years I'd list your recent roles and then say 1995-2000, worked in a variety of x roles across X sectors (for instance)

My favourite CV ever (and I’ve seen tens of thousands) has been

John Smith
(Photo of John)

CONTACT DETAILS
The usual

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
The usual

ACHIEVEMENTS
Married to Jane since 1988
(John and Jane’s wedding photo)
Father to two beautiful daughters, Polly (9) and Sarah (5)
(Photo of John and Jane with Polly and Sarah on what looked like a beach holiday)

REFERENCES
Mr. Mike Johnson, General Manager X Enterprises
(Picture of Mike in full angling gear, proudly holding up a dead trout)

List them without going into detail - I have a line about "various weekend and vacation roles as library assistant and lifeguard".

Why ask for hobbies and interests? Unless it is to bin the cyclists and golfers

I am not at all interested in hobbies and interests I have to say. Unless relevant to the job.

I once had a CV from a woman who listed "Disney" under her hobbies and interests section and genuinely wrote an entire page about how much she loved Disney. It was for a finance assistant role.

Age discrimination is very legal in some contexts including some hiring situations. Age is much much less protected than the other special groups.

Chewbacca "If you include dob and dates of roles / qualifications, I think that shows that you are not up to date with legislation."

So if I'd outperformed all expectations on a job, but wasn't aware of the recruitment legislation- which doesn't ban giving your age voluntarily - you would chuck my CV out?

I wouldn’t chuck a CV out on that basis alone but it is a factor when sifting. I generally hire accountants so keeping up to date with current rules is important.

Re: listing every job with dates, I’m often seeing skills based CVs these days which avoids the problem. I quite like them, but it is tricky to get the balance right between just listing the skill requirements from the ad vs showing you have those skills.

DH is currently applying for jobs in a desperate bid to leave the job he is currently in (loves the job but not the location-he works in the ME). He is obviously on a high salary there but has literally applied for any job he can find in his field here so the salary grades are much lower. He hasn't even managed to get an interview. He is quite high up in his company but is willing to take a massive pay cut to come home but it seems like as soon as they see his current job title/company/location they don't want to know. I know if he got an interview he could at least try and explain but at the moment we are stuck in this awful sort of limbo cause clearly we can't leave his recent/current employment off his CV.

The third party cv would be me sending one saying ‘Like has worked for x for 8 years in that time she has achieved y and implemented z....’ really hate it!

He is quite high up in his company but is willing to take a massive pay cut to come home but it seems like as soon as they see his current job title/company/location they don't want to know. I know if he got an interview he could at least try and explain but at the moment we are stuck in this awful sort of limbo cause clearly we can't leave his recent/current employment off his CV.

Has he acknowledged that in his application - I occasionally get people applying for roles we are recruiting for that they seem massively over qualified for. I don't mind at all if they say - by the way, I know I might seem over qualified for this but I'm at a point in my life when I want to take a step back. But if they just don't mention it at all it looks really weird.

@ihearttc I recently received a cv from a crazily over qualified guy and I decided to call him to find out what the deal was, turned out he wanted to relocate, was willing to take a massive pay cut (and it was seriously massive) on the proviso he could do 4 days a week instead of 5. We interviewed him and he was and is awesome.

I would definitely just mention this in a cover letter or at the top of the CV something along the lines or 'needing to step down from this role in order to achieve a better life balance/a much needed relocation. I'm great. Interview me and see'

Something, but something to draw their attention to him, let them picture him doing the job with them, rather than fixing on what he is doing now.

Theres some glaring mistakes, like a shitty email, epic paragraphs on your home life etc.

But there is a LOT of conflicting advice. I like to think my CV isn't a "straight in the bin" job but I've been told:
A) Only list relevant experience. B) List everything so you have no gaps.
A) Bullet point your work experience. B) paragraph it
A) describe what you did B) dont describe the job, they know what a barmaid is...describe what you gained.
A) put in your hobbies B) dont put in your hobbies
A) put your work experience first. B) put your education first
A) write in the first person B) write in the third person.
A) Black only no style B) have a little character - stand out.

The list goes on...what are you meant to do?

I treat mine as continuous improvement, I trim down, expand on /bring down to just one line different jobs dependant on the role I'm applying to. I also try to switch up what I've learnt from each job / what I did as well. None of it's a lie just highlighting different sections of the role.

It works well enough even if it's not the best.

Now totally confused
Are we meant to put dates worked in each job to show a full employment history with no gaps
Or not put dates as that gives out age info, but also gives the impression there are gaps when you didn't work

If you are on LinkedIn premium, there's a series of videos from a woman called job Jenny. She does a CV masterclass designed to take a weekend and she covers a lot of different scenarios (how to address a career break, moving to a different industry etc). I was really impressed by how much it improved my CV.

When I opened this thread, I expected you to be talking about poor grammar, or not spell checking, or sending something in that looked like something had been spilled on it.

This thread has hopefully shown you that, people are given different expectations of what "ought" to be on a CV. Most people don't apply for jobs on a monthly basis. How are they supposed to know that you prefer one style of CV ? There is conflicting advice all around. Seems bizarre to bin potentially good candidates for a job just because they haven't followed the latest fashion of what to put on a CV, if CV writing has nothing to do with the job they are applying for.

Happy to leave off my date of birth but any idiot can tell by type of qualifications and dates started working.
Employers can still discriminate!

How are they supposed to know that you prefer one style of CV ?

They can’t. What is one person's perfect CV won't be another's. But there have been studies done to show which physical areas of a CV are most likely to catch someone's eye as they skim through a pile, and any good CV is going to be clearly laid out with good use of white space, because you don't want to make it difficult for anyone to read. You need to make sure you have coveted the essential criteria in the job spec. I put my work experience first, because these days, it's far more relevant than my education, but in the first years after graduation, I put my education first, because it was more relevant. I don't put every detail from every job, but if the job I am applying for wants particular experience, I am going to make sure it's included.

Remember that in the first sift, your CV may get little more than a few seconds skim read - key information needs to seen at a glance. Exactly how you lay it out isn't as important if you remember that underlying principle, because different styles can still satisfy that goal.

I’ve been offered jobs having put my DOB, usual “great team members” drivel on my CV so it must be something they are looking for.

Im applying for a job this week and my CV is going in with my application. Its just updated with my present job in it.

I am not fussed about some of the things mentioned on this thread, like dates of employment.

I think putting your DOB is massively old school.

Not putting a dob on doesn't really matter as you can judge someone's age by when they took GCSE's or equivalent or started work etc.

Thankfully we recruit using an application form so we usually only get what we need and nothing that we don't.

I write CVs for a living and, yes, the ones I do are dire when I receive them. This morning’s highlight is a company CEO who has used Comic Sans. People do all sorts of weird shit.

I keep trying to persuade our CE to let us start using application forms but she won't