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?

I agree with a pp that there is conflicting information and people just want to see different things. Somebody (who did hire me) told me my CV was the most detailed CV she'd ever seen in her life. So I took some of the detail out when I came to apply for jobs again, and then got rejected as my CV didn't evidence the experience they wanted (which I did have, but had deleted a lot of the reference to). So it's about tailoring your CV really carefully but also not just taking one person's view as gospel.

I hate application forms, they just ask for a load of stuff that nobody actually reads unless you work in the public sector. You should be able to tell from a CV whether someone is worth an interview or not.

Going off on a tangent as it’s references rather than CVs, but I had an interview with MI5 many years ago and the interviewer had my references in his pile of papers in front of him. As it was MI5, I’d had to send in contact details for everywhere I’d ever worked.

“I just have to show you this” said the interviewer with a snort, and held up one of the references. A former employer from a decade ago had filled the space on the form with a drawing of me, in coloured pencils, in the style of a primary school child, together with the words “Lovely smiley girl!” in rainbow writing.

I didn’t get the job in the end, but fortunately it was nothing to do with my references.

I've only ever recently applied for jobs with thorough application forms - where you have to give examples of how your experience gives you skills that match the person spec.
They're a real ballache to complete but do give you a chance to show you can string a sentence together and put your best case forward. I think CVs have their place but aren't always the most useful for a lot of roles where application forms would be more helpful to the hiring person.

I can understand that a person might be put off by an onerous form though. Although optimising your CV for specific jobs is in some ways harder because it's more subtle!

The last time I applied for a job was more than 14 years ago, back then you were supposed to put your DOB, gender and marital status on your CV. So it might not be fashionable now, but if people have had the same job for ages they won't know that this has changed. Surely doing the same job for so long that you don't know CV formats have changed isn't a reason to discard a candidate?

”I just have to show you this” said the interviewer with a snort, and held up one of the references. A former employer from a decade ago had filled the space on the form with a drawing of me, in coloured pencils, in the style of a primary school child, together with the words “Lovely smiley girl!” in rainbow writing.

That’s amazing

but if people have had the same job for ages they won't know that this has changed.

A quick Google would tell you!

I wouldn't discard a candidate on that basis if they were otherwise great but it wouldn't give me a great impression of their initiative.

salmonrose hello fellow rosey posey.

why would you put marital status on a CV? Not something I've heard of in 25 years of CVing.

I also agree that advice conflicts. I think it's pointless googling up to date info on writing a CV - how many different sets of advice will you get?

Absolutely no one worth listening to these days would advise you to put personal info like DOB on a CV. How is it relevant?

The last time I applied for a job was more than 14 years ago, back then you were supposed to put your DOB, gender and marital status on your CV.

Rather more than 14 years since any of that was needed.

If you haven't applied for a job in over a decade, wouldn't you do a quick Google to look for current CV formats and so on? Making assumptions that nothing has changed in that sort of timescale isn't the sort of mindset I would be keen to employ. I might not reject a CV for it, but they won't be top of the list.

Can I just ask, why a potential employer, after you've sent them your CV in PDF format, would ask for it to be sent as a Word Document? This is while also asking about detail that were on the PDF version that was sent, so nothing to do with being able to view the CV?

why would you put marital status on a CV? Not something I've heard of in 25 years of CVing.

@AutumnRose1

I have no idea and it sounds absolutely outdated but I can understand why people still might do it though. I was taught to do so via a CV making course that my previous employer made us go to after making 20% of the employees redundant.

And as for googling, surely that depends on the role, right? You'd expect more googling initiative from a secretary than a engineer, surely?

@Jasmin82 they’re likely sending it though a piece of software which picks up key words and matches them to the job description. Totally lazy and misses a lot, but I’ve seen it advised that you should put all key words from the ad in white text, tiny font at the bottom to make sure they’re all picked up

You'd expect more googling initiative from a secretary than a engineer, surely?

Why would I?

You'd expect more googling initiative from a secretary than a engineer, surely?

Would you? 🤔

@AutumnRose1 and @salmonrose in Germany (and until recently in France) your marital status, plus DOB, plus photo is required.

A friend of mine who is a lawyer in Germany has said that she bins cvs lacking in any of those requirements, especially the Photo, even for internships! I have tried to state the obvious to her about discrimination (age, race, disability etc) but she just poo poo'ed it off saying that 'it doesn't' happen like that today'

salmon so you were told to do it by someone who should know the field as well - so much conflicting advice.

Tea I'm really shocked. Why do they want to know? Why would they bin a CV with no marital status?

You'd expect more googling initiative from a secretary than a engineer, surely?

No. I expect all my engineering colleagues to be fairly adept at googling all sorts of things.

I have learned a lot from this thread. Ponzischeme I think you are being unfair to assume that all job applicants should know that you don’t put DOB and addresses on CVs. There will be applicants who will have been in the same job or working for the same company for many years. Also, DD left school last year and was told to put DOB and address on her CV.

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

I don’t think that this ^^ constitutes as terrible on a CV

I think putting your DOB is massively old school.

Clearly, a lot of job applicants don’t know that, and I think you are quite possibly binning some suitable applicants just because they have told you how old they are.
As a recruiter I would expect you to be conversant with the current way of doing things, but please allow your job applicants a little leeway when it comes to what is current recruitment legislation. (Obviously it is a bit of a giveaway when I state that I have eight O levels and one CSE ). Although, it goes without saying that badly written CVs speak for themselves

Have you not heard of the 9 protected characteristics that you cannot be discriminated against?

No, I haven’t, and I doubt that most people I know would either (but I have been working for the same company for 15 years)

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

Depending on the role it tells the recruiter a lot about the applicant. One of the managers at our place told me that it indicated whether the applicant was a team player if they were part of a football team, for example.

I don't feel like I am that fussy when it comes to CVs

I'm sorry, but I think you are

Interesting about the email address. When emails first came out we had a joint one (as in [email protected]) but for many years he has had his own one for work which he now uses generally instead. He doesn't use the joint one at all. The joint one is the one I use for me all the time, and which is for general household stuff, bills etc and for dc school things. It is basically a workhorse. And I use it for everything.

It is also the one that has been on my cv for a long time. Hasn't stopped me career-wise at all.

in terms of the 9 protected characteristics - I know what they are, but I also know how real life works!

I know what they are, but I also know how real life works!

Bully for you. I have just asked OH, and he has never heard of the 9 protected characteristics either.

We both know how real life works

@AutumnRose1 no idea really. I've heard that stating that you are married indicates that you are less likely to jump from job to job, maybe showing more staying power and you might have more responsibilities, I have no idea, but it is definitely the norm here. No photo, then it's off to the bin we go! Oh, and gender, driving licence and number of children are welcome here too.

Be thankful you don't have to look through academic CVs, which are a completely different beast from normal ones. By mid career, they are literally dozens of pages long. When you have 100+ applicants for a job, it is no joke.

Gin goodness, that wasn't a criticism of you or anyone who doesn't know them!

I'm just saying I do know them but don't think there's any link to real life recruitment. A lot of organisations do want to know age for all kinds of reasons.

Tea ah, okay, that's interesting.