Terrible CVs

[PymChurchBeach]

Disclaimer: I know times are hard and shitty right now and a lot of people are desperate for work so probably chucking out CVs left right and centre at anything and everything.

BUT. I have worked in HR for nearly a decade now and it has always been the same. The general standard of CVs is bloody awful. I'm recruiting for a mid level role at the moment and I have seen the following:

• people using little hearts and stars instead of bullet points
• massive glamour model style photographs taking up the whole first page of a CV
• people's dates of birth and marital statuses written up at the top. Just no!!!
• wacky, colourful borders and fonts. Comic sans. Enough said.

Also - this last one is possibly controversial but when women have had a break to look after DC, there really is no need to list all the skills gained as a SAHM - e.g. "excellent time management skills etc". You can just say you had time out to raise children. That's all you need to say. I'm not going to think any the worse of you for it.

I am desperate to implement application forms rather than have CVs and cover letters but my CEO is old fashioned and will not have it.

like, not liek obviously.

University careers advisors are mostly useless to be honest in my long experience of recruiting graduates.

Thank you @pymchurchbeach
I’d kept mine to a few lines thankfully

Sorry stupid question but what is meant by ‘achievements’, I’m slightly confused as I thought professional qualifications would be very similar?

As in your key achievements in the role at hand. So if you were in a finance role and you overhauled the accounting system and implemented a new one which increased productivity, that would be an achievement.

So helpful! Thanks again

I have no real work history prior to having children, then dc3 was born with disabilities and I've been his carer for 15 years. In that time I've done a degree, masters and a fair bit of voluntary work. How on earth would I explain the gap between leaving school and the present day, with qualifications and voluntary work but no work history? I'd feel the need to justify it by saying I've had caring responsibilities for a child with disabilities, but would this be a no no? If so what should I say?

noseresearch I do a lot of graduate recruitment. I generally don’t recruit via cv as you don’t expect graduates to have lots of work experience but the grads that are successful tend to have:

• great academics
• some work experience
• evidence that they have done something outside of their studies like voluntary work, society positions etc.

But above all, the put a huge amount of effort into the application form and show why they are interested in my organisation and the subject matter.

If you can go for roles that are targeted at recent grads rather than general junior posts you’ll probably find it easier.

Sorry one more question for anyone in the know... honestly (won’t get offended at all) - is it worth disclosing a disability?
I have high functioning autism, never disclosed this to previous employers because I was worried that it would put them off considering good communication skills are arguably one of the most valued skills in jobs. I’m not rude or difficult to work with however I worry if I disclose autism, that’s the first impression they’ll have.
I know some employers claim to be disability confident, and that they want to attract more diverse individuals. However, sometimes I worry that it’s just all PR and they don’t actually mean it haha
At my previous internship the large company was ‘disability confident‘ and had previously fundraised for an autism charity, however... the reality is that there were very few neurodiverse employees, and colleagues (including some senior) would gossip about anyone ‘different’

I would never put my disability on my CV/cover letter, but as I’m sure you’ll know it’s something that you do get asked during the online application question process.

Thank you @Sailingblue!

Sorry one more question for anyone in the know... honestly (won’t get offended at all) - is it worth disclosing a disability?

It is if you are guaranteed an interview as a disabled candidate if you meet all essential criteria, which all decent employers ought to be doing these days.

climbingcorfecastle

I think it would be absolutely fine to say you've been caring for your disabled child. It soons like you've done loads alongside that!

Anecdote from the 1970s which shows that hobbies can sometimes be unexpectedly helpful.

My father was an engineer and was often involved in recruiting other engineers. He asked the technical questions and HR did the rest. On one occasion he was asked at the last minute to interview someone for a secretarial role.

HR had already established that her typing speeds etc were good enough, and she hadn't worked for years because of having been a stay at home mother, so he wasn't sure what to ask her about. She had said on her application that one of her hobbies was dressmaking. He asked her whether she had made the outfit she was wearing. She said she had, so he asked her to talk him through the process.

He was impressed with the care she had taken to make sure the pattern on the material was matched up properly, and with the quality of the finished product, and concluded that her care and thoroughness would translate into a work situation too. She got the job.

[quote Etcni]@Fifthtimelucky the Oxford university careers centre has a CV guidance page including sample graduate CVs in various formats which may be helpful for your daughter.[/quote]
I've now had a chance to look at this and it seems that my daughter was definitely on the right track.

I've just tightened up some of the wording which has saved a few lines. That has allowed her to increase the font size to something more reasonable whilst still fitting it nicely on one page.

Thanks again for the link.

Again, I can only write from my own experience of interview & hiring. The HR professionals on here (I hope I've got this right) are referring to the screening they do, whittling down what could be 100s of applicants to a manageable interview list; they are going to do this by comparing the job description along with their own personal knowledge against a candidates CV - that is all they have to go on and a confusing or ill-thought CV will not work in your favour.

Your CV is an opportunity to show you understand the role and how it fits into the business and for you to demonstrate any relevant experience that you have that shows you could do the job. Typically this would be in previous & current employment, but can also be shown by hobbies, and for carers/SAHMs by any relevant issues you had to manage. By example, advocating on behalf of a family member to over-turn some official ruling would demonstrate an ability to collect facts, understand relevant legislation and put forward a reasoned arguement to persuade a change of mind - all attributes relevant to many jobs.

@noseresearch

Sorry one more question for anyone in the know... honestly (won’t get offended at all) - is it worth disclosing a disability? I have high functioning autism, never disclosed this to previous employers because I was worried that it would put them off considering good communication skills are arguably one of the most valued skills in jobs. I’m not rude or difficult to work with however I worry if I disclose autism, that’s the first impression they’ll have. I know some employers claim to be disability confident, and that they want to attract more diverse individuals. However, sometimes I worry that it’s just all PR and they don’t actually mean it haha At my previous internship the large company was ‘disability confident‘ and had previously fundraised for an autism charity, however... the reality is that there were very few neurodiverse employees, and colleagues (including some senior) would gossip about anyone ‘different’

I would never put my disability on my CV/cover letter, but as I’m sure you’ll know it’s something that you do get asked during the online application question process.

I'm disabled. I always disclose. If they have a problem with it, then they weren't the right employer for me. I'd rather know sooner rather than later if it will be a problem, even if it means a longer job search.

Thank you for this thread. It's very useful. I'm looking to go back to work after a long break and all the advice is very welcome.

I hope this is ok to add to the thread, but a newly bereaved friend posted on Facebook tonight, and I remembered this thread and that there are recruiters on here.

She was asked on an application form whether she was single or married. No option for widow, and she found putting single really difficult.

Do you think you could maybe ask your companies to change this? You could bundle it all together later for analysis, but it would make a big difference to a small number of people.

Do you think you could maybe ask your companies to change this? You could bundle it all together later for analysis, but it would make a big difference to a small number of people.

There should be no application form that ever asks this. If there is, the employer is completely stuck in the dark ages.

An equal opportunities monitoring form would ask this, because it is a protected characteristic, but the question should be phrased "are you married or in a civil partnership?", and the option "prefer not to say" should always be an option (and they aren't obliged to fill out that form anyway if they don't want to).

@amusedbush

I worked in postgraduate admissions and a CV was part of the application. I only ever saw marital status on CVs from African applicants - some even put the number of children they had!

If you look at CVs from 30 odd years ago and before you would have as standard:

Name
Address
Tel
DoB
Marital Status
No. of Dependants
Etc etc etc

So it's not - or wasn't - unheard of.

When I was pregnant with DD1 MIL told DH he should ask for a raise since he had a family to support! Might be why it was more common to have marital status on CVs historically.

My dad was promoted because I was on the way (in 1987) and so he was now a family man. It's a running family joke that he thought he'd get another promotion for my brother but no such luck... But those attitudes were very widespread, and still are to some extent - it's always been used as a justification for paying women less, the idea that men's wages support families but women's are just a nice add-on.

@noseresearch I've helped a few graduates. Agree with pp that high academics etc are key and showing you have some interest and involvement in things outside of university is useful - but briefly.

I think for grads, a cover letter is probably very important (if it's requested). You need to highlight your skills and what value you will bring to the organisation. Importantly, if you do this, it shows that you've put some thought into it. So, you're interviewing for a role at Accounting Firm x, ensure you've done your research - what are their USPs (and can you fit in with that/add value to that)? their major clients? Their major industry sectors etc.

I once interviewed someone on paper who looked pretty good. His experience wasn't directly the same, but it was a junior role and I was confident that someone with tangental experience could easily pick up what was needed. he seemed perfect. Interview was in the diary for 2 weeks. Went okay. Until it became clear that even though he was interviewing for a position at a very high profile global institution, he had not spent so much as 5 minutes on our website. He knew absolutely NOTHING about us, never mind the part of the organisation he was interviewing for. Luckily it was the end of the interview so it didn't appear rude when I abruptly ended the interview at that point.

Interesting thread. Can anyone please tell me where you would put your membership of a professional body? I am a guild member, when I need to alert people to that (delivering training etc) I include the letters after my name. Where would I put that information on a CV? Thanks

An Additional Information section can be useful. If you are a member of a number of bodies, you can include it in a standalone Professional Memberships section. Or you can add it to your qualifications by changing that section to something like, "Qualifications and memberships".

I once saw one that listed drinking tea and reading the news under hobbies. I thought she sounded quite like me, so I interviewed her. She became a good friend. Writing something like that is a bit of a risk though.

Interesting to know that the job centre advice people (mostly women) to list the skills they’ve gained as a SAHP. I dislike it when I see it on a CV because most functioning people have those skills, they’re called life skills. Do they think that non SAHPs don’t know how to budget, manage their time and negotiate?

@amusedbush

Indian candidates too. Often also have things like religion and father’s job on there too.