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.

Also I'm not sure people realise how many CVs people have to sift through. Yes it might seem petty to discard someone because they made a very minor spelling error, because they used stars and hearts instead of bullet points or because they wrote two paragraphs about their irrelevant hobbies - but when you are sifting through literally hundreds of applicants, you simply cannot give everyone a "chance".

The reason I prefer application forms is because:

1. They're easier to anonymise, and recruitment best practice is to anonymise
2. They weed out anyone who is just firing off loads of CVs for the sake of it without properly bothering to think about if they want the job and why

wet lettuce handshake

Oh gosh.

One job interview, the manager shook my hand and dislocated my wrist! I have hypermobility and now panic at any interview. I don't want to tell them and come across precious but I also don't want to see the look on a person's face when they do this to me again!

Let's hope covid drives away the handshaking!

I was quite cross at your opening post, as that is actually how we were taught to write a CV, when I was taught, and, if you think about it every one of the million forms you've filled in for anything, ever, asks you to complete name, address, dob.

All the jobs I've had over the decades have involved filling i the application form rather than writing a CV, so, if I were applying for a new job now, I'd not have experience of the changes.

However, your post at 12.31 is useful. Positive and helpful, thank you.

The thing with some posters saying "you can google" to find 'how they should be done now', opens up a whole range of different sites and different opinions. How is a person to know which is 'right' for that particular job ?

You say about leaving off all hobbys.. but I've worked for places in the past where all the senior managers were into sports or very active mountain climbing, cycling , rugby players. This was either a coincidence or someone there valued people like that. Surely they must have put that info on their Cvs?

They weed out anyone who is just firing off loads of CVs for the sake of it without properly bothering to think about if they want the job and why

I hate to break it to you but the majority of people just want a job to get paid, once you’re moving up the pay scale you may be able to pick and choose a bit but most of the jobs I’ve ever applied for I’d be hard pressed to say I was really passionate about working in a call centre for a gas company or working behind the till in Tescos 🤣

Honestly I have little sympathy with the "but that is what I was taught" way of thinking. It's what I was taught too. But that was 20 years ago. Even if I weren't working in HR (which I wasn't, in my early career), I'd think "hmm, it's been X number of years since I was taught to write a CV, I'll just have a little look to see if there's anything new I need to consider".

The most helpful advice is to only include things that are useful to the employer. How is your date of birth useful to the employer? Why do they need to know how old you are?

I hate to break it to you but the majority of people just want a job to get paid, once you’re moving up the pay scale you may be able to pick and choose a bit but most of the jobs I’ve ever applied for I’d be hard pressed to say I was really passionate about working in a call centre for a gas company or working behind the till in Tescos

Yes, I totally agree, but I'm afraid even if they don't really want the job, I'm still going to shortlist someone who has read the person spec and addressed it accordingly/bothered to do their CV/fill in the application form properly, than someone who has just whacked off a CV without considering what they're applying for.

My other bugbear is the listing of all the hobbies. I have just rejected a CV because it had an entire A4 page dedicated to the applicant's hobbies, none of which were relevant to the job. I don't care if you ride horses or enjoy mountain climbing!!!

Though I did once apply for a role in quality in care management which involved assessing incidents and looking for any patterns which might indicate concerns. I had written a line on my CV re hobbies, one of which was family history. They actually mentioned that as they thought that the skills and attitudes were transferable - attention to detail, following leads doggedly etc.

I once had someone submit a 7 page CV - this was a standard sort of CV (in my field 7 pages would be normal for senior positions, but this was for a receptionist) on bright lime green translucent like plastic sheets. The only thing I could compare it to was the plastic sheets you used to use in an old overhead projector (like the kinds teachers would write on in school during lessons and project to the front of the class). They also included the 30 page patent application they had submitted for some new wacky design for a multi-story car park. Again, it was for a receptionist role, nothing at all to do with design, architecture, engineering, etc.

I think she was just mad. I'm pretty sure we offered her an interview though just because we were all too curious. I can't remember any more about what happened after that though (obviously did not get the job).

Someone on our local FB site calls herself a ‘CV Consultant’ . For a fee, she offers help in writing these.

Unfortunately her FB post and her website have various errors of spelling and punctuation.

I sent her a PM pointing these out and suggesting she paid attention to proofreading her advertisements if she wanted anyone to have confidence in her ability to give sound advice.

@SeagoingSexpot

I think the reason I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this is that I've always tended to view myself holistically (god that sounds pretentious - sorry! ). What I mean is that I've done lots of different things and have gained little bits of varied knowledge and experience from them all. So I can read a job description requiring experience of X, Y and Z and know that I have those skills, but not necessarily in a CV-friendly format of 'From 2012-2016 I did X job and can therefore do your X job too' because it's more like 'I did a bit of X and Y back in 1998 and then something quite X-like from 2006-2008 while simultaneously having a serious hobby which required copious levels of X skill and also a fair bit of Y and Z'. That's really hard to convey in a bland list format!

Also wrt not listing any jobs more than 10-15 years old - what if you have no choice? My last full-time employment was in 2008 and all of my most 'serious' jobs which provided useful experience were in the period 1993-2006.

I’ve just remembered when my dad’s company got a CV for an accounts clerk and she listed that she’d been a finalist in Miss Venezuela (or somewhere in South America) but was otherwise totally unqualified. They still interviewed her because they wanted to see what a Miss Venezuela finalist looked like 😬

My last full-time employment was in 2008

Ha, mine was in 1997.

Back then, when I interviewed for my replacement, we interviewed one guy because his hobbies section said plaintively, 'I don't seem to find time to go swimming any more.'

Somehow it sounded like he'd fit right in.

My last full-time employment was in 2008

You can include part time and voluntary employment. I've worked part time for the last 6 years.

@SorrelBlackbeak

There was a question about how to present mat leave - if you worked for employer A before your pregnancy, took mat leave and went back to the the same job with employer - that is continued employment and doesn't need to be split pre and post mat leave.

If it's a different job, same employer a - put the jobs separately but again no need to refer to a career break or mat leave.

I'd only add mat leave if I had left employer a and there was a gap before starting elsewhere or I'd been an Sahm for a bit.

That was me! That’s what I thought so I wouldn’t mention it on my cv at all. Would mention maybe in conversation though.

[quote turquoise50]@SeagoingSexpot

I think the reason I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this is that I've always tended to view myself holistically (god that sounds pretentious - sorry! ). What I mean is that I've done lots of different things and have gained little bits of varied knowledge and experience from them all. So I can read a job description requiring experience of X, Y and Z and know that I have those skills, but not necessarily in a CV-friendly format of 'From 2012-2016 I did X job and can therefore do your X job too' because it's more like 'I did a bit of X and Y back in 1998 and then something quite X-like from 2006-2008 while simultaneously having a serious hobby which required copious levels of X skill and also a fair bit of Y and Z'. That's really hard to convey in a bland list format!

Also wrt not listing any jobs more than 10-15 years old - what if you have no choice? My last full-time employment was in 2008 and all of my most 'serious' jobs which provided useful experience were in the period 1993-2006. [/quote]
A skills-based CV might work best for you?

I certainly wasn't looking for sympathy when saying that was how I was taught. It was more shock at how much things had changed and/or the poor advice we were given back then (more like 35 years ago for me!) And the consequent horrible realisation that I’m going to have to totally rethink everything if I’m ever going to be employed again!

DOB was jut something I thought you had to include. Like your name! It's personal data, idk. It makes no sense now you say it, I agree, but just thought it was a standard thing. It's always on forms! Also, being over fifty, I feel there's a part of me that's thinking that if I don't flag up my age somehow, it's dishonest and misleading? Idk.

How much of the CV does the interviewer get to see? HR can guess an applicant's age from their employment history but would the interviewer also know this before the person walked through the door? I guess I’m just having this vision of going for an interview and everyone's face falling as I walk in because they were expecting someone much younger.

OK. Can one of you lovely people give me a link to some examples of good CVs? At nearly 50 I have to write one for the first time in years and years 🙈

Just looked at my cv. Have hobbies listed there. Not that I’m looking for a new job now. But might tweak if necessary.

Interestingly someone did once tell me not to put “extreme”
Sports on a cv because places may not want to hire due to risks of injury to the person.

I once had one with a photo that was two girls on a night out cheers-ing cocktails. I didn’t even know which one was the candidate. When I brought her in for interview (I was desperate) she was wearing leggings as trousers and a cropped top 😐

Actual LOL

@PymChurchBeach, @Haffdonga, @SeagoingSexpot Thank you all for your helpful comments re my DS with ASD.

My CV (which has succeeded in getting me interviews) looks like the chronological example here www.cv-library.co.uk/career-advice/cv/cv-templates/cv-template-chronological/

The personal statement at the top isn't necessary in my opinion.

It's good that the focus is on the recent employment, with just a short summary for the earlier ones.

For education, mine says my professional qualification, then A Levels with grades, then "X GCSEs at grades A - C, including Maths, English Language and English Literature"

To those asking for links, I think these are excellent (this website in general is very good):

standout-cv.com/blogs/cv-writing-advice-blog/115702276-example-of-a-good-cv

The website also has a skills based example, which I haven't ever used, but it's been mentioned as a possibility for some people. Maybe someone else can see if it's a decent example?