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.

Although I am fairly ambivalent about the personal statement.

[quote PymChurchBeach]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[/quote]
I agree that these are good examples as well

[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]
As PP said, a skills-based structure might suit you better. What you would need to do either way is clearly evidence how what was on there equipped you for the job - if it genuinely gave you relevant skills, it belongs. But you need to make how it is relevant really clear.

Work doesn't have to be FT to go on your CV. But on another note, I hate to say it, but if your most recent relevant experience for a role is 14 years ago, I don't think that's going to put you in a strong position with line managers.

Also things like formatting correctly just makes a massive difference. I've just this minute received a CV where the experience looks pretty good from an initial glance but the formatting is all over the shop and nothing is in line with anything else.

One thing I'd like to mention is personalising your application for the job. This is always mentioned as a glib statement, but never explained. It is not simply doing a "find and replace" for the company's name on a covering letter. Apologies if the following is obvious, but it was a bit of a revelation when it was first shown to me.

Firstly, I go down the list of requirements and jot examples of where I have demonstrated them in my previous experience. These form the key points of my CV. And are the first bullet points listed under that particular job heading on my CV. A recruiter is scan reading: catch their attention with your first points.

I also look at the language and phrasing used in the job adverts. Try to use similar wording. This is particularly important if you think the HR person won't necessarily understand the job. if you use the same word rather than a synonym it can help stand out and catch HR's eye. So if it says on the job spec "Be a product expert to support sales and customers delivering on all business objectives", your generic CV might say "Experienced in offering technical support to sales team", but you might want to change it for this application to something like "Experience acting as product expert to support sales team objectives". Also shows you really do understand the job expectations.

If your key bullet points are spread out all over the place over many jobs, then you might also consider highlighting the key ones in a (very!) short profile section at the top. The profile should be a clear summary of your background from the pov of why they should give you the job, not why you want it. It's something a lot of skills based CVs have and can help with clarity. But only use if you need it. Every sentence on your CV should be there for a reason. Also use the language trick here: it's the best opportunity to catch someone's eye.

Doing it properly takes time. And if, like a pp, you don't care and just want "a job" then you probably won't do it. But you can't then blame a recruiter for picking the person who shows they want "this job" over the person demonstrating they just want "a job".

For my current senior technical role, I looked at many similar job adverts: I wanted quite a specific job. Each application still took a couple of hours (even after having a "good enough", up to date CV written).

@PymChurchBeach

Also things like formatting correctly just makes a massive difference. I've just this minute received a CV where the experience looks pretty good from an initial glance but the formatting is all over the shop and nothing is in line with anything else.

I always, always export and submit my CV as a .pdf for this reason. This preserves the formatting and stops it getting farked by the interviewer's computer. Plus makes it harder for recruiters to alter it.

Thank you for the links.

@PymChurchBeach

Also things like formatting correctly just makes a massive difference. I've just this minute received a CV where the experience looks pretty good from an initial glance but the formatting is all over the shop and nothing is in line with anything else.

Was it in Word? I've found that can mess up formatting when being opened on a different computer.

It's worth always sending CVs as a PDF to avoid this.

(For those less technically minded - this can be done through the save screen in Word - in the drop down box under where you type the file name, you can choose .pdf instead of .docx)

The strangest CV I saw recently was one where the person used their name throughout. So instead of writing 'I managed a team of 3' the person wrote 'Bob managed a team of 3'. Really bizarre and very cumbersome to read.

ittooshallpass, that might possibly have been a victim of the recruitment agency 'helpful' alteration - one of the agencies we regularly work with does (changes everyone's CV into 3rd person) and I agree it's very odd and hard to read!

@SeagoingSexpot
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But on another note, I hate to say it, but if your most recent relevant experience for a role is 14 years ago, I don't think that's going to put you in a strong position with line managers.
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Yay, so I'm fucked then. Good to know.

Any advice, apart from completely retraining for something new?

That doesn't mean you have to completely retrain. But I don't think I'd be doing you any favours if I didn't say that most employers will have concerns over your experience being 14+ years out of date, especially when they will likely have candidates working currently in the area. And obvs I don't know the area, and maybe there's context that completely alters this. But I would say, find ways to update that experience like doing a current online learning programme or MOOC on the topic and show you have experience using current technologies like Microsoft Teams etc.

@turquoise50

Relevant experience doesn't have to be doing the same job - have you been doing something that demonstrates any requirements of the job? Can you demonstrate that you've kept up with industry news? Could you do training to get up to date? Maybe an IT course at your local adult education centre?

You might not have event experience, but you've got more experience than a school or university leaver, for example,

If you can give a rough idea of the type of work you're looking for, maybe someone can make some more specific suggestions?

I received a 13 page CV yesterday, with no paragraphs!

Many thanks to the experts here. It's been a very useful thread as earlier this week I was commenting on my daughter's draft CV (aged 20 and will be starting her final year at university in September).

I'm glad to say that she hasn't made any of the cardinal mistakes and the presentation is fine. The one thing I've been a bit unsure about is whether it should include a summary/professional profile section at the top. I can see that those summaries can be really useful for people further into their careers, but not entirely sure it makes sense for those looking for their first full time jobs.

A few years ago there seemed to be a trend towards writing CVs in the third person. It always seemed very unnatural to me and I didn't like it . Is that something people still do and what are your reactions to them?

A friend in HR told me they prefer one-pages as they're quicker to review. I've seen some shocking CVs –it spurred me to redesign my own (contracter) and I've been told a few times that it's stood out in a sea of two-page word docs. It's certainly worth spending some time on if you're job-hunting and there are so many good examples online to go off.

Personally I don't like third person CVs, I find them wanky. But they're not a deal breaker.

I'm ambivalent about the personal profile. I do think if you haven't got anything to say then you shouldn't say it, so don't have one just for the sake of it iyswim.

Gah, contractor*!

Many thanks @PymChurchBeach. That's my feeling too on the personal profile.

And good to know your view of the 3rd person ones. She hasn't done it that way, so I definitely won't suggest that she does. I have always thought they seemed pretentious!

At the moment the CV is just fitting on one page but she's been doing lots of (relevant) online courses and volunteering during lockdown. Trying to make sure it doesn't creep onto a second side!

At the moment the CV is just fitting on one page but she's been doing lots of (relevant) online courses and volunteering during lockdown. Trying to make sure it doesn't creep onto a second side!

I wouldn't take the one page thing as a hard and fast rule. I think it's a good guide, and if you're over it you should take it as a sign to go back and make sure you've not waffled, and that everything you've written is relevant. But sometimes it just will be more than a page.

@Meredithgrey1

At the moment the CV is just fitting on one page but she's been doing lots of (relevant) online courses and volunteering during lockdown. Trying to make sure it doesn't creep onto a second side!

I wouldn't take the one page thing as a hard and fast rule. I think it's a good guide, and if you're over it you should take it as a sign to go back and make sure you've not waffled, and that everything you've written is relevant. But sometimes it just will be more than a page.

Same here.

I take it to mean "please feel free to leave me in the dark that you had a paper round as a 12-year-old, it's not relevant to my interests".

Also, another classic: if you have a degree, I'm much more willing to believe you've actually gained some skills from it if you can spell it correctly.

I do mean you, candidate with a "Batchelor in Busyness Administration".

Yes, that one's real!

@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.

Reading with interest as I've updated my CV this week for an application. Pleased to say I've done most of what's recommended here I did include my address though - I thought about leaving it out but having some knowledge of the local area could be an advantage for the job and so decided to include it.

The thing about leaving out "skills" learned during career breaks ie "negotiating with small children" is fair enough. Lots of people who haven't had career breaks have also raised children/cared for elderly parents and had to juggle it alongside holding down a job. If I was a recruiter in that situation I'd feel a bit irritated by it. It's like the phrase "full-time parent". All parents are "full-time" parents whether they go to work or not!

@Etcni many thanks. I've just sent her the link and will take a look myself too.

I did include my address though - I thought about leaving it out but having some knowledge of the local area could be an advantage for the job and so decided to include it.

Don't worry about that - it would never be a deal breaker for me! It just isn't necessary.