To wonder if professional CV writers are worth it?

[LancesGold]

I've just had mine rewritten at the cost of £100 and it is terrible. Full of spelling mistakes and clearly a copy and paste job in places. I've complained but no response so far.

Is it even worth it? I'm a single mum, also studying at college and I just don't have hours and hours spare for redoing my CV. I was so excited to have a new CV to start firing off to employers and I'm so annoyed now!

Can anyone recommend a company that will actually do the job promised?

Why would it take you hours and hours? Download a template (simple and clean is the best - don't look for something fancy) and summarise your experience. That's all we care about when recruiting.

Spelling mistakes and cut and paste is very poor. Can you shame them on social media? Complain a bit more. And definitely use a simple template.

Honestly, it's really not worth paying anyone. You need to be updating it for each application anyway. It's hard and time consuming at first, but you do get much quicker with practice. Now I have a few versions, I can manipulate my CV within an hour for most jobs I would be interested in.

(Even if updating just means reordering paragraphs to match their importance in the job spec or changing some words to mirror the job spec language)

Can't understand why you would want to use one of these services anyway. Same with the 'essay writing' companies that schools and Unis are always warning students about. At some point, you'll have to defend what's written there (likely in front of at least a couple of interviewers); why would you want the content to be written in someone else's format or tone? It's just going to make an already tough process even more stressful, surely?

I definately wouldn't advise you to pay someone to write your CV for you, sadly most of these companies are scams and fraudsters (very similar to essay writing services).

Now you have paid there is not much you can do, of course you need to complain but don't expect to get anywhere.

Sorry this has happened to you

It won't take hours and hours. Keep it simple.
The profile bit is the hardest bit.

From a employers point of view , I don't like professionally wrote CVs, partly because more often than not when I ask a candidate to give me some of examples of the work they did between X and X dates or what they did after X date they can not answer because they have not read their own CV so don't know what it says , if you have wrote it yourself you will know exactly what info I want it will be ingrained on your memory from all the thinking back you have been doing .
Also , while I realise some people suffer from thing like dyslexia , and poor grammar ( which in my line of work would not stop you getting the job ) I tend to think if you cant be bothered to look up how to write a CV or get help from friends / job centre / library ( when they are reopen ) then I am not sure that I want to employ you .
By no means am I saying this is always the case but it has stood out sometimes .
However ALWAYS get one or two to proof read it for you.

YANBU CVs are very subjective. Most people who claim to have facts about what a CV should look like are just offering their highly subjective opinion.

Get yourself a copy of “the elevator pitch”.:use that to write your own.

@AlCalavicci

From a employers point of view , I don't like professionally wrote CVs, partly because more often than not when I ask a candidate to give me some of examples of the work they did between X and X dates or what they did after X date they can not answer because they have not read their own CV so don't know what it says , if you have wrote it yourself you will know exactly what info I want it will be ingrained on your memory from all the thinking back you have been doing . Also , while I realise some people suffer from thing like dyslexia , and poor grammar ( which in my line of work would not stop you getting the job ) I tend to think if you cant be bothered to look up how to write a CV or get help from friends / job centre / library ( when they are reopen ) then I am not sure that I want to employ you . By no means am I saying this is always the case but it has stood out sometimes . However ALWAYS get one or two to proof read it for you.

if you have wrote it yourself

Also , while I realise some people suffer from thing like dyslexia , and poor grammar ( which in my line of work would not stop you getting the job ) I tend to think if you cant be bothered to look up how to write a CV or get help from friends / job centre / library ( when they are reopen ) then I am not sure that I want to employ you

They're never worth it.

Book a session with the National Careers Guidance Service and ask for feedback and tips. It's free.

Sorry you had a bad result.

If you do decide to do it yourself - clear, easy to read, scannable, format.

Make sure you add your accomplishments and achievements, not just lists of job duties.

And target your CV to each position - there is no need to re-write it completely, unless you are applying in completely different areas - just tweak it according to the job ad.

(disclosure, I do sometimes write CVs for pay. I don't turn in copy and paste jobs or CVs riddled with spelling errors though)

It seems to be one of those jobs that is best done yourself.

I'd recommend doing a full template CV with everything youve done. Then when you come to send an application you can delete or shorten the less relevant bits.

Use a template - simple and clean is best. There are some fairly decent ones available from word. Try canva.com. No photo. Use a clear font like Arial or calibri. Use the same look for the application.

When youre happy and ready to send save as a pdf.

I work in a jobcenter 🙂

Definitely not. The standards are low, lots of cut and paste and errors. And employers/recruiters who see 100s of CVS can tell who has used one of these services and won't put as much store in them as personal CV written to a high standard.

Quite apart from anything else your CV should be tweaked for individual job applications. Sending out an identikit one for every job isn't good practice. So you might as well get to grips with it from the start.

But definitely get it proof read and if possible get some feedback from other people in the industry you are applying to. That can be a big help.

Don't pay anyone. Use your college careers service!! That's what they're there for.

Or you can access really good templates on prospects.com
All content is written and designed by qualified careers advisers.