CV Help

[Mrstryingtohaveitall]

Morning MNetters

Has anybody ever used a professional CV writing company for their CVs? I'm looking for a new job at the moment and not getting to interview stage. My agents say my CV is "fine" but I've had 2 of these CV writers from different companies tell me I need to make my CV more "succes based". Now I know they are out for business but one of them offered me a pretty good price and I wondered if anybody's ever used one?

I've seen professionally done ones and they are very good. I've also worked for a recruitment company and there is a huge difference in a CV that is 'acceptable' and a CV that is 'outstanding' even for a person with similar qualifications and skills. You need to really sell yourself in a accurate way which is also interesting reading for the recipient and try not to go over two pages at the very most (more technical stuff can be added as attachments if necessary and so can be read if the person wishes to do so)....

You also should no longer put your reference detail on you CV for data protection reasons, merely a note at the bottom 'references are available on request' is sufficient.

MrsMagnolia this was something I was told when I worked at a recruitment company several years ago, but it made sense to me with so many people floating their CVs on recruitment websites, if I was giving someone a reference I wouldn't want my contact details posted all over the place.
I can't speak for the authenticity of this information but I have done this ever since and also find it's helpful as if you are successful you can then chose the most appropriate References depending on the position.

You could try posting your "job" (re-writing your cv) on a freelance site like www.peopleperhour.com. I am a freelancer - not cv writing - and often see people asking for somebody to re-write their cv. The site is free to use, the freelancer pays the commission out of the agreed bid price with you. I have also posted jobs on there. I never give a budget, I'd rather see what people say. It is likely to be cheaper than a company.

Failing that, can you sit down with somebody who works in the same field and ask them to help you?

HTH