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  Writing a CV Common CV error -  number eight.   It is not unusual for people with an extensive career history to have moved to positions that have just not worked out.   However, attempting to “explain” why you subsequently moved by blaming companies, people or circumstances simply adds a negative context to your CV, a  serious and common error when compiling one’s own CV.   Recruiters are looking for people with the skills and attributes to fit in with their company ethos and to make a positive impact.   Any reference to blame indicates a negative aspect in the candidate, pointing to someone who will not take personal responsibility for their actions

 A great question; when anyone can write their own CV why should you consider paying for a CV writing service? Assuming that you are not trained in these professions then there is undoubtedly real money to be saved; the only question to answer is “what’s the end result going to look like?” is answered in the same context as the above scenarios – anyone can, BUT, what’s the end result going to look like? Put yourself in the position of a recruiter who has loads of CVs to assess to compile a shortlist for interviews. Would your preference be to have to wade through loads of self-written CVs, full of irrelevant and low-value information OR would your heart sing when you happened upon the CV that had been professionally produced and contained only clear, concise and relevant information that clearly addressed the requirements for the advertised position? It’s as simple as this – great CVs drive candidates straight into interviews and job offers and prove to be one of the very best inve...

 Interesting question, isn’t it?  The answer for many  CV Writers  is often found by using a Google search for “ What to write in a CV? ” The problem with this route is that most “ CV Advice ”  posts, often by  very large and well known  institutions, instruct the reader to use a standard “ Reverse Chronological CV”   format for which there are many standard templates. Whilst this gives a clear idea of how a CV can be written and seems to answer the  “What to Write in a CV”  question, it does not unfortunately give the best advice or  CV writing guidance . Candidates using this advice will usually end up submitting a CV that is both outmoded and presents too much emphasis on the irrelevant and fails to highlight and emphasise the really key information that could make a real difference. There will be more information on subsequent blogs but for starters, here’s an article on  why free CV templates are such a bad idea .

  Common CV error - number four.   One of the most  common CV errors  is to add too much content into your CV.  A  CV should ideally be two pages long  and contain all of the  relevant information  in an easily accessible format.   There are lots of things that really do not merit inclusion, a few of which are: heading it as “Curriculum Vitae” (most recruiters will recognize it as one without this pointless heading, “Marital Status” (not required), “Age” (not required and additionally, invites potentially negative comments).   It is also a  common CV mistake  to include lots of unsubstantiated personal statements including: “committed team player”, “great communicator”, “target driven”, “inspirational leader”. At best they sound empty, at worst they make the writer sound shallow and conceited.   “ Target driven ”, when linked to evidence can be a powerful and meaningful statement, such as “achieved 130% of annual sale...

 Recruiters are looking for high quality staff that they feel will be able to add some real value to their organisation and importantly, will stay long enough to make a worthwhile contribution. This clearly presents problems for candidates that have a fairly volatile career history and it is even more difficult if that volatility was in the recent past. This gives the candidate two possible options.   The first is to have a bout of severe amnesia and start missing out jobs and doing all sorts of creative stuff to stretch details to cover the gaps. This is not recommended for many reasons, all of which will see you either squirming at an interview when it becomes apparent that “something doesn’t add up” or possibly ejected from a new position when an unexpected reference check is conducted and the information doesn’t match your CV. So: what’s the strategy for overcoming this? The very best advice here is to avoid using the classic “reverse chronological” CV format. This is the ...

More realistically, start writing your CV with the end in mind. Still confused? Stop thinking about yourself for a moment and give some thought to the poor soul who will have to wade through the mass of CVs that they will undoubtedly receive for every advertised position. The response could well be in the hundreds, so unsurprisingly, the recruiter’s first task will often be to lighten their load and the easiest way to begin this is to spend a few seconds with each one before deciding to reject it or select it for further consideration. It really is unrealistic to expect a recruiter to read each CV in full, particularly as the majority of them will appear to have been constructed with the aim of making the reader’s task as difficult and joyless as possible. So, with this in mind, how would you perceive that a poorly formatted CV with information randomly spread across several pages would be received? Or, against this background: how would a clear, concise and visually appealing CV be vi...