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Writing a CV Common CV error - number seven.   Why would you want to make a  common CV mistake  by highlighting your weaknesses, shortcomings and failures? A CV is not a confessional and you’re certainly not asking for understanding or forgiveness! When you sell your house, would you typically begin by conducting the viewing by showing the buyer all of the property's negative points, maybe point out how inconsiderate your neighbours park or the noise that the factory makes two doors away (even though it’s closed during the time of the viewing).   A well written CV  shines a very bright light onto all of your attributes, so bright in fact; it casts a shadow over the lesser parts of your history. Concentrate on this as an approach to  writing a successful CV  and ignore the other aspects: there will be plenty of opportunity for a skilled interviewer to explore these at the interview stage,  by which time, the plus points will have completely outweig...

  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...

 “As long as it needs to be”, is probably the first answer that comes to mind but this doesn’t provide a definitive answer. The reality is that there are no rules but there are some good guidelines and 2-3 pages should cover the majority of CVs. So how do you edit your 12 page novella into an impressive CV? With a lot of time and effort is the true answer but the following should offer a few clues.   Make an impact with the first page and more importantly, start with a compelling “profile” There’s a previous post that covers this key area in more detail.   Restrict your first page to 3 sections: “Profile “and then two of the following: “Key Achievements”, “Key Skills” and “Key Qualifications”   - you need to think about which two you select and this will be dependent on your job description and career length and history.   Add a heading to the second page called “Career History”: this will offer a valuable clue as to what you should think about adding here....

 When thinking about CV content, “Less” can really be “More”. Don’t be tempted to include everything about your history in great detail. Don’t add loads of woolly  nonsense about how you are “trustworthy” (no one is looking to employ a thief), “hard working” (no one wants a slacker) or other padding. Think about: WHAT THE JOB SPEC DEMANDS HOW YOU CAN MEET OR EXCEED THIS. If what you are writing doesn’t serve to achieve this aim then it’s likely that you are waffling.   Successful CV Writing  produces the  highest quality CVs  at affordable prices. Need more help, advice or  just want loads of free CV writing information ?

Writing a CV Common CV error - number two.   Think about the recruiter with a mountain of CV's to analyze and spending  no more that 20 seconds on each before rejecting  or adding to the long list.   What are your achievements, how did you achieve them and what was the positive impact that they had on your employers business ?   A  common CV error  is failing to bring these key points almost immediately to the attention of the recruiter. The most important points that the recruiter needs to understand are what you have done successfully and  what positive impact did they have on your employer  (saved them time, reduced the budget, managed change, reduced customer complaints, increased their account base etc).   Recruiters will not spend time that they do not have searching through your CV for information that may prove to be of interest to them. Neither will they waste time speculating why potentially  strong achievements are simply...

  Writing a CV Common CV error - number nine.   A  common CV error  is to list all jobs that you have ever had; a particular problem for people with long work histories and frequent job changes.   This approach can easily give the recruiter the impression that you job hop and never really settle; in effect, that the time and money that they invest in you will be repaid by you leaving before they have seen any tangible return on their investment. This will clearly be something that they will not consider doing when they will undoubtedly have the opportunity to consider candidates who have (or appear to have) more stable employment histories.   By choosing the  correct CV Format  and by including only  relevant and recent history  it becomes an issue that can be successfully addressed without resorting to submitting an inaccurate CV that won’t stand up to scrutiny at the interview stage.   A  skills based CV  or a  Hybr...

  Common CV error - number six.   Unusual CV layouts  are not usually welcome by recruiters and it's  a  common CV error  to try to make your  CV stand-out  by including unusual formatting, colours, fonts and layouts. Keeping the “ 20 second window of opportunity ” that your CV has to considered further, any move away from a clear, concise and well written format could well consign your CV to the bin. Recruiters  want to be able to  extract the maximum amount of worthwhile information about you in the shortest possible time  and anything that prevents this is destined to fail.   Unless you are applying for a position that is design based, there is no advantage to move away from accepted formats. Even if you are a graphic designer, your CV may well be read by someone from HR who will typically deal with a host of applications for all sectors of the business and may well have little or no specialist knowledge about graphic design...

  Writing a CV Common CV error - number one.   Spelling and grammar errors on your CV will ensure that it hits the bin immediately.   Recruiters are routinely receiving over  200 CVs for each position advertised  and spend less than  20 seconds  before rejecting unsuitable CV's. There is a strong negative message to the recruiter sent by any error and in the highly competitive employment market;  a single error will almost certainly outweigh any positive content .   An  error on any CV  that you send means: “I didn’t notice it” - (I pay no attention to important detail), “I didn’t spell-check it” – (I’m lazy) – “I thought that was correct” – (I’m semi-literate).   Even spellcheckers can unwittingly assist you to make  errors on your CV  in several ways: Autocorrect : except it corrects to a word that you did not intend to use on your CV and you don't notice this! No incorrect spelling noted : (unfortunately, your spel...

 So what’s the difference? Think from the recruiter’s point of view. Does he want to read a job description and end up with no idea whether you were good, bad or indifferent in the role OR does he want to understand just what a dynamic individual you are and  how you have delivered  a quantifiable performance for the organisations for whom you’ve worked in the recent past? The first approach blights around 95% of CVs and this is irrespective of the candidate’s education, seniority or pay scale. The second approach well set less able candidates above the more able ones who have submitted a “95%” CV. Why should this be? The simple answer is that “approach one” invites the recruiter to speculate about what the candidate can do from their CV. “Approach two” spells out and provides supporting evidence of their achievements and if done really well, plants the idea in the recruiter’s head that the candidate will perform to similarly high standards in the advertised positions.

  Writing a CV Common CV error - number fifteen .   Ambition is a great personal trait but it can easily stretch into  chasing unrealistic positions .   Think carefully about the position that you are targeting and what the qualifications, experience and demonstrable success rates will be  expected by the recruiter .   Assuming that the position will have a reasonable rate of pay and benefits, it is fair to assume that it will attract a large response of suitable candidates.    It is worth considering the psychological effect of a string of rejections from unrealistic applications when compared to a  well written, targeted CV  that was sent in response to a job for which the  applicant could broadly meet the requirement .   Professionally written targeted CV's  matched to a demonstrable ability by the applicant to exceed the requirement will result in success.

  Writing a CV Common CV error - number thirteen.   There really is  no need to include your age, marital status, number of children, personal interests or hobbies  (unless these have a relevance to the position that you are applying for) or a raft of other irrelevant detail that will both waste the time of the reader and help them to reject your CV. There is a finite amount of space to utilize and a finite time to grab the reader’s attention.   Only add information that will set you apart from others and offers proof of your achievement and abilities .

  Writing a CV Common CV error - number ten .   This is a fairly  common CV error  as most roles now require the applicant to have some familiarity with I.T. skills.   Clearly, some positions have an expectation of very high levels of I.T. skills (accountancy, finance industry, most management positions etc) but the expectation continues to extend to all levels of employment.   Even if you would not reasonably be expected to be able to format an Excel spreadsheet and produce complex reports, there is every reason to believe that you  should be at least familiar with receiving information in this format . Take the time to list what skills you may have:  Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Database, Email  etc and your level of competency with each.   A s kill needs to be offered with some proof to be meaningful :  “managed a database of 2000 customers and achieved 99% level of contact detail accuracy”, “produce quarterly financial statements in...

  Common CV error - number twelve.   Always  avoid using jargon and abbreviations in a CV . The military and I.T. are two areas where jargon acronyms and  abbreviations abound and whilst these will no doubt be understood within these specific disciplines, there is a clear danger that it may prove  confusing and frustrating  for anyone else reading your CV.   Never assume that it is safe to include jargon, acronyms and abbreviations in your CV because you are applying for a role within the same sector.   The first vetting process within larger organisations is often from the HR department and it is unreasonable to expect HR to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all of the many different positions that they become involved in recruiting for.

  Writing a CV Common CV error - number eighteen.   A  successful CV  is an advert, not a confessional.   Do not waste time and space in listing all the irrelevant stuff. Qualify everything: think “ if I include this, will it help my cause ?”   Don’t seek to explain away apparent weaknesses in your CV: a  professionally written CV  will not identify these in the first place.   In simple terms, a recruiter will  want proof that you can exceed the specification that they have written into the job description;  most other things are simply not relevant.

  Students and working professional alike strive in finding the right career for themselves for most of their career. Most of us are just confused about what career path to take and how to go about it. Some people have a keen interest in a particular field but haven’t formally studied it in a college / university. A proficient CV writer UK can work wonders for you in this regard by suggesting a career based on your preferences and inclination towards a particular service or industry.   There are many instances when a child from a very tender age is motivated to become a medical practitioner or an engineer. But it is not necessary that the child will pursue the career once he is mature enough as his priorities can change.  So finding the right career can become a tricky proposition in such cases.   Fret not as we can provide you a Competent CV Writer UK In finding the right career for you, the role of consultancy is of great importance. Schools and colleges have stude...