Cast your eye across my CV...

Peace

So, say what you want. Positive & Negative comments welcome.

seamus

At an initial glance - too heavy on college/previous employment and too light on skillset.

Maybe it's just me, but it's something I've been saying to a few people recently who've asked me to look over their CVs; Employers skim. Nobody wants to have to read a CV, they like to be able to browse them, pick out keywords, see what you can do at a glance without having to find out what you've done in the past.

With your level of experience, 4th year courses and their grades are irrelevant. By all means list the subjects, but don't allow them to take up too much space.

Cut down your wordcount (as I outline above). Try to keep it within two pages. Some fat you can cut out is irrelevant past employment (usually the part-time stuff you did in school/college), and interests/hobbies.

Keep a set style, and layout the entire document strictly to this style, i.e. header 1 - header 2 - body text - subtext. As a programmer, you'll be well familiar with how inserting a tab at the correct spot increases readability no end. Different layouts within the same document look sloppy and make it less readable.

Remember that your CV doesn't get you a job, it gets you an interview. Don't try and describe your past employment in your CV - just outline the role, and the most attractive responsibilities you had in it. They're going to ask you about it in an interview anyway.

Just my 2c. If this CV has been working for you, then by all means disregard my advice.

jrey1981

I would cut out the Thorpe Park and Dunnes Stores work details - these I would think are irrelevant for the type of work you are seeking.

Try making your skills/duties more concise under your IT jobs - the list is a bit lengthy.

As regards the CV layout, if you have Word, there should be a CV template that is very easy to work with. Think about fonts and sizes - try headings and sub-headings in Times New Roman bold 14pt and then the body of paragraphs, etc in Arial 12pt.

Try and get it down to 2 pages.

Just my 2 cents, hope it helps

Random

I can't say I have huge amounts of experience in dealing with CVs, but it all looked very bloated and didn't encourage me one bit to read through your employment history. Perhaps sumarize them in a sentence or two and leave the padding for the interview ?

Peace

I take all your comments onboard. Looking at it again I'll definately trip some fat off. I suppose some of the work experience is long winded alright.

If i remove the exam results, Dunnes/Thorpe Park work experience, hobbies and references section I can get it down to 2 pages.

Heinrich

I would add that the layout is very sloppy! Too many paragraph returns, bad use of the table (no need to leave in the grid borders). If you are serious about your layout then click on the "¶" icon to show the hidden characters and you will see better what I mean.

You could also choose another typeface rather the the old standard Times New Roman and Ariel but nothing too fancy (e.g. Verdana for headings and Garamond for text).

Line up the paragraphs neatly and pay attention to the bullets/indents.

Peace

Heinrich, to be hoest i can't see what you're saying about alingment... could you point out specific places where the alingment needs work?

Also, taking onboard what folks have said, I've attached a new version... and i think this one should be more 'scanable'!

Heinrich

Peace, I have made a quick sample (if it works).

I have put the name, addy and email as a header.

Changing from a non serif to a serif font for the body text makes it more readable.

More space between the headings and body text airs the document.

Bullets can be modified and those round ones are a bit clunky.

The text for your computer skills was justified and you can see the difference in the lower panel.

EducatedGuess

Your CV should have 5 dinstinct brief headings

1. Personal Details
2. Educational Details [Secondary Level Seperate to Third Level] Your 3rd level information should list your actual quaifications not the name of the course e.g. BA [Hons] in Computer Science, not a Computer Science degree course. Subjects are unimportant at this stage along with results.
3. Employment Details: starting with your most recent or current employment working back.
4. Interests & Hobbies: do not put in socialising
5. References: never include references/referees unless asked to do so, these can be given when requested.

nb: never leave year gaps, you should account for every year since the Leaving Certificate. If you went to Australia for a year include that. Remember KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. Employer's merely glance at a CV. Always include a cover letter.

EducatedGuess

Try this lay out, include your employment details tec, just a guide.

qwertz

Employment details before education. A prospective employer will want to know what you did last first.

Newaglish

I uploaded a nice neat version of your CV. I got bored repasting information towards the end so you'd need to include your own bits and pieces where it indicates that. Also, the personal interest... well, I don't know yours so I just left what was there!

I also had a section for key achievements which I took out, because you most likely wouldn't need it.

Hobbes

I've found that if you know what job you are planning for you should target your CV for that job. Generic is ok, but tweaking for a particular job helps a lot.

Heinrich

Newaglish wrote:

I uploaded a nice neat version of your CV. I got bored repasting information towards the end so you'd need to include your own bits and pieces where it indicates that. Also, the personal interest... well, I don't know yours so I just left what was there!

I also had a section for key achievements which I took out, because you most likely wouldn't need it.

Not quite as neat as you imagine! If you click on your "¶" icon on the toolbar you will see all those sloppy tabs and unnecessary paragraph returns.

If the chap claims that he knows the Microsoft Office products then his layout should be pristine and show that he knows the program which he is using! Content and emphasis is important but fails if the layout is run of the mill.

Verdana as a text font is not comfortable to read, headings should be bold and space between paragraphs make the document airy. Justified type in a text block make horrid spacing between words (rivers) and is rather unprofessional looking.

Your idea for the address is good but should be done in a table without borders. A header/footer would be desired.

The document shoud be eye-catching and stand out from the *template* stereotype.

Finally if you do not use the functions the program provides then do the thing on a typewriter, it will probably be more convincing as far as keyboard skills go!

copacetic

some good advice above, lose the 4th year results and the last couple of work experience jobs, move the work experience ahead of the education. once you have some experience it is what matters, your degree is just a check box really.
reduce the space taken by name and adress, this could all go in the header. don't bother with driving license section, if you are going for a decent job it would be assumed you have a full license anyway. if you don't, no need to point it out.

any team based sports or activities? they would round off things nicely..

if possible add in some 'results' to your experience. eg your time management system reduced management overhead by 50% and absenteeism by 30% etc...

Civilian_Target

I agree with most of above - also, try not to leave a big space at the bottom of the page - it might suggest you've run out of material (maybe with correct details in it does fill out, I dunno). Perhaps include your interests, leaving cert grades, more about your skills, or your interests to fill out the gaps.

Also - I wouldn't suggest the use of bullet points - show off your verbal dexterity by putting your skills in brief sentences instead.

For example, here's what I said about my computer skills in my CV

Computer Skills: I have good experience with programming languages, including Java (particularly J2EE), PHP and COBOL and I also have a fundamental knowlege of C, C++, Perl, LISP and Basic. Having done a substantial amount of web development work, I have excellent xHTML and CSS2 skills, and a limited knowledge of javascript. I initially learnt PHP in my free time, due to its increased efficiency of use in large sites and its strong database integration tools, but its application as an analytical tool and output parser for large text files has proven itself extremely useful in my work too.

Of course, it's a matter of style, but its what I've said...

red dave

Just to let you know I applied for IT job and I thought I would just put down work experience that (I thought) would be relevent so this left gaps of months and years in the CV so sure enough come the interviews 1st HR asked me to fill in the blanks of "everything" I have been doing, the same with the IT manager. During the HR interview I told her that I thought I'd just put the relevant stuff and she said maybe if you have been working in the same job for the 10-15years etc...

Thats not to say that that's the same for other interviews and it might just be certain HR policies?