CV Advice Please

tenchi-fan

Risteard wrote: »

Hi all, I didn't want to start a new thread so apologies if I should have.

I've sent out a few CVs to places but I never really get any call backs, specifically I handed out a few in the run up to Christmas, so I was wondering if anybody could help me improve the CV.

Obviously one issue I have is a lack of experience working having only had one summer job a few years ago.

wow.. i thought it opened in Word's reading view. That's one bad cv. Make better use of headings, bold, underline, italic, etc and reduce the font size to 12 max. 11 preferred. Only the heading should be 16pt. Get rid of all the indents too, all that white space to the left looks awful. Don't be afraid to reduce it to one page.

The CV header should be as follows:
Your Name
25 Your Address Road, Dublin
Tel: (123) 123-1234
Email: youremail@email.com


My advice is to get a template - possibly a functional cv template, and use it instead.
Include soft skills (communication, attention to detail, punctuality) and highlight the skills learned from college (team work, presentation). You can include the skill name as a heading, and examples as bulletpoints.

With regards to work experience, once again highlight your soft skills as they can be more important than your ability to photocopy. "Organizing plans in the office" - what exactly does that entail? Why did you spell "organising" the American way? Is there a reason why "Cleaning Cars, Both Exterior and Interior" has initial caps for each word, (don't do this except for names) yet "Organizing plans for the office" (correctly) uses lower case?

For education.. your LC results are good (congrats) but depending on the job you're applying for maybe you are drawing too much attention to them?
The "Qualifications and Studies to date" heading is redundant.

Instead write :
Education
2009 - Present University of Limerick

• Currently undertaking BBS in Marketing
• Subjects include Marketing and Accounting

2003-2009 Leaving Certificate, School name, school address

• Obtained 480 points
• Subjects include English (HB2), Maths (HB3), French (HB2) and HB1 in Physics, Accounting and Business

Finally, make sure you include a cover letter when you apply for a job, try to address it directly to the hiring manager by name, and after you send your cv make sure to make a follow up call a few days later.

Risteard

Thanks a lot for the replies. I always knew it was kind of bare looking but couldn't think of what to write. A lot of good advice that I'll take on board.

woolymammoth

For anyone else seeking CV advice, I think this sit may be of some use: http://cvmaker.in/

The layout is quite clear and ties in with much of the advice i personally, et. al., have given on this forum. But use it as a template, not your de-facto!

To Risteard, and everyone like him, who does not have enough content to fill two pages, don't use two pages. It just makes the whole thing look sparse. Stop trying so hard to make it look bigger. Formatting is important, but content is king. And an even bigger but is the quality, not the quantity of that content. I've posted two links before on how to write for your CV. If you're determined to do this and not just lazy assholes, you'll research my previous posts on this subject, along with everyone else who contributed good advice in this thread.

Reactor

Well I redid my CV after some helpful advice from some seriously sound people here, wont name them in case they get swamped with unwanted PMs, anyone got any thoughts or opinions on it, just trying to think of ways to make it more action-ish and exciting now, any advice welcome:

Reactor

Also looking for cover letter advice, all the examples online are very American, anyone know what Irish/UK employers look for in a cover letter?

tenchi-fan

Reactor wrote: »

Well I redid my CV after some helpful advice from some seriously sound people here, wont name them in case they get swamped with unwanted PMs, anyone got any thoughts or opinions on it, just trying to think of ways to make it more action-ish and exciting now, any advice welcome:

delete the extra line break after your name and delete the line breaks after EVERY heading. Apart from your name, Reduce the fonts of the headings to the same size font as the rest of the text and change the font to bold, underline and the font face to "Cambria". Also change the line spacing to 1, and remove the line space after each paragraph.

delete the word "postal -" it's not necessary
it's spelled "licence" not license & put it in the skills summary rather than the contact details.
Bold the entire contact information.


the entire summary page is much too big and ends up just being repeated on the following page.

First, it should ONLY be a skills summary. There should not be an education summary and a work experience summary.

Delete the entire blurb "Experienced Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical graduate with excellent verbal, written and IT skills ..." this is cover letter stuff. It's fine to have an "objective" at the beginning of your cv but keep it brief and only state what you are looking for.

The skills summary should be 4-5 bullet points containing full sentences and not a ridiculously detailed list of everything you ever did.
For example, consider saying "•Excellent working knowledge of Applied Biology including Cell Culture and Molecular Biology" (tailored to the job) rather than a huge list of buzzwords.

And instead of Additional Skills:"•Strong I.T. skills in lab data management and Microsoft Office (Word/Excel/Powerpoint)" Do you REALLY need to mention HTML when you are looking for a science job? Only mention programming skills if the job spec says "experience with C++ is preferred"

Also, mention a soft skill, such as "•Self Starter with solid organizational skills and an ability to prioritize and excel in a busy environment" (or some nonsense like that!)

Include your driving licence in the skills summary.

.. anyway delete the Academic Summary and Professional Summary

Next, education and training. You have your course descriptions as one long paragraph. Split them into bulletpoints, don't end sentences with a fullstop, and if you got a good degree say "•Graduated with second class honours, grade 1"
Why oh why is this sentence in there? "Completed the Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Applied Biology and Biopharmaceutical Science at the GMIT Galway campus" when you already mentioned the course title and college name in the heading!

Next, professional history. Rename this "Employment history". Certainly leave out the cinema usher job.


I'm sorry, but you're really not selling yourself ..
• Team member ?
• Duties included
• Assisted in
These are all really weak, passive descriptions.
Instead of "•Duties included creation of standard operating procedures and compiling preventative action reports" you should say "•Created standard operating procedures and compiled preventative action reports" By using the past tense you are reinforcing the work you did and using action words, rather than saying "well, this is my job description. I showed up for work"

Instead of "•Assisted in record keeping, process validation and audits by external regulators" you could write "Performed record keeping and process validation and responded to queries by external regulators" , once again reinforcing the work you did by using action words.

Instead of "• Further enhanced skills " you might consider writing "gained practical experience in" or "Gained exposure to " , although your term is probably just as good.

tenchi-fan

wow if i spent as much time on my own jobhunting as i did on that

ok i use a one page cv.. i amended the formatting on your cv and turned it into a one pager too.. what do you think? feel free to say you don't like it. personally i think the spacing is a lot better and it looks good when it's printed out.

You still need to make some of the changes I mentioned in my previous post about the wording ,etc..

because i asked you to remove all the buzzwords from your skills summary, you will need to introduce many of them into the body of the cv or the cover letter. Basically pepper both your work experience and education history with references to relevant skills which are not mentioned in the skills summary. Your skills summary is meant to attract your employer's attention, not bore them to tears with a big list of buzzwords

Reactor

Wow thanks for taking the time for all that Techni-Fan, I suppose you're right about repeating myself now that I think of it, and you're right about placement of the buzz-word skills aswell, thanks!

woolymammoth

reactor, and everyone else;

tenchi-fan wrote: »

delete the word "postal -"

you write "address, phone, email" why not postal?

it's spelled "licence" not license

this has always confussed meh!

Bold the entire contact information.

not necessary. The focus is on your name, you! make you stand out, ya know?

the entire summary page is much too big and ends up just being repeated on the following page.

for good reason; it's a summary page! a 1 page glimpse, if no other pages were read! Think about that, as the reader.

Why oh why is this sentence in there? "Completed the Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Applied Biology and Biopharmaceutical Science at the GMIT Galway campus" when you already mentioned the course title and college name in the heading!

this is interesting. See, a lot of people will study a course without completing it. And, just because you never qualified in it, doesn't mean you didn't benefit fro it. Ergo, there's no harm in displaying something you studied, even in you didn't receive a qualification in it, as long as you're open about that fact. It's another way to showcase your skill set.

Next, professional history. Rename this "Employment history".

completely disagree. Semantics, for sure, but i still disagree.

as for everything else, buzz words are good, as long as you can back them up in an interview. Many peeps in HR haven't a fu*king clue what half the acronyms you use mean, they add them into the job spec hoping for the best, hoping to receive applications from those who do know what they do mean. That's why you see jobs ridiculously over specified. Retarded HR looking to look important! (not always the case, just often imho)

tenchi-fan

woolymammoth wrote: »

you write "address, phone, email" why not postal?

Just didn't look right most letter heads you see don't precede the address with postal

woolymammoth wrote: »

this has always confussed meh!

licence is the noun. To license is the verb. In America License is preferred for both.

woolymammoth wrote: »

not necessary. The focus is on your name, you! make you stand out, ya know?

yea maybe i went overboard there! but still, personal preference.

woolymammoth wrote: »

for good reason; it's a summary page! a 1 page glimpse, if no other pages were read! Think about that, as the reader.

As someone who read the cv, i was surprised to see the exact same info on page 2 as page 1.

woolymammoth wrote: »

this is interesting. See, a lot of people will study a course without completing it. And, just because you never qualified in it, doesn't mean you didn't benefit fro it. Ergo, there's no harm in displaying something you studied, even in you didn't receive a qualification in it, as long as you're open about that fact. It's another way to showcase your skill set.

A bulletpoint could be used to say "graduated with a 2.1" there was no need to repeat the name of the college or course.

woolymammoth wrote: »

completely disagree. Semantics, for sure, but i still disagree.

Any reason? I just thought employment history was the standard phrase used.

woolymammoth wrote: »

as for everything else, buzz words are good, as long as you can back them up in an interview. Many peeps in HR haven't a fu*king clue what half the acronyms you use mean, they add them into the job spec hoping for the best, hoping to receive applications from those who do know what they do mean. That's why you see jobs ridiculously over specified. Retarded HR looking to look important! (not always the case, just often imho)

Yea, buzzwords are good. However 5 paragraphs that consist only of buzz words aren't. There are better ways to work them into your cv that would highlight their application to various roles.

Reactor

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Yea, buzzwords are good. However 5 paragraphs that consist only of buzz words aren't. There are better ways to work them into your cv that would highlight their application to various roles.

This is the part Im struggling with to be honest, how do you say you have the skills without launching into a big rambling essay about them?

tenchi-fan

Reactor wrote: »

This is the part Im struggling with to be honest, how do you say you have the skills without launching into a big rambling essay about them?

read the spec of the job you're applying to. you don't need to include everything you've ever studied, particularly if it's not relevant to the job or if you're not very good at it. I heard of a guy with a 6 page cv and one of his skills was "I used Norton Antivirus"

For example, your CV had "HTML" but you didn't say whether you ever actually worked on web-design, or how advanced you were at it. All it's saying to the recruiter is "this guy knows acronyms".

A big list doesn't impress anyone. But if you can work a few skills into your cover letter, another few into your "key skills" section of your cv, a few more into your work experience section and a few more into your education section, you are showing how you learned and applied your skills.

Another thing, even tho i cut your cv down to one page, that just highlights how little your cv actually said. You can still expand it to 1.5 - 2 pages. Add extra bullet-points underneath your courses (with details of stuff you covered in college) and underneath your work experience (with details of actual experience and on-the-job training). You should use coherent sentences too, not big lists.

Devia

Well done on that 2nd CV reactor its a massive improvement and I think you've educated yourself well.

The only criticism I have is that its still a bit too bulky IMO. You're going on to explain too much in the CV when a lot of that should go on your cover letter. All the talk about 4th year projects can be explained in your cover letter and there you can relate them in whatever way you can to the specific job you've applied to.

Tenchi's version is more along the lines of what I'd aim for. But I will say that If you have solid references I think you should consider including them on a second page too. There is always a chance that someone reading your CV knows one of them and it could help you progress. Just my 2c

Reactor

Thanks, all credit goes to another user in this thread though who really did me a huge favour with it.

tenchi-fan

Devia wrote: »

Tenchi's version is more along the lines of what I'd aim for. But I will say that If you have solid references I think you should consider including them on a second page too. There is always a chance that someone reading your CV knows one of them and it could help you progress. Just my 2c

That's actually a good point. Particularly if the CV runs to a second page anyway. Personally I am conscious when sending out my cv that dumb hr people will attempt to check my references without consulting me first but this isn't an issue for someone who just left college (in fact it can only increase the person's profile!)

Anyway, best of luck with the job hunt, Reactor. As for cover letter. Sorry I can't help you with it (it's my own weak point!) but there's plenty of resources online.

All I'll say is if you're really serious about a job, find out the name of the hiring manager and address your cover letter directly to him. Make a follow up phone-call. And keep a copy of every cover letter and cv you send out.

Avoid saying in your cover letter "If you have any suitable positions in your company please let me know. My CV is attached". Instead say "I wish to be considered for a graduate position in marine biology or nuclear physics (whatever - needless to say I didn't study science!) ..." it just shows you have a particular career in mind and you're not just trying your luck.

Reactor

How would I complete this sentence so that it flows nicely into my skills summary:

I am an experienced Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical graduate with excellent verbal, written and IT skills as well as strong technical and organizational abilities. Throughout my academic career I have assembled a wide range of theoretical and practical laboratory skills which I am now keen to :

Im not asking people to do the work for me by the way, Im just a terrible writer when it comes to this kind of thing, really appreciate the help.

woolymammoth

http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/home/index

I give up on giving cv advice, because really we're all right, and we're all wrong. tenchi-fan and dan_solo both made a lot of great points throughout this thread. But ultimately, and i've said this before a lot, how you portray yourself through your cv is a personal choice, and you can be guarenteed not everyone will like looking at it! The layout, the writing style, and the content should give the reader an impression of you on paper, and sell you based on your skills, experience and qualifications, however earned.

I believe a good layout is important, but I think a lot of people get too hung up on that. And more often, I get the feeling people are just looking for a free template with generic content they don't have to touch. I'm glad to see that Reactor is begining to focus more on the writing and content.

Reactor, on the second sentence, you're trying to flow into a skills summary, a list of skills you have, not skills you're "keen to learn". Chit-chat on your interests can, very briefly, be introduced in a covering letter, and more so in any interview. The writing part is difficult. I was never great at it myself. but i posted two links on writing for cv's before. They're worth a read, but you do need to put in that effort on writing it yourself! It will show when it's read.

one last comment on the references, and Dan_solo said it as well earlier in the thread, i'm begining to partially agree on including them only if you think it will be read by someone who might know the references. Otherwise, i'd keep them off. Best of luck!

Reactor

Yeah Im leaving the references off, it looks better without.
What can I say here though:

I am an experienced Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical graduate with excellent verbal, written and IT skills as well as strong technical and organizational abilities. Throughout my academic career I have assembled a wide range of theoretical and practical laboratory skills which :

Enable me to fill a wide variety of roles? Enable me to meet your needs? Will ensure I exceed expectations and deliver...

It sounds so cheesy whenever I try to say anything

Reactor

I just want to warn anyone who's looking for a job and not hearing anything back, no matter how good you think your cv is, find someone who knows their sh1t and rewrite it, or make a thread on here and let people critisize it, I went 6 months without hearing a peep or doing an interview until I made this thread, I put my new CV up on Monster and Irishjobs and every recruitment company I could find during the Christmas holidays and now I get a phonecall or email asking if its okay to put me forward for a position every day practically, Ive done 3 interviews this month aswell and Im waiting to hear back from them now, this is after hearing nothing for 6 months, you'll feel a million times better for having done it aswell.

Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone in this thread that helped, I was seriously starting to despair there for a while but Im way more optomistic now.