Can i get a bit of CV advice PLEASE

reverenddave

Hello all

i've been a carpenter for about 8 years now and am now looking for career change something along the manufacturing industry would be preferred or maybe something in a pharmaceutical ''factory'', and i'm really struggling to even get an interview.

i've posted my CV, it's about 2 A4 pages and would be grateful for any sort of advice
THANKS in advance


Dave XXXXX

[FONT=Courier New, monospace]address[/FONT]
Phone email




Personal Profile:






An organised and dedicated employee, with excellent attention to detail and strong learning capabilities, enjoy work that is challenging, looking for a career change, and would really like to get into a role with XXXXX company
]and would be very grateful for an opportunity to prove my abilities

Key Skills and Qualities:

• Time management
• High level of technological competence
• Work well as a part of a team in high-pressure environments
• Very trustworthy

• Adaptable and flexible
• Exceptional attention to detail
• Excellent problem solving skills
• Takes pride in work
• Always eager to learn

EDUCATION :




XXXX XXXXXXXXX College, XXXX Co Cork

1997-2002



Junior Certificate passed in 2000


Leaving Certificate Passed in 2002 (320 Points)







FAS Training Centre, Bishopstown, Cork


2002-2006


12 month total training (4-year apprenticeship)


p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } FETAC Advanced Certificate in Carpentry & joinery

p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }

A HOTEL in XXXX Co Cork


1997-2002 Porter/bar staff


Barwork in a very busy night club





XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX Carpentry, Cork


2003-2009


Carpentry


Including timber frame houses, roofing, fencing, stairs


I.T.M. Frame and trusses, Pascoe street,Nelson,New

Zealand


2010 Manufacturing Operative


Precut timber frames houses and roof trusses


working from drawings


providing high quality finishing to frames

OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE:



Forklift driving,


Quality control operative


Fitting and commisioning renewable energy systems


Manufacturing





INTERESTS :
p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }

Wood turning, Volunteering in a local animal rescue


centre, listening to music, Baking, Cycling


holder of a valid safe pass

and a full B class driving licence

References


AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Thoie

Apologies if you don't like some of my advice - remember this is just my opinion - not gospel!

First off, reread your personal profile - "enjoy work"... coming directly after "attention to detail" it looks a little shoddy, though it may just be a transcription error when you were copying it over.

Secondly, I'd put your most recent work experience at the top and work backwards. Try to work your key skills into your previous work experience rather than having them stand alone with no backup. So, for example

I.T.M. Frame and trusses, Pascoe street,Nelson,New Zealand
2010 - date : Manufacturing Operative

Manufacturing precut timber frames for houses and roof trusses, I worked directly from technical drawings to provide high quality finished frames in a high pressure team environment.

Experiences:
Learned how to operated xxx machine with a 0% error rate in xxx days
Was awarded best xxxx
Was trusted to do xyz without supervision (or ... which was normally performed by more experienced staff).

Obviously only state these if they are true - don't make things up as you'll trip over them in the interview.


Leave out your interests, and just have a Other relevant information section. Bullet points in that for fork lift, safe pass, driving license.
"Manufacturing" under relevant experience isn't enough. Quality control operative in what industry, and to what level? Expand that to "ISO9002 Quality operative in blah blah industry". What kind of renewable energy systems were you commissioning - where did you learn that, who did you do it for? What skills did you learn while doing it - is that where you developed your problem solving skills?

Hope that helps as a start!

thirtythirty

I'm unfamiliar with your Sector or area of expertise, but some initial thoughts are:

- Promote your experience and skill set. Clearly you're extremely adept at spatial working and cognition. Champion that fact, and perhaps tailor it depending on the manufacturer you're going for.
- Reverse your experience and qualifications - i.e. most recent and relevant first.
- Re-think you're "qualities" bullet points. My first impression of reading "very trustworthy" was "Says who? You?". IMO if you're going to state a quality about yourself, you need to back it up. For instance "adaptable and flexibile" is backed up by your "learning xx machine with xx error rate...".
- Cover letter! Absolutely essential. Talk about your skills, qualities, and interests (that are relevant to the job), why this job interests you, why it would suit you etc.

Good luck!

reverenddave

Thoie wrote: »

Apologies if you don't like some of my advice -
NO WORRIES a bit of criticism is always good


First off, reread your personal profile - "enjoy work"... coming directly after "attention to detail" it looks a little shoddy, though it may just be a transcription error when you were copying it over.

it is indeed a copy paste error


Secondly, I'd put your most recent work experience at the top and work backwards.

I will definitely do that

Try to work your key skills into your previous work experience rather than having them stand alone with no backup. So, for example



I.T.M. Frame and trusses, Pascoe street,Nelson,New Zealand
2010 - date : Manufacturing Operative

Manufacturing precut timber frames for houses and roof trusses, I worked directly from technical drawings to provide high quality finished frames in a high pressure team environment.

Experiences:
Learned how to operated xxx machine with a 0% error rate in xxx days
Was awarded best xxxx
Was trusted to do xyz without supervision (or ... which was normally performed by more experienced staff).

Obviously only state these if they are true - don't make things up as you'll trip over them in the interview.


Leave out your interests, and just have a Other relevant information section. Bullet points in that for fork lift, safe pass, driving license.
"Manufacturing" under relevant experience isn't enough. Quality control operative in what industry, and to what level? Expand that to "ISO9002 Quality operative in blah blah industry". What kind of renewable energy systems were you commissioning - where did you learn that, who did you do it for? What skills did you learn while doing it - is that where you developed your problem solving skills?

Hope that helps as a start!

THANKS I really do appreciate any sort of help

spottyelephant wrote: »

I'm unfamiliar with your Sector or area of expertise, but some initial thoughts are:

- Promote your experience and skill set. Clearly you're extremely adept at spatial working and cognition. Champion that fact, and perhaps tailor it depending on the manufacturer you're going for.
- Reverse your experience and qualifications - i.e. most recent and relevant first.
- Re-think you're "qualities" bullet points. My first impression of reading "very trustworthy" was "Says who? You?". IMO if you're going to state a quality about yourself, you need to back it up. For instance "adaptable and flexibile" is backed up by your "learning xx machine with xx error rate...".
- Cover letter! Absolutely essential. Talk about your skills, qualities, and interests (that are relevant to the job), why this job interests you, why it would suit you etc.

Good luck!

yeah that al sounds great

i'll add a bit more and take a bit out thanks to both of you Sincerely

in regards to a cover letter i'm trying to tailor one for every posisiton i'm applying for and doing as much research on the company as i can

Thoie

reverenddave wrote: »

THANKS I really do appreciate any sort of help


yeah that al sounds great

i'll add a bit more and take a bit out thanks to both of you Sincerely

in regards to a cover letter i'm trying to tailor one for every posisiton i'm applying for and doing as much research on the company as i can

If you want to throw the next version up I'll take a look over it again and see if I spot anything else - it may seem tedious now to keep doing it over and over, but getting a good format down pat is useful, then you can tailor it for specific jobs as they come along.

5uspect

This may come across as very harsh, but bear with me.

An organised and dedicated employee, with excellent attention to detail and strong learning capabilities, enjoy work that is challenging, looking for a career change, and would really like to get into a role with XXXXX company and would be very grateful for an opportunity to prove my abilities


You start your personal profile with waffle. You claim to be a dedicated employee but you also want out of your chosen profession.
Your abilities are as a carpenter, not much else, what would company X possibly need you for?


Key Skills and Qualities:

• Time management
  
  Is this your most important skill, why do you list it first? How have you demonstrated this?
  How many projects have you carried out, by yourself that you have been able to deliver on time to your customers
  
• High level of technological competence
  In what exactly? I have a high level of technological competence too but I can list my expertise over several pages not a throwaway sentence.
  List exactly what you can do?
  
  
• Work well as a part of a team in high-pressure environments
  
  I can see who you have to work with builders and other tradesmen to get a housing project done on time but more detail is needed.
  Did you have a decision making input? Did you direct others?
  
  
• Very trustworthy
  
  Demonstrate how

• Adaptable and flexible
  so what?
• Exceptional attention to detail
  You said this already, but haven't demonstrated it in any way.
• Excellent problem solving skills
  What novel methods have you developed in your current profession to demonstrate this?
  
• Takes pride in work
  Again, so what?
  
• Always eager to learn
  Sorry to be cruel but your LC results beg to differ.
  You need to offset your relatively poor LC results by promoting what you learned on your apprenticeship since that time.
  

EDUCATION :

This section needs a lot more detail on what you actually studied. You will need to show that while you may have not done terribly well in school you were able to excel in your chosen trade. You also need to show that you want a change in direction for the right reasons.
You don't want to come across as an out of work carpenter chancing his arm.


XXXX XXXXXXXXX College, XXXX Co Cork

1997-2002



Junior Certificate passed in 2000

Well you did your LC so this is hardly information.
Did you do any interesting subjects for your JC? Woodwork for example?




Leaving Certificate Passed in 2002 (320 Points)
Where did you do well/poorly?
If you did well in technical subjects but were let down by useless subjects like Irish you need to show this







This area is where one where you can shine, talk about what you learned, how you became a expert in the above listed skills such as time management. Link your education and training to your claimed skills.

FAS Training Centre, Bishopstown, Cork


2002-2006


12 month total training (4-year apprenticeship)


p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } FETAC Advanced Certificate in Carpentry & joinery

p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }

A HOTEL in XXXX Co Cork


1997-2002 Porter/bar staff


Barwork in a very busy night club


Give a lot more information on the broad range of work you did. Talk about your designs, if any, and show that your are creative, interested and highly experienced.


XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX Carpentry, Cork


2003-2009


Carpentry


Including timber frame houses, roofing, fencing, stairs

Talk more about NZ and what you learned there.
I.T.M. Frame and trusses, Pascoe street,Nelson,New

Zealand


2010 Manufacturing Operative


Precut timber frames houses and roof trusses


working from drawings


providing high quality finishing to frames

OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE:



Forklift driving,


Quality control operative
If you want to work in Pharma this area will need a section of it's own! What kind of QA, what QA training did you get? Why is this job not properly listed



Fitting and commisioning renewable energy systems
This is shiny new area that will get you noticed, don't fail to utilise it



Manufacturing
Manufacturing what? Can you operate CNC machines?






INTERESTS :
p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }

Wood turning, Volunteering in a local animal rescue


centre, listening to music, Baking, Cycling


holder of a valid safe pass

and a full B class driving licence

References


AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

There is so little information in this CV. You need to take every bullet point and turn it into a paragraph that shows that you are an interesting person with valuable skills. You need to back the claims up with good references and examples of your work.

reverenddave

5uspect wrote: »

This may come across as very harsh, but bear with me.




There is so little information in this CV. You need to take every bullet point and turn it into a paragraph that shows that you are an interesting person with valuable skills. You need to back the claims up with good references and examples of your work.

there were a few transcription errors so it's a little muddled up
i'll fix that in my next post

if itook every bullet point and turned into a paragraph i'd end up with 5-6 A4 pages !!!


Thanks

5uspect

No you wouldn't. There's barely half a page of information there and most of it says nothing of interest. You need to give concise detail and avoid matter of fact statements about good time keeping and eagerness to learn. Those kind of statements are as invisible to any employer as the stamp on the envelope.

When you talk about your work experience state key things that defined that job. Important examples of where you took the lead, ideas that you had, how you were able to fix problems. Reference the training you've already cited and show how the combination of this work experience and training combine to make you a skilled individual.

The whole CV should work as a single declaration of your unique abilities. You're not just another carpenter, you're a skilled craftsman who has traveled and learned new skills abroad.

Also what would you envisage yourself doing in a pharma plant? This is exactly the sort of question any prospective employer is going to ask themselves and your CV needs to make this clear.

reverenddave

5uspect wrote: »

good time keeping and eagerness to learn

Should i leave them out?????

5uspect

You need to show these qualities in action rather than simply state them.
Anyone can say they have excellent time keeping, you need to show it.
The person reading your CV will have no way to tell if you're just making it up unless you provide proof.

So you could build these qualities into your training and work experience sections and allude to them in your cover letter. Discuss how your CV will demonstrate how your unique set of core skills, training and experience derived from working in both Ireland and New Zealand have imparted you with a desire to deliver a high quality finished product in a timely and organized manner.

Then in your CV wen you list your various Jobs and Training. Do something like:

2002-2006 Apprenticeship - Institute X

Undertook a 4 year Apprenticeship program in Carpentry. In addition to fundamental carpentry skills this also provided 12 months of training in X,Y and Z. This ensured that the importance of time management (and whatever else) were immediately realized in a working environment. This is of particular concern in the building trade as poor project management is a major source of cost overruns.

During the 4 years of the Apprenticeship I was involved in X housing projects and towards the end of this time I was responsible for important things that I sucessfully completed to a high degree. Upon successful completion I was awarded an FETAC Advanced Certificate in Carpentry & joinery.

Why an Advanced Certificate? Show what is so great about your particular qualification.

...

2006-2008 Company X/Self employed - Carpenter

During this period as a self employed Carpenter I was responsible for X housing projects where I liaised with several other contractors to ensure that work was completed in a timely manner. My project management training allowed me to take a leading role in several situations to ensure completion to the highest quality and most importantly to the customers satisfaction. (Can you ask some old customers for references about the quality of your work?)

So now instead of simply saying you're trustworthy and a good timekeeper you can show that you are trained in project management, have applied that training in your Apprenticeship and in your career and have references from customers to verify that claim.

reverenddave

GREAT that is all brilliant advice
gimme an hour and i'lll do some modification and post it again

Thanks so much

reverenddave

p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } right so guys

this is just the employment part of my CV



i've specified a bit more on the work experience and responsibilities





i'm working on thepersonal profile and attributes part now i'll get that up in a while









EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:


ENZA,Turners & Growers Ltd, Nelson, New zealand
2010 Quality control operative
Identification of various 'flaws' and diseases in fruit such as
Blight, Stemrot, Apple Scab.
Reporting to supervisor for instruction




I.T.M. Frame and trusses, Pascoe street,Nelson,New Zealand
2009-2010 Manufacturing operative
Manufacturing precut timber frames for houses and roof trusses,
I worked directly from technical drawings and cutting lists to provide high quality finished frames in a high pressure team environment.
Learned how to operated numerous machines with very high success rates


XXXXXX XXXXXXXX Carpentry Passage West, Cork 2003-2009 Apprentice,Team Leader
Carpentry, Including timber frame houses, roofing, fencing, stairs
also Heading a small team for approx 3 1/2 years, working from highly detailed drawings
Reporting to site foreman, Succesfully complying with a vast range of health and safety requiremants, working with allsorts of large machinery including cranes and teleporters






XXXXXXXXX hotel, Co Cork
1997-1999 & 2001-2002 Porter/bar staff
Barwork in a very busy night club, and occasional waiting,
mainly a customer service based role




OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE:


Installation and commisioning renewable energy systems
this was a temporary 8 week contract, i have gained valuable experience working on comissioning solar systems incl. Fota wildlife park, U.C.C. Food science building, Johnstown castle Dept of Agriculture,fisheries and food


holder of a valid safe pass
and a full B class driving licence
Forklift driving,




References


AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Devia

Careful about switching between first person and third person in your descriptions. I'd keep all the first person talk "I worked directly from", "I gained" ect. for your cover letter.

Thoie

We're getting there
One tip (just for here) is to paste it into notepad first, then into here to lose all those font tags - that's just hang over from your word processing software.

reverenddave wrote: »

i've specified a bit more on the work experience and responsibilities

i'm working on thepersonal profile and attributes part now i'll get that up in a while


EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:


ENZA,Turners & Growers Ltd, Nelson, New zealand
2010 Quality control operative
Identification of various 'flaws' and diseases in fruit such as
Blight, Stemrot, Apple Scab.
Reporting to supervisor for instruction

So, remember the aim is to demonstrate all your key skills within your work experience. Naming fruit diseases doesn't really let me know that you're good at time keeping, for example The Quality Control gets lost in the list of diseases, which presumably aren't relevant for your next position. The interesting bit about that for a new employer is what standards did you follow - were you managing a traceability log, how did you deal with defects, what was you success rate.

Reporting to supervisor for instruction doesn't tell me that you can work on your own initiative. It doesn't tell me how senior that made you, as I don't know what that company's structure is like. Does everyone report to the supervisor? If you report to the supervisor, does that make you a team lead?

I.T.M. Frame and trusses, Pascoe street,Nelson,New Zealand
2009-2010 Manufacturing operative
Manufacturing precut timber frames for houses and roof trusses,
I worked directly from technical drawings and cutting lists to provide high quality finished frames in a high pressure team environment.
Learned how to operated numerous machines with very high success rates

What kind of machines did you operate in ITM? Were they new to you? That's where you could show you're eager to learn - did you learn to use any of them out of hours on your own time?

Print out your list of key skills, and for each job you mention, think about which skills you demonstrated in that job and then say how. What were your McGyver moments during your carpentry time that show your problem solving abilities (without resorting to holding up the scaffolding with chewing gum - that would probably counteract the Health & Safety aspect).

By the time you're finished the CV you want to have ticked off each of the skills you've listed at least once.