need help with cv for early school leaver/over 50

clare82

Hi
My mother (57) left school at 16 and worked in a few shops and cafes etc til she got married. Then got a job in a factory which she had for 26 years....in this job she upskilled a bit and worked in various positions on the factory floor. She was made redundant and got a job in a different factory through word of mouth etc. The thing is she doesnt like the new job. Shes been there a year and still doesnt like it for various reasons. Now she wants to send in her cv to a different factory but of course she hasnt written one in over 26 years and doesnt know where to start. Ive said id help her out but im not really sure where to start....id usually go online and find a template and go from there but im just not sure what to include/exclude. should i just do it in more of a detailed cover letter outlining the duties of her main job exp and then give the rest of her exp in more bullet points?
Any advice appreciated.

cml387

Whenever you have a problem like this, emphasise the positive.
Firstly that she had a job for 26 years, that in itself is an achievement.

Did she work in a team? In that time did she ever lead a team? Did she ever suggest any improvements that could be made to a process? Did she ever work on introducing a new product?
What did her team leader/ supervisor have to say about her (now is the time to get out the address book and track them down)?

Remember we're not looking for her to have invented warp drive, just find out some positives and embellish them slightly.

And the best of luck to her!

the_syco

In regards to your mammy, have her join Linkedin, and use her account to look at people that she worked with in the first factory, to see what buzzwords they used in their profile.

Also, check if she did any courses whilst there. Some may be still relevant. They may be the mandatory bullsh|t ones, but they may look nice on the CV if they're relevant to the jobs market.