Question:
I'd appreciate some advice about writing what we Brits call a CV or
Curriculum Vitae, but I believe Americans and Australians call a resume.
I recently consulted a careers adviser, who trashed my CV/resume. Her
criticism is probably valid, since I've barely altered its conservative
format in 25 years. It starts with my age and contact details, then lists
qualifications, followed by work experience. The final section deals with my
qualities, interests, ambitions, volunteer work etc.
My consultant informs me that over the last five years or so, it's become
the fashion to start a CV with a punchy little piece describing yourself,
your current activities, your talents, ambitions etc. She thinks my CV
would have more impact if I did this. She also suggests I should leave my
age (which is advanced!) off the document. What do the rest of you think
about all this? Is the consultant correct? What style of CV have you
found most successful?
I'm in two minds about this issue. On one hand, if I was an employer I don'
t know whether I'd bother wading through a chunk of self-aggrandising waffle
in order to reach the nitty-gritty. I'd probably want to take in brief
details of employment and education at a quick glance at page one. I also
tend to think that bragging about your wonderful creativity, leadership
skills and volunteer work might look like a mask for a lack of training or
experience. And what's the use of hiding my age? An employer will guess it
soon enough from my graduation date, back in 1975.
On the other hand (as the adviser correctly pointed out) my qualifications
and work experience were mostly gained so long ago that they wouldn't be
very impressive to an employer. I won't go into the reasons (no, it wasn't
sprog-raising!) but I haven't worked for quite a few years. I'm 47 years
old, and it's going to be VERY tough for me to find work, even if I can
produce a CV of Shakespearean literary value.
Back in the eighties (before the desktop publishing revolution) I used to
work as a sub-editor/feature writer for a magazine publisher in London. In
recent years, I've learnt to use a Quark XPress desktop publishing package
(I've got my own) and taken a refresher course in sub-editing. I've also
used my Quark package to create newsletters, leaflets etc. for charities. I
really enjoy this sort of thing. I'd like some sort of job in areas like
editing, proof-reading, layout and design. I'd consider any work, freelance
or permanent, but I know my prospects are pitiful without recent employment
experience. I've tried to get unpaid work experience, but no one was
interested.
So perhaps I should do as the lady suggests, and start my CV by making as
much as I can of my volunteer work and my enthusiasm and flexibility? Or
should I stick to the old format, and hope that my professional
qualifications will impress? Also, should I send a CV when applying for
freelance work, or should I do that only for permanent jobs?
I'd be grateful for any advice or support, in CV writing or any other
relevant area. Do any of you know anything about desktop publishing? Have
any of you gone through the problems of trying to find work in middle age,
or after a long break? Can anyone offer me any useful unpaid desktop
publishing work? I've nothing much to do at the moment, and any extra
experience would look good on my CV. I'm getting pretty discouraged and
worried about the future.
Answer:
- I can give you a "quick" answer right now. Type in Curriculum Vitae in
any search engine (I did it in Internet Explorer), and it'll come up with
various CV's of people in the Science field. They all have different
formats, so maybe you might see a style that you like.
See, I work for a company where we do a lot (and I mean A LOT) of
looking/researching CV's of various people in the Scientific field (Physics,
Engineers, Biologists, etc.). I asked a co-worker if he could shed some
light on this (perhaps there is a CV website??). He's really smart, so he
might know of such a thing.
- here's that help that I promised from the co-worker. This is straight
from his lips:
"That "paragraph" she's talking about is what's called a functional summary,
and for someone whose strengths lie more in character qualities and varied
experience, rather than education and specific jobs, it's the best way to
begin a resume. Her concern about "wading through...self-aggrandizing
waffle" is valid. It should take up no more than 1/5 of the formatted page,
and should focus on *real* experiences and abilities, rather than general
stuff like "hard-working." Also, IMHO one great way to make your resume
stand out is to *avoid* common resume "catch-phrases": I've hired people in
other jobs, and nothing turns my brain off faster than phrases like
"self-starter" or "detail-oriented." Say something interesting, say
something true, and say it fast.
She's right about having her education and previous employment (keep it to a
few of the most recent or salient, not her whole career) on the first page,
but there's nothing wrong with a two-page or two-sided resume (but no
longer!). If an interviewer really wants to skip, they can skip, but a
well-written functional summary will minimize the danger of that.
Incidentally, if she has access to a copy of Microsoft Word, it usually
comes with several free resume templates, some of which aren't half bad. If
she hasn't changed her format in 25 years, it's time to do it now."
- I've just updated mine and though I've been working more or less steadily
for the last 20 years, I have a couple of suggestions.
First, (and I've heard this from several recruiters) do not put your age on your
resume. I was even advised to leave off the year I graduated. I left the fact
that I have a degree on there and mention my university, but don't say when I
finished. The recruiter that suggested this said that unless your degree is
brand new and you can be assumed to have a lot of up to date information in your
head, it's enough to know that you did in fact finish school.
Second, as to format--I used to do a chronological format but recently changed
so that my resume has, first, my name, e-mail address and phone number. Second,
a short paragraph stating what I want to do, and then three separate sections
outlining accomplishments (not identified, at that point, as to where and when I
did them). They are grouped into sections: first, managerial and administrative
-- organizational stuff; second, professional--ie, what I accomplished for the
companies I worked for in my area of expertise; and third, computer and
application software experience. Then after that I have a list of my jobs and
the years I was in them. The only thing at the bottom is my education and
professional certifications/affiliations.
In your case I think that you could modify this approach and have it work well.
Put your name and contact info, then have a section that talks about what you've
done -- paid or unpaid, list things you've accomplished and are good at that you
want considered when you apply for a job. And then at the bottom put a list of
jobs and your education. You'll have to be prepared to explain where you've
been the last few years while you didn't work, but at least your skills and
accomplishments will be seen first, before they see the gaps.
I've been told by recruiters and career advisors over and over that you don't
want your outside interests and hobbies on your resume, unless they're related
to getting you hired (for example, if you made a website for a club or
something) and that you shouldn't put your marital status, religion, or any
mention of your children (not that this is an issue for YOU!). Some of this has
to do with American employment law, though, and British expectations may be
different.
- Definitely leave your age off. Age discrimination is rampant - I'm 36 and I
don't even put the year I graduated college on mine. I also leave off the
oldest jobs (next time I hunt it will be hard as I've now been in my
industry for 13 years and my oldest job is still relevant to my career!) -
that way they can't guess how old you are. Most companies are only
interested in the last 10 years anyway, and in computers it's often less
than that.
As far as the "punchy little piece" - I often interview people on behalf of
my boss (he makes the final decisions but uses me to "pre-screen"). I find
that unless that section has significant "meat" to it I blow it off.
Unless it contains a good summary of skills and abilities it just gets
tiresome to read when you've got a huge pile of resumes in front of you.
When I'm interviewing I don't care that the person is perky, a "morning
person", likes Tolstoy, can sing, whatever - I want to know if they can do
the job. Anything on the resume not pertaining to this one question ("Can
you do the job?") we tend to count as fluff.
The ones I favor usually state the position desired (or objective), a
skills summary, and then a reverse chronological employment history. I've
never been a fan of functional resumes (to read) - I've interviewed people
who use them to camoflage either a rocky employment history or lack of
needed skills. It always is hard (for me at least) to piece together the
facts out of them - it takes time time time, which we have none of lately
But I also interview in a really specialized area where we're looking for
specific acronyms (DB2, NT, ASP, - y'know, the whole alphabet soup thing
) so it may go over better if that's not the type of industry you're
headed for.
I hope that didn't sound too discouraging - I'm sure you'll come up with a
knock-em-dead resume. Just get a lot of samples and really tailor it to the
job you're looking to get. Most resume readers (myself included) get a real
sense of if the person will fit just on the first pass through. Make it
count!
- When writing a CV/Resume the most important thing to remember is to show the
prospective employer WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THEM. Therefore, the First thing
your CV/Resume should contain is a list of your Accomplishments, for
instance, (from my resume)
* $1,634,000.00 in gross sales (including hotel room nights) the first year
of operation of tour company due to design, development, implementation and
administration;
* Establishment and maintenance of relational database for off-site
ticketing agency grossing more than $9,000,000.00 in annual receipts.
* An estimated 200% increase in gross revenue over previous year for
professional entertainer due to media relations, marketing, promotion and
publicity administration;
What I am saying is "I CAN MAKE YOU MONEY", which is, after all what they
are interested in regardless of the nature of their business.
I have found that 90 percent of the time if you can show them what you can
do for them, they are not nearly as interested in where you went to school
or what other jobs you have held. Remember you are selling yourself.
