#newcv spelling mistakes. The most common error this week? Martial instead of Marital. Marriage can be like a war – but don’t publicise it!
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Always use MS Word for your CV…
Always use MS Word for your CV. We’re seeing lots of CVs in MS Works format at the moment and most agencies & job boards can’t open them!
Be Positive!
Employers look for positive language in a CV.
Sounds obvious but the number of CVs we see that use weak language is incredible.
What do we mean by “Positive Language”?
Perhaps the most common example is when applicants say in their profile “I consider myself to be a hard working person” or “I can consider myself to be a reliable employee”.
This is weak language for a CV.
It’s much better to say “I am a hard working person” or “I am a reliable employee”.
It’s the same thing but so much stronger and positive in the way you portray yourself.
Age on a CV
You don’t need to put your age on a CV and recruiters and employers are not allowed to directly ask you how old you are.
It would be naive to think that your age doesn’t make a difference as many recruiters are under 30 and to them anyone over the age of 50 is not a good candidate.
But how do you avoid showing your age?
1. Don’t put your date of birth on.
Obvious but we still had to say it!
2. Only show the last 15-20 years of employment history on your CV.
You don’t have to show your entire life history in a CV and if the last 15-20 years doesn’t include any relevant experience then you probably shouldn’t be applying for the job in the first place!
3. If your email address was generated by your email provider it may well have your year of birth in it, e.g. davidsmith52@blahblah.com
Get yourself a new email address specifically for job applications from Gmail or Yahoo.
4. Take out the years for your training and education.
Training is training, no matter when you did it and the same applies for education. There are exceptions to this but with many time related certifications the re-application process is pretty basic and employers won’t hesitate to get you through it if they think you’re the right person.
5. Take a careful look at your interests and hobbies…
If you put down that “spending time with my grand children” is an interest then you are giving away your age.
Follow these 5 steps and you’ll get past the age barrier and get the interview.
National Insurance numbers on …
National Insurance numbers on CVs is a big ” no no”. We’re seeing it a lot at right now & it’s a sure fire way to get your identity stolen!
How we personalise a CV
One of the biggest complaints we hear of from clients who have previously had a “professional” write their CV is that the end result just doesn’t read like it’s them being described.
It’s generally because a stock pro-forma will have been used when writing the profile, and also in the job descriptions, where a list of “power” words will have been used to construct an image that is a long way from reality.
How do we avoid this pitfall?
Essentially we take what you have written about yourself and reshape it to give it more impact, but using your words so that the end result is still recognisable as you. We always ask our clients to read the first draft of their new CV carefully and make sure that they are comfortable about the overall tone of how they are portrayed and if not, we amend it as much as is needed to get the right balance between humility and selling yourself positively.
Posted in CV Writing, How to Write a CV, Writing a CV
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Consider how old you are when …
Consider how old you are when writing your CV. If you’re over 25 does it matter that you won a book token at school?
Number 1 complaint from recrui…
Number 1 complaint from recruiters about CVs? Missing, or only partial, contact details. Mobile & email are the minimum requirement.