Quick question, trying to cut down CV quickly

[Scam]

As title I need to cut down my CV quickly to send over a role I'm interested in. Not looking as such but it's a similar role at a 'rival' company so well worth looking at. Or at least chatting to them as they are clearly expanding.

I havent updated my CV for a couple of years but I still have the details of my A/AS levels and GCSEs taking up a few lines.. and also have a few lines dedicated to 'personal interests and leisure' (the latter is only a few bullets of which some are related to my field -- given I work in film.

Which would you cut out? I have 16 years experience in my career if that helps judge.. middle management level is probably the best way to describe it, although I do not have any direct reports.

Thanks.

 

[D.P.]

I wouldn't bother putting school grades, just which high school you went to, but even then if you went to uni then just put you undergrad (and grad) .

Personal interests are usually pointless IMO, unless you can show something special. E.g. if your hobby is doing something at kind of semi-pro level shows commitment. Saying you like watching movies and going to the Pub wont help. If you help at a charity or something then you get some brownie points


You really want the main content on top half of fist page. So be careful not to add meaningless waffle about jobs but explain results, outcomes, responsibilities above the expectation

 

[HangTime]

Are your GCSE results any good (i.e. averaging above an A)? If not I'd remove it. Put all your results on a single line i.e. all A/AS on one line, all GCSE on one line etc. Basically you want to show yourself in a good light. I had a crap degree classification relative to my A-levels and GCSEs so I left my grades on to demonstrate that I wasn't an idiot until I did my Masters.

Then strip all the personal interests except the ones related to your field.

Once that's out of the way, if it's purely a spacing issue i.e avoiding spilling over on to a new page, don't overlook changing the formatting a bit to make it fit once you've cut all the fluff. Font size, excess line feeds, page margins etc. Some people frown on that, but it all depends on the starting position. A person with a CV in 10pt font can't throw stones at someone lowering theirs from 12pt to 11pt

 

[Paracelsus]

With your experience and level, I'd cut out anything less than a degree, and leave the interests too except for something related or something meaningful e.g. Forces reserve, charity work, scout leader etc. More room to write about things you've done in work.

 

[Scam]

Thanks guys. At an offsite today but appreciate the input.

 

[Quartz]

Which would you cut out? I have 16 years experience in my career if that helps judge..

Trim to past 10 years in detail, earlier can be bulleted.

Do include exam results that are part of the job requirements: if the job requires GCSE Maths then include it. E.g. "GCSEs: 10 including Maths at grade A".

 

[dowie]

If you're looking to trim down a few lines and ditch either school or personal interests then perhaps your CV is bloated in general anyway (assuming this is a 2 page CV).

I presume there isn't a requirement for you to include GCSEs and A-Levels so if that's the case I'd ditch them anyway if you've got a degree and plenty of experience (exceptions being things like you got straight A*s or letters from the examiners saying you got top marks for some module etc.).

Personal interests/stuff you do outside of work-related stuff is nice to include especially if you have some responsibilities in organising some sport or hobby or dedicate your time to something in service of the country or local community like as a school governor, magistrate, reservist, special constable etc.

Try writing a 1 page CV, it's easy enough to do and fit in a little intro, work experience, education, technical skills, interests etc.. Then try building from that to the 2 page CV, most of it doesn't need to be expanded much, the education maybe can be increased by a line or two by listing final year modules and a line describing your dissertation topic. Technical skills and interests can remain unchanged... so it's just the work experience that can be added to and really it's only the most recent that needs much (maybe a paragraph), the second most recent could have a couple of lines and the others just job title and dates. do that and you'd be well within 2 pages.

 

[Mr Jack]

I wouldn't remove A levels, GCSEs, but just cut them down. They're still useful to show broader ability in subjects you didn't go further with.