Any CV pros or recruiters?

Ok so I've had another look through and your skills are more clear, however youre selling yourself short on not wanting to do a portfolio.
For example you state you manage all Dev work for a central London agency. As an employer I need to see examples.
Your CMS sounds interesting ,so why not include this in your portfolio? A case study of when it was used and why it was chosen would be very useful.

Screen shots of work done ,what technology was used and problems encountered and how you overcame them would be ideal in a portfolio.

I'm a senior digital PM with 16 years in the industry so really do know the industry very well.
 
I've just had another thought, why don't you say who you've developed sites for? It's essential you list big companies and what you worked on, my CV has these and gets employers interested. You state 'several large medical organisations', say who they are!

One last thing. You state 10 years web Dev which doesn't appear to be accurate. You only started working in 2004 and for 2.5 years of that you were doing a job unrelated to web Dev. As an employer I'd look dimly at that.

When i state 16 years experience, that's 16 years of relevant employment that a potential employer is interested in.
 
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Yes, when you have a large amount of commercial experience, then I feel it is wise to put down commercial experience. However, I do not, so I list how much experience I have full stop - after all, I learnt 90% of these skills long before I put them into practice 'commercially'.

I can understand as Project Manager that you would like to see things like a portfolio, but I simply cannot see my existing employer being too happy about me claiming these as my own by putting them in a personal portfolio.

That said, my employer's website is listed there, which has a portfolio on there and gives a good, practical indication of the sort of work I've been doing for the past two years.
 
Well all you're stating is that you worked on that specific project, not that you did it all of course. No employer will have a problem with you stating that you worked on a Company project for example ( certainly not your current employer who has put you in a difficult position).
Your work on the insurance company project, what did you do?
What about your CMS? Its yours, so you should be making a big deal about it on your site, it shows great coding skills. Currently theres no link or demo anywhere which is unusual, which could make an employer suspicious.

Your current companies website is irrelevant for me as i want to learn what you have done on those projects, not your company.
 
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I see what you are saying, but I feel this overcomplicates the CV. I need to get my foot into an interview where stuff like this can be demonstrated and discussed in greater detail, rather than trying to explain detail in a CV or a portfolio where it is left open to interpretation.

Would you not agree that this is a better approach? After all, that CV is there to get me the interview rather than the job, surely?

I mean, the mention of my CMS has got you curious and asking questions about it, in my opinion this is exactly what needs to happen - I need to make them want to talk to me, rather than trying to aim perhaps too high with trying to get them to make their mind up on the CV alone.
 
The problem is that with you exaggerating the number of years of experience and offering nothing to show for it (essential for a webdev position I'd say) then you'll never get to the interview stage. Listen to robbiemc.

Also tailor your CV for different positions, never have a generic one you send off for every position. Read the job description and focus your CV on the skills they want.
 
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Would it perhaps be better to clarify say 4 years commercial experience, a total of 10 years "personal" experience?

I want to make it clear that this is something I've been doing since a young age - 4 years is not enough time to gain a full grasp on things, IMO.
 
MikeHiow said:
Would it perhaps be better to clarify say 4 years commercial experience, a total of 10 years "personal" experience?

I want to make it clear that this is something I've been doing since a young age - 4 years is not enough time to gain a full grasp on things, IMO.
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I wouldn't put something like that in your opening paragraph, it's more background information rather than your main selling point. Put the personal experience under your personal information I'd say.

I think on the whole the CV isn't bad Mike, you should see some of the ones that agencies send out.
 
Wicksta said:
The problem is that with you exaggerating the number of years of experience and offering nothing to show for it (essential for a webdev position I'd say) then you'll never get to the interview stage. Listen to robbiemc.

Also tailor your CV for different positions, never have a generic one you send off for every position. Read the job description and focus your CV on the skills they want.
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I'd have to agree as well. The numbers not adding up is an instant red flag and that alone would probably be enough for an busy employer to stop reading. Bending certain truths on a CV is not the same as making obvious false claims.

If you didn't achieve the BTEC qualification then you should remove that from the CV. I know you've put it there to bolster only having GCSE's (list English and Maths if you got them) but it isn't a qualification you achieved. I'm sure you have good reasons but the employer probably won't care. You didn't achieve it so ditch it. If asked about the 'missing' years at interview stage you can explain it then.

I meant to ask, are you approaching companies directly or using an agency?
 
Yes it's essential to state years of commercial experience.

As an employer (and remember im working in your industry so not only would look at your cv I'd be interviewing you), I'd have to see examples before getting you in to talk about them, otherwise it's just bold claims.

Theres no reason you can't write about your CMS on your site. Do a case study on why it was used on a site, and the basics on how you coded it.

I'd need something tangible to look at before getting you in.
 
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I haven't read all the replies in this thread but you need to back up what you've done with results.

Developed my own powerful, but lightweight and fast CMS system, that would see all further sites developed with it. It simplifies and automates many aspects of developing a new site without adding the complication of developing for a large, often bloated open source CMS.

This sentence is what's bloated :D. Put him on a diet.

Installed, templated and highly customised both OSCommerce and Tomatocart based e-commerce solutions, as well as developing modules for each, including a Sagepay payment module.

So what? Did it save money, make more money, win more business? Think "moar munney!" rather than "I did stuff".


Developed a full management system for an insurance company that handled everything from their accounts, policies, staff and their holidays, online insurance quotes and much more.

Same again.

Developed medical training and testing software, including MCQ systems and resource management, for several large medical organisations in the UK.

and again.
 
Ahleckz said:
You should include references. We hated seeing 'references available on request' as it flags up worries that you either don't have any, they are faked, or they are poor.
(Used to work in a recruitment agency, dealing with all the CVs).
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A recruitment firm told me to do the exact opposite and put "available on request"
 
I would never give references to an agency, they are reknown for using them to fish for business. A common trick they often try is "oh I see you worked at ABC Ltd... I sorted them out with contractors for a project once... is Mr Bert still the hiring manager there?" The reply he's hoping for is "No, it's Mr Ernie."

Agent calls up Ernie to pitch other contractors to him.

References are given to the end client, not the agency. The agency gets to speak to HR just to confirm your work dates.
 
MikeHiow said:
How do you answer such a question with a CV?
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An indication of how well you'll do a job might be if you've been promoted in the past, you generally don't promote people who do bad work. Another example is grades, if you did a degree what level did you get - A-Levels, 10 GCSEs A-C. Something that means you did something WELL.

e.g. on mine....
- 1st class hons degree
- good a-level grades
- bunch of gcses
- award for being leet
- promotion
- skills listed with proficency rating and years used

this stuff screams "this guy will do a good job".
 
Or just listing successful bits of work you've done.

The above listing grades for things works ok when you don't have much experience, but after a while an employer is usually more interested in work things you've done well rather than just school grades.

Obviously they help as well, but try to list a skill then match it, or a group of them, to something you've used them for that's had a defined outcome and maybe show an example.
 
MikeHiow said:
From an education point of view, there isn't much - I have no formal qualifications beyond GCSEs and understand at this point in life, GCSEs become irrelevant. Beyond that, the national diploma was never completed. I spent a long time 'umming' and 'arring' whether I should put it in there, but in the end concluded that I can explain it if asked.
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GCSEs should definitely be on there if you have them, they are the highest academic qualification you have completed and yet they aren't mentioned! Reading your CV, I 'assumed' that you had no GCSEs, otherwise they would have been listed next to High School. You talk about 'at this point in life', but you must be in your 20s still, and some employers will be looking for people who have at least England & Maths GCSE (rightly or wrongly, could be some random HR person filtering through CVs who knows very little about your actual profession).
 
Right, I'm thinking the way to go about experience, is as Wicksta suggested and putting personal experience in the personal section. Then to leave commercial experience ambiguous by saying something like 'Vast experience' rather than putting a figure on it. Sound OK?

As for GCSEs, would it be ok to list my GCSEs without grades? I did ok in English, Maths, Double Science, Media, IT etc. but do not recall my grades, and those I do remember (like IT) have questionable grades given the role (100% on Intermediate test gave me max grade - C for IT) because I was put in for the wrong test - this isn't really something you can explain on the CV though.
 
I'd agree to not putting a figure on the years of experience in this case, there's no need really.

Just looking at my CV now, which is by no means great, and I say I have a 'strong record of achievement in blah blah etc' rather than quoting numbers.

I don't list my GCSEs\As anymore just my degree, but when I did I just said something along the lines of '10 GCSEs grades X-X'. If the grades are bad then maybe just say x number of GCSEs.
 
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