Advice on my C.V.

[buckeejit]

Evenin' all. I need help with my C.V. I know that there are a lot of these threads but I haven't heard back from anyone regarding positions I've applied for and I can only presume that it's because of my C.V.

Curriculum Vitae
Mr. Buckeejit (not my real name)

Summary
A self-motivated and hard working Administrator who always preserves to achieve the highest standard of work. Able to use own initiative and also enjoys working as part of a team. Endeavours to satisfy both the needs of the customer and employer’s priorities to meet deadlines and targets. An effective communicator; honest, trustworthy and reliable. Computer literate with extensive knowledge of IT systems and of the Microsoft Office Package (Word, Outlook, Access, Excel).

Wishes to further a career in the Administration Industry. Has experience of inbound customer services and Administrative roles.

Personal Details

Tel : xxx
Address : 9 xxx street
Bangor
Co. Down
BT20 xxx

E-mail : [email protected]
Marital Status : Single
D.O.B : 16/04/1987
Nationality : British
Driving License : No

Skills
• Travel - Advisor / Support
• Administration / Secretarial - Administrator, Clerical, Telephonist
• Customer Service - Call Centre (Inbound), Customer Service Adviser (5 years experience)
• Typing - 60 WPM

Work Experience
xxx (Expedia.co.uk Contract - Inbound Customer Services)
Address Here
March 2006 to current date

• Support Agent in Back Office Department (Offering Customer Service agents Support) - First contact support for agents if they run into any issues e.g. Irate customers, passengers stuck at the airport, weather issues, cancelled bookings etc.
• Vast experience of Amadeus (CRS) (2 years) and over 3 years experience of Worldspan (Travelport) CRS). Experience with working (action) Amadeus and Worldspan Queues in regards to Schedule Changes, Refunds
• Excellent customer service skills (3 years travel related customer service and 2 general inbound Customer Service experience).
• 3 years experience within the travel industry
• Using Microsoft Excel daily to update reports and spreadsheets
• Capable of working under pressure and currently work to targets
• Flexible and works to deadlines effectively
• Working side by side with the Client
• Excellent Knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook)

Teleperformance (Sainsbury’s Online Contract (Inbound Customer Services)
Address Here
October 2004 to February 2006

• Excellent customer service skills
• Good telephone manner
• Capable of working under pressure
• Working within a team and using own initiative when working alone.

NI Civil Service (NVQ Placement)
Address Here
September 2003 to September 2004

• Working to meet deadlines, Maintaining Databases and internal/external customer communication
• Administration i.e. filing, word processing, attending conferences, data input
• Working in a real environment to complete my NVQ Level 2 in Business Administration
• Able to use own initiative when needed. Also, a team player

Education
Joblink - 86 Great Victoria St, Belfast, Co. Antrim BT2 7BD
• September 2003 to September 2004

Movilla High School - Donaghadee Rd, Newtownards, Co. Down BT23 7HA
• September 1999 to May 2003

Qualifications
Qualification Grade Achieved

NVQ Level 2 Business Administration PASS
RSA Level 1 Typing PASS
RSA Level 2 Word Processing PASS
GCSE Art & Design B

Interests and Hobbies

I like to play a bit of tennis in my spare time. I am also very interested in computers and spend most of my days around them.

Referees
Insert Here


Oh and when applying for jobs, I send C.V.'s via a different email; there is no mention of buckeejit anywhere lol.

 

[CaptainComedy]

good data on the cv is nice and all but if you want them to *want* to look at it then the presentation is key.only today I was told my cv looked very appealing compared to everyone elses - got 8 interviews set up in only 4 days.

 

[Mr^B]

You should probably sort out the grammatical and spelling errors, and then move to how you come across, and then to how you have structured it.

Where to start...hmm...

Curriculum Vitae

Is it? really? I'd never have known. Never EVER put CV or C.V. or Curriculum Vitae at the top of a CV.

A self-motivated and hard working Administrator who always preserves to achieve the highest standard of work. Able to use own initiative and also enjoys working as part of a team. Endeavours to satisfy both the needs of the customer and employer’s priorities to meet deadlines and targets. An effective communicator; honest, trustworthy and reliable. Computer literate with extensive knowledge of IT systems and of the Microsoft Office Package (Word, Outlook, Access, Excel).

That's just the most ambiguous androgynous meaningless load of waffle - even without the spelling mistake. Preserves? What are you preserving? Do you mean "perseveres"? Frankly, that would be in the bin the instant I saw it for that one. Works well on their own as well as in a team? Is someone really going to put down "well, I'm ok on my own, and pretty naff in a team". Come up with something original, what do you want to do? What do you enjoy? How do you improve yourself? These "opening gambits" are useless and a waste of floorspace unless you can say something unique about yourself.

Cut out as much waffle as you can, you simply don't need it.

3 years experience within the travel industry

I can work that out from the date.

Using Microsoft Excel daily to update reports and spreadsheets

I'd be amazed if you used Excel to update something other than spreadsheets.

Capable of working under pressure and currently work to targets

Doesn't make any sense. Bullet points don't mean that what follows is exempt from requiring grammatical accuracy.

Excellent Knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook)

You've already said that, there's no need to repeat it. What did you do in Access? Where was it used? Did you just use it, or did you do some database/forms development?

Excellent customer service skills
• Good telephone manner
• Capable of working under pressure
• Working within a team and using own initiative when working alone.

That's all very well, but how does that relate to the job you were doing? These are just skills, not how you acquired them or how you applied them.

Again, bullet points don't mean you can just write gibberish, you need to use English.

Able to use own initiative when needed. Also, a team player

Where's examples of this? How did you demonstrate your team playerness or your initiativeness in the role? Just a sentence will do.

Oops, a bit ranty/aggressive - it wasn't meant to be - but so often I see people making the same mistakes over and over again - you're trying to sell yourself here, you're not getting interviews because you're not selling yourself, your selling a really generic person, who probably doesn't actually exist. Most people can work in a team, or on their own, but not all the time - being a team player takes work, as does motivating yourself. There's no point putting that on a CV as it's just wasted space.

/rant

 

[HangTime]

Interests and Hobbies

I like to play a bit of tennis in my spare time. I am also very interested in computers and spend most of my days around them

This probably does more harm than good, you've got a very lackadasical line about tennis and then basically say you like sitting in front of a monitor. I can appreciate that you are probably trying to illustrate IT proficiency, but to some employers it might just scream 'geek'. What have you done during your hobbies that might pique the interest of the reader? Do you play tennis competitively? Have you done anything out of the ordinary on your computer other than playing games, reading internet forums and downloading mp3s; maybe designed a website or something? Not making any assumptions about you here, just trying to provoke thoughts.

Plenty of people put Curriculum Vitae or similar at the top of their CV. Makes sense to me, the vast majority of documents have a title.

 

[Scania]

Slip in something absurd to see if they notice it.....

 

[buckeejit]

thanks for the replies guys, I'll make the relevant changes when I get home.

 

[shifty_uk]

A self-motivated and hard working Administrator who always preserves to achieve the highest standard of work.

O rly? Drop the bull and make it more personal. Tell them who you are, what you're doing and what you wish to achieve within an incredibly small and precise paragraph.

 

[geuben]

Don't put your marital status on there, it's irrelevant. The same could also be said for your date of birth. I left it off mine and have had no issues, some agencies have asked for the day and month purely to allow them to keep track of you on their system but they said they didn't want the year.

 

[NickK]

Need more strong action verbs to start the bullet points. Shifty_uk is right too.

 

[SillyHeatsink]

[email protected]

Quite possibly the most awesomest email address I've ever seen. Nice grab.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with a 'personal statement' type section at all. My CV simply presents personal/contact info, accomplishments (sport, papers published, software experience...) work history, then referees. All text, no fancy graphics.

Never say things like 'team player.' Instead, just state: "June 2006/07: Expeditor, Composites Div., ABC Company. Role involved coordinating 300 people. Training, H&S. Increased throughput by 10%"...just let the evidence speak for itself, don't try and wrap words round it.

 

[matt_fsr]

Some good suggestions above, I'd personally leave date of birth in, as its a quick and easy way for HR drone to spot what age group a person fits into.

Agree with Hangtime, focus on your outside of work areas a little more, elaborate on the tennis, and even mention having been building custom PC's for x years (if thats accurate) - sounds at least like you have more depth then just typical person who works, goes home, gets drunk on Friday night. Rinse. Repeat.

 

[Squink]

Oops, a bit ranty/aggressive - it wasn't meant to be - but so often I see people making the same mistakes over and over again

You make a lot of excellent points, but I'd disagree with your criticism for him spelling out "3 years in travel industry" and "using Excel to update spreadsheets". You're assuming that everyone who reads his CV is going to be bright enough and interested enough to go over his CV with a fine toothcomb. It'll more likely get skim read (as part of a pile of 150 other CVs), where the spoon feeding of basic information will be useful, especially when combined with other things to make it stand out, as you describe in your post.

 

[shifty_uk]

He's of a reasonable age, I see no issue with providing date of birth? I personally always have.

 

[RDM]

Curriculum Vitae
Mr. Buckeejit (not my real name)

As mentioned previously, it is a CV, they know it is a CV there is no need to tell them it is a CV. Your name should be the title.

Personal Details

Tel : xxx
Address : 9 xxx street
Bangor
Co. Down
BT20 xxx

E-mail : [email protected]
Marital Status : Single
D.O.B : 16/04/1987
Nationality : British
Driving License : No

Put this before the summary, I would also change the name of the summary to something like "Personal Profile" as it isn't actually a summary of what is in the CV. From the above lose Marital Status, Date of Birth, Nationality and Driving Licence. The first three are irrelevant and the last one is a negative.

Skills
• Travel - Advisor / Support
• Administration / Secretarial - Administrator, Clerical, Telephonist
• Customer Service - Call Centre (Inbound), Customer Service Adviser (5 years experience)
• Typing - 60 WPM

The only skill I can see in this list is that you can type. The rest are titles of areas you have worked in. Ditch the section entirely.

Work Experience

No need for employers addresses, irrelevant information. Change the title to "Career Summary" and rather than listing things you did, list acheivements instead. Sell yourself, your skills and your abilities by telling them what you have done well. Also, ditch the months from the dates, all you need to put is the years really.

Education
Joblink - 86 Great Victoria St, Belfast, Co. Antrim BT2 7BD
• September 2003 to September 2004

Movilla High School - Donaghadee Rd, Newtownards, Co. Down BT23 7HA
• September 1999 to May 2003

Qualifications
Qualification Grade Achieved

NVQ Level 2 Business Administration PASS
RSA Level 1 Typing PASS
RSA Level 2 Word Processing PASS
GCSE Art & Design B

No need for addresses on the schools.

Did you really only get 1 GSCE? I would change it to something like:

NVQ Level 2 in Business Administration
RSA Level 2 in Word Processing
RSA Level 1 in Typing

And then a statement regardings GCSEs along the lines of "5 GCSEs including Maths and English." No mention of the grades, just a number. Obviously if they were all A-C you would put that in.

Interests and Hobbies

I like to play a bit of tennis in my spare time. I am also very interested in computers and spend most of my days around them.

Needs either filling out or dropping altogether. Nothing here as a prospective employee would grab me.

Referees
Insert Here

Don't have your references on the CV. Either put references available on request or in a covering letter state "references available on request". Only give references in advance if specifically asked to on an application form.

 

[NickK]

English writing skills are one of the most important skills. Your CV/Resume is your first chance of communication and so each statement written must be: clear, concise, positive, solid and selling.

a lot of CVs are now electronically filtered; leading to the requirement to state keywords for matching.

This is an example of a Resume, it's a more senior person but it gives the ideas:

MGM ENTERTAINMENT, Somewhere in US, 2007 - Present Position

Senior Technical Product Manager, Electronics Company
Business Development Director, Consumer Electronic Products / Projects
* $25M P&L Responsibility for Consumer Electronics in a fast paced entrepreneurial environment. Provided product and technical leadership to product teams internally and over seas factories.
* Generated product profitability analysis, drove strategic planning, developed product roadmaps, costing, pricing, ROI, and forecasting models increasing our value proposition. .
* Performed competitive analysis, marketing plans, negotiation of contracts, managed all project deliverables; including product launch. Presented the product line to executive management.
* Managed the Quality testing group and directed vendor technical contracts and hardware/software integration. Implemented a product requirements (PRD) and design review process enabling revenue goals.
* Outsourced and collaborated with outside technology companies in development of Microprocessors, Wireless, RFID, LCD, IR, and CMOS optical cameras.

.. earlier in his career:
* Headed a cross-functional team guiding the development of a local data interface system, smart power systems and A/D, D/A hybrid converters.
* Contributed to key business proposals.
* Project liaison for Hamilton Standard and Lockheed Martin sub contracts with budget, project management, technical specifications, integration, test and capital acquisitions oversight.
* Drove the design, development and testing for Solar Simulators, high powered smart switch hardware, and a local data interface.

.. clear, concise, positive, solid and selling ..

Can you see the use of strong action verbs at the start of the bullet points? Additionally the verbs which aren't as strong (such as just collaborating) are hidden in the bullet point.

If there's any responsibilities or areas where you can add this momentum to your CV then do it.

Oh - at the bottom he has computer skills:
* Microsoft Project; Microsoft Office, Visio, HTML..

So you could put as your computer skills a list:
Microsoft Office; CRS systems - Amadeus, Worldspan, Travelport.

The problem is verboseness. You don't have to state how long you've been using them.

 

[buckeejit]

thanks guys. think I have all the info I need on how to 'fix' my C.V.

 

[Mr Jack]

A self-motivated and hard working Administrator who always preserves to achieve the highest standard of work. Able to use own initiative and also enjoys working as part of a team. Endeavours to satisfy both the needs of the customer and employer’s priorities to meet deadlines and targets. An effective communicator; honest, trustworthy and reliable. Computer literate with extensive knowledge of IT systems and of the Microsoft Office Package (Word, Outlook, Access, Excel).

Huh? What does making jam have to do with the highest standards of work? If you're going to claim to achieve the highest standards of work, you need to show it on your CV. I know everyone else has already picked up on this but it's an important point - that, right there, is binning material.

Secondly, what is with the passive voice? You're talking about yourself, talk in the first person:

"I am a hard working and self-motivated administrator who makes jam to help achieve the highest standards of work"

 

[Mr^B]

You make a lot of excellent points, but I'd disagree with your criticism for him spelling out "3 years in travel industry" and "using Excel to update spreadsheets". You're assuming that everyone who reads his CV is going to be bright enough and interested enough to go over his CV with a fine toothcomb. It'll more likely get skim read (as part of a pile of 150 other CVs), where the spoon feeding of basic information will be useful, especially when combined with other things to make it stand out, as you describe in your post.

erm, that's the point of a CV, people DO go over it with a fine toothcomb. My question to a candidate (if they ever made it that far) would be along those exact lines - which is why I mentioned it.

Seriously though, if someone is skim-reading, is it more important to be concise or verbose? Regardless, people aren't going to miss these things, and repeating what's already been mentioned, or stating things twice in different ways stands out a mile and just makes the CV harder to read.

I spotted them and I only skim-read it myself.

/me shrugs.

 

[RDM]

Secondly, what is with the passive voice? You're talking about yourself, talk in the first person:

"I am a hard working and self-motivated administrator who makes jam to help achieve the highest standards of work"

Best practice at the moment is passive voice for personal profile. Probably because it helps avoid every other sentence starting with "I".

 

[Mr Jack]

Best practice at the moment is passive voice for personal profile. Probably because it helps avoid every other sentence starting with "I".

According to whom? Every company I've been at we rip the michael out of them before throwing them in the bin. The only think worse is sticking your name on the sentences, makes you sound like a wrestler.