Critique my CV

The__Malteser

The__Malteser

The__Malteser

Soldato
Joined
24 Apr 2011
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Hi all. First time I am doing a thread like this.

I'm 19, about to be 20, and I study Computing at University. It is time that I have a good CV, which will put me on the top amongst the many applicants when I apply for a job.

I have had the same base for the part 2 years. It has had varying results, but I am not sure if its down to the quality of the CV, my qualifications, or other factors.

The first time I sent out my CV I had limited success. I had one interview, which resulted in no job. This may also be because I sent out my CV very late.

Last year, I had more success. I managed to get one interview (which resulted in a job) and another job without the need of an interview (my CV was good I presume, as I was chosen as one of ~250 from over 600 applicants).

Still, I am not happy. Although I know that I have a job that is pretty much guaranteed, I still want to have a good CV. This is why I am posting the thread.

I aim to work in the IT industry, that is why i made an emphasis on those sections in particular.

EDIT: Also, I would appreciate if you post your 'experience' rather than thought. For example, "Where I work, we look for xxx" or "As a person who conducts interviews to newcomers, I feel that they write a lot of 'extra' things in their CV that they can not back up in the interview." You get what I mean :p

Updated CV at post #45
 
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I don't know much about CVs, but it seems a bit "wishy washy". You should have less of "i did this and i did that" and more of "This taught me to..." "This developed my skills in..."
 
Make it fit 2 sides of A4.

Bullet point key element of each work experience period. 4 max per experience.

Use a blank template without all that Europass rubbish all over it.
 
Spell check, particularly 'volontary'
Education and work experience should be newest first.
Part of your job as a voluntary worker was 'not to make them feel uncomfortable'? Rephrase that.
You probably didn't gain 'vast' knowledge whilst working as a waiter over a summer. Sell yourself, but be interviewed by someone with vast knowledge and he'll make you look a pillock.

A CV should be bullet points, not a narrative.
 
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1. Two pages maximum
2. Stop using up so much pointless white space. It just looks like you have nothing to say.
3. You don't need a photograph.
4. Why do you have Europass plastered across it? Why is there a footer?
 
I'd get rid of "Other skills: Football", is it really a marketable skill? If you're applying for a job as a football player maybe, but for everything else, irrelevant.

If you keep it in, I'd combine the two programming lines to one rather than having two almost identical lines, "... Java and C programming".

I'd remove the line "ability to follow orders by superiors" that's pretty much expected, so doesn't need explaining IMO.
 
Not to be mean but i just tried to read it and i skipped right over you work experience bit.. (not that im lazy), it just didn't invite me to read it..

In mine, i've done 5-6 bullets points about my job then a another 2 lines underneath to explain in detail.

And as said above take, "other skills" out. .

2 sides is more than enough

And don't have sections over 2 pages, keep a section on the same page..
 
All right, so I read through the thread again, and I made a list of bullets of things I need to keep in mind

- Remove Europass Branding
- 2 Pages max
- Bullet points for work experience, and use "I was thought..."
- Keep a section per page
- Remove/edit all the personal/extra skills
- Experience/Education New -> Old

I edited it accordingly, but I didn't manage to fit it in 2 pages. It fits in 3. I could try to fit it in using smaller font sizes etc. but then it would just be unreadable. I think it looks a bit better. Maybe the work experience description(s) can be a bit better, but I'm not really sure what I should edit.

P.s. Black parts in work experience/education are all of format address | website

P.S.2 It looks a bit pixilated cause I converted it from PDF to JPG. I will submit the original PDF
 
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The__Malteser said:
All right, so I read through the thread again, and I made a list of bullets of things I need to keep in mind

- Remove Europass Branding
- 2 Pages max
- Bullet points for work experience, and use "I was thought..."
- Keep a section per page
- Remove/edit all the personal/extra skills
- Experience/Education New -> Old

I edited it accordingly, but I didn't manage to fit it in 2 pages. It fits in 3. I could try to fit it in using smaller font sizes etc. but then it would just be unreadable. I think it looks a bit better. Maybe the work experience description(s) can be a bit better, but I'm not really sure what I should edit.

P.s. Black parts in work experience/education are all of format address | website

P.S.2 It looks a bit pixilated cause I converted it from PDF to JPG. I will submit the original PDF
Click to expand...

Honestly, that's still awful.

Firstly, I know English isn't your "mother tongue" (hint- don't say that, just put "Languages - fluent in xxx, xxxx, xxxx.) but it's taught, not thought.

2 Pages max means 2 pages max, not 3 pages because it won't fit onto 2 pages. Make it fit!! You have some insanely sized margins and white areas above/below your text. Get rid of those.

You have no opening statement - Write one.

This is the layout you should be looking at, you can either have skills on the first page or employment history, whichever is the strongest. Keep education right up at the top.

jciN7PF.jpg

fWwv9q5.jpg


Once you've put in your own info your should have it very well fleshed out, for example, this is my CV filled to the brim, all in 2 pages (blurred out so you can't see the detail, but gives you an idea of how filled out yours should be).
MyCV1.jpg~original


MyCV2.jpg~original


My employed details for job aren't in bullet points, because if they were it would be 3 pages. remember, 2 pages max!!

You have to think that the person looking at your CV will look at it for 30 seconds max before making a decision.

Get rid of your photo, gender, date of birth, nationality.
 
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Get rid of...

"Communication Skills" & "Organisational/Managerial Skills".

It means **** all and anyone can write that. You need to give EXAMPLES etc.
 
Tuppy_Glossop said:
That's actually three pages :D
Click to expand...

I reckon all the information on his CV would fit on 1 page. :D

Remember OP, 2 pages max!!!

SideWinder said:
Get rid of...

"Communication Skills" & "Organisational/Managerial Skills".

It means **** all and anyone can write that. You need to give EXAMPLES etc.
Click to expand...
Agree, but you can still have those headings, so long as underneath you have examples,

OP, if you have those headings, you need things like:

Lead a team of xxxxxx
Performed xxxx

i.e. actual stuff you've done in a role, which proves you have those skills.

Saying you have the ability to take the initiative and a sense of organisation are NOT proving those skills.

Something like this would:

Took project lead on xxxxxx which lead to xxxx

or

Organised a team outing to xxxx for xxx number of staff

or many other examples.
 
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Remove photo, gender, DoB, nationality. Not needed and the only possible effect is negative. Employers are not allowed to discriminate based on looks, gender, age or nationality and so some employers will bin any CV that had that information so that they can never be accused of bias. They will find that out just by looking at your name, education status and when they bring you in for an interview.


Remove O-levels and primary school, who care, list only the most recent and relevant information.
Similarly, remove driving license, it is meaningless for any job that doesn't involve driving. Remember your CV has tobe tailored to suit every single job application. Applying for a pizza delivery boy, then add in the driving license.


Where are you studying, it doesn't list any university so is useless.

Put the food hygiene and ECDL into a single category, e.g. "Additional Qualifications". But again, if you are not applying for something food related then a hygiene certificate is useless. It also doesn't say who awarded the certificate.


Your languages doesn't state what level or ability, try to say honest things like native, fluent conversational etc.


Your personal skills are very vague.
"Ability to work in group" , "sense of organization "
These are completely empty sentences that provide no support of your claim. You need to provide evidence and reasoning why you believe you have these skills. What is it from your prior work experience has proven that you have these skills?

Which brings me to the work experience. You need to focus on what skills, duties, responsibilities, tasks you learned/were required to have. Saying that you were "thought" to be a waiter is meaningless.

Which rings me to Spelling and grammar. It is in general very poor. You need to have this well proof read. Employers may or may not care at your language ability in the job, as long as you communicate effectively with the team/manager and are not responsible for Customer Facing documents. However, they will look at errors in your CV and see that you are not willing to put in the effort or expense to have your CV proof read and polished, you have ignored details or simply don't care about such things. That is a very bad sign. Your CV should be flawless.
 
It is hard to equate the grammar, spelling, and language in the cv to a moderate command of English. "Willing to learn new abilities" is not a communication skill. In fact it isn't a skill at all.

Is being a 'Summer Student' work experience ?

It needs quite a lot of work. Keep going !
 
I just sent you a trust message, linking to a public copy of my CV, as a new CS grad it should be a decent baseline, mines been checked and gone through by a bunch of people in industry and got me a fair few interviews (and jobs!)
 
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