CV Design

decmatt

decmatt

decmatt

Soldato
Joined
10 May 2004
Posts
3,790
Location
East Yorkshire, UK
Hi

I am looking for placement jobs, and frankly my CV design is terrible. The type of jobs I will be applying for are Infromation Systems/Project Management roles. I remember a while back that someone posted a forum or something of the like where people upload their CV's so you can have a browse at what other people do. What would peoples recomendations be, in terms of the design, would you keep it simple yet neat, or something unique?

Thank You
 
My cv must be crap I got denied for a popular electrical outlet like a star the other day.
2 years retail experience, electronics and technology experience, 2 good a levels so far and i got rejected just from my cv.

So I could use some cv help too i reckon.
 
There are places that will design a CV for a few hundred £.

Do you know anyone with a good CV that you can take a look at?
 
Cant afford that being a poor student :p

All my friends just look like something typed up in word, was wanting to go something with a bit of wow factor seeing as this is an important impression to make on an employer.
 
Better question, how is the content on your CV? It's the content that is the most important part.

Change your CV for each job you apply for to highlight the most important parts which are relevant to the job you are applying to.

For a Project Management job I would imagine they would want something neat and tidy and with a nice well thought out layout (how many ways can you organise a few sections :p)
 
Well I frankly think it's pointless paying someone to fix your CV.

You can always take it to your Uni/College's career office and have someone help you.

OR

Look at for career fairs for graduates - they always have a CV-assistance team where you can go and have yours checked.

Ask at a recruitment agency for someone to help you or at your jobcentre.

Although I am not condoning the following bit I have seen it happen: Even if you are not a student you can always pretend you are one and put a relevant course in your CV to avoid suspicion.

Look for information on the internet on how to write a nice CV and follow it through (i.e stop being lazy and spend time with it). Or just post it on a forum (bar the details that may identify you) and ask for peeps opinions.

As a rule of thumb though:

a) no colours or shapes (boxes, stars, arrows etc)
b) 1 page and 1 page only - strictly.
c) not too wordy, look neat and clear and not too cluttered.
d) mention what you actually did (don't generalise, mention specific things)
e) if you can use numbers to describe your achievements, do it.

hope it helps in some way.
 
b) 1 page and 1 page only - strictly.
Click to expand...

disagree,

agree with most of the rest of what you said, it just isnt possible to get all the pertinent information onto one page, try to stick to 2 pages.

also know that any agency you go through will butcher all your hard work and make it look like cack so always take a copy to any interview
 
Look for samples on the google machine, there are some good ones.
Point out what you want to do with your life as regards career first, then list your quals no matter how minor then give your work experience, anything else will be covered by the application form that they will send you once your c.v has interested them.
As for one page and one page only, I agree, the last thing any H.R bod needs is a c.v the length of an essay, it's supposed to give a brief outline of your goals and experience so far.
 
Cookie-Monster said:
disagree,

agree with most of the rest of what you said, it just isnt possible to get all the pertinent information onto one page, try to stick to 2 pages.

also know that any agency you go through will butcher all your hard work and make it look like cack so always take a copy to any interview
Click to expand...

Unless you have substantial work experience in many different companies then it's only 1 page. That's that.

You either need lengthy work experience OR being an academic where you need to explain your publications/research etc. all other stuff is 1 page strictly.

I would also avoid writing down crap personal hobbies etc. Unless it's something extracurricular that you did that is important (i.e run a charity, run a marathon, help people at the local church, manage something) don't write it. Using space of your cv to say that you like football or chess or travelling is completely boring and no one is interested in that.

Depending on your studies/work-experience I'd have the following sections.

education
work-exp
languages & certificates
other skills/activities


you can either put education first and w.exp second or the other way around. If it's not a grad position then put work-exp first.

Obviously in the other skills/activities is where you will mention anything of significance that you've done (see what I said above).


Edited: I forgot to mention that you should put a brief paragraph (4-5 lines max) of your 'profile' describing yourself a bit, i.e career goal, your abilities and skills, how creative and quick on your feet you are, how you like challenges and how organised and all-round-excellent you are. Sell yourself.
 
I have always stuck to one page for my CV.

The latest CV that I have set up has been completely different from what I have used previously. I work in advertising as a Digital Producer/Project Manager so wanted to have something with a little bit of stand-out.

My CV is laid out so that it should be read landscape on A4 as opposed to portrait. The layout is over two columns.

On the left is a brief overview of where I have worked previously and my education. On the right I got in depth on projects that I have worked on previously.

I'm really happy with it as I think it is completely different from other CVs I have seen and I have had nothing buy good feedback from recruitment consultants and the interviews I have been too.
 
1. Content first - the content and the english used.
2. Clear, concise design - note most places will ask for MS Word or plain text.

The only formatting I use is bullet points (substituted with an ASCII * if need be). Two pages MAX.

Lastly, the idea is to make it CLEAR, CONCISE and POSITIVE. So back to my first point :)
 
The best piece of advice I can give is: try and speak to someone that's been on the receiving end *.

Chances are, receiving applications and judging them isn't something they've allotted a large amount of time to, and they just want to get a feel for a candidate's suitability in moments. If they're sufficiently intrigued, and want more information, they know they can ask for it. Which is why you make your contact details very visible indeed.

Presenting them with a page - or worse, several pages - of dense paragraphs of "I did this, which shows I can do this..., and then I did that..." will immediately get them internally groaning, and then your CV's got more work to do to convince them.

Also - and I may be wrong here, having not been directly on the receiving end myself - employers are much more interested in what you can do for them, and not so much what you've already done for someone else. Again, you're selling your skills, not relating your history. Only friends and family care about your history; everyone else has their own history to deal with.

It's also important, as Ekim's pointed out, to be sensitive to the arena. When my design department were recruiting for graphic designers, I was amazed at the number of CVs that were merely word-processed. Admittedly, we weren't offering anything close to top dollar salary, but come on, supposedly creative types!

Ultimately, it's like web design: give the user the content they want quickly and without distraction. So just like NickK said, only I've used more words and am therefore a failure and a hypocrit :D

Oh, and don't put "CURRICULUM VITAE" in big type up at the top - it wastes valuable space, and you're telling the receiver the bleedin' obvious ;)



* Well, technically, the best piece of advice is to *watch* them using CVs - people convey more with their actions than they ever can with words - but I realise that's probably not feasible.
 
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Here's my latest CV, I have blurred some of it but it should give you an idea of how I have laid it out.

I figured that as both of my previous jobs were in the same area and the job that I would be applying for is also the same I can forgo explaining what the job entailed - after all if they are employing me for the same role as I am in now they should know what I do. The previous work section talks about some of the bigger projects that I have worked on:

2lv1r4i.jpg
 
Nice, Ekim :)

Clear content structure and delineation, copious namedropping, good use of whitespace, and even showing a bit of leg with images :D
 
Ekim - Watch the spacing between the columns, the text is getting a bit too close to the images and they could do with being a bit further apart. The second to last line in the previous work section looks like it continues under the last image where that caption is.
 
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