My First Ever CV - Comments Needed!

SideWinder · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:08

NEW CV UPLOADED AT 1PM!

Okay, this is my first ever draft of a CV...i'd like as many comments as possible. I am going to create a very simple covering letter later on. I shall be applying for standard retail high street jobs but also, dream job, applying for a low end part time HR job.

I have two problems now...

- References?
- Should my 'Relevant Skills' be short paragraphs instead?

GONE! DOWNLOADED 48 TIMES WOOP!

Scroll to the bottom where it says: 'Save file to your PC: click here'

pedrochop · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:13

Cant download it mate "Sorry, the free service is at full capacity. "

Burnsy2023 · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:15

Firstly, the work history for Tesco is far too long. Cut it down to about half that. You can lose a lot of words without losing details. The size of you experience sections is about right.

Get rid of "Recognition in school liaison committee"

Burnsy

LiE · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:16

For each job I'd probably list the responsibilities/tasks rather than write an essay. Also this doesn't read well "I am self taught in the field of computers and successfully built a computer as well as installing and configuring software."

SideWinder · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:16

pedrochop said:
Cant download it mate "Sorry, the free service is at full capacity. "

Changed, thankyou.

Burnsy2023 · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:21

Change "Capable of working independently and using own judgement" to "Capable of working independently and using own initiative"

And don't insult their intelligence by explaining what multitasking is.

Burnsy

SideWinder · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:21

Burnsy2023 said:
Firstly, the work history for Tesco is far too long. Cut it down to about half that. You can lose a lot of words without losing details. The size of you experience sections is about right.

Get rid of "Recognition in school liaison committee"

Burnsy

Okay, so a bullet point style again? The same format as the 'Skills' or more of a 'I did this...' and then 'I completed this...'...?

I wanted to somehow feature i had experience with meeting/greeting, any ideas how i could word it better?

msm722 said:
For each job I'd probably list the responsibilities/tasks rather than write an essay. Also this doesn't read well "I am self taught in the field of computers and successfully built a computer as well as installing and configuring software."

Thanks, i tried to cram too much in one go...ideas?

LiE · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:25

I just don't think saying "I built a Computer" is note worthy. If you're going to put it there put something like "I build Computers". This way you're not saying "yay I once built a computer", if you know what I mean.

pedrochop · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:28

Try not to write a story in your CV!
Quick short bullet points of things you've done in previous jobs and which are applicable to the post you have applied for. You can always expand in more detail about the relevant items when you get the interview.

MooMoo444 · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:30

Draw stickmans on your CV, they will see you as creative and fun to be around.

Okay.. seriously though, I recommended googling 'CV samples' or something, take the generic lines like "I am a hard working enthusiastic individual.." or whatever and just change them to suit your own skills/traits.

It's perfectly fine to state your flaws in a CV also, as you can use it in a positive way such as "I am not 100% confident with ___ but I have worked on my ___ to help better myself.

Peño · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:52

I can't open your CV as that site is blocked at work so this is based on replies to this thread.

If you're applying to your standard retail high street store, putting your Tesco employment somewhere near the top (after further education, if you have any) might help. Although bullet point transferable skills rather than write paragraphs on your duties (to be frank, everyone knows what supermarket employees do). Try to elaborate skills if what you did sounds a bit too "normal" - but not to the point where you'd stumble if it were brought up in an interview!

For a HR job, it might be an idea to highlight your customer relation skills a bit more (i.e. tailor each CV submission to the specific job requirements, even more so for a non-retail job).

And remember: Be factual and not opinionative. It's all too easy to say "I work well in a team." but more of an impression to say "I demonstrated good teamwork last month when our department achieved our sales target of 1,000 units."

SideWinder · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:59

pedrochop said:
Try not to write a story in your CV!
Quick short bullet points of things you've done in previous jobs and which are applicable to the post you have applied for. You can always expand in more detail about the relevant items when you get the interview.

Changed the bit about Tesco to this...

- Leading my own department within ‘Fresh Food’
- Quality control
- Stock replacing and replenishing
- Waste and reduction issues
- Warehouse organisation
- Working within a larger team
- Multi-skilled
- Unloading cages from the delivery lorries
- Responsible for assisting other team members
- Cash handling
- Understanding of stock control
- Customer interaction on a daily basis
- Sourcing products from the warehouse for customers
- Product location
- Arranging customer orders

Looks a LOT like my 'Relevant Skills' section now...?

MooMoo444 said:
Draw stickmans on your CV, they will see you as creative and fun to be around.

Okay.. seriously though, I recommended googling 'CV samples' or something, take the generic lines like "I am a hard working enthusiastic individual.." or whatever and just change them to suit your own skills/traits.

It's perfectly fine to state your flaws in a CV also, as you can use it in a positive way such as "I am not 100% confident with ___ but I have worked on my ___ to help better myself.

Noted.

Peño said:
I can't open your CV as that site is blocked at work so this is based on replies to this thread.

If you're applying to your standard retail high street store, putting your Tesco employment somewhere near the top (after further education, if you have any) might help. Although bullet point transferable skills rather than write paragraphs on your duties (to be frank, everyone knows what supermarket employees do). Try to elaborate skills if what you did sounds a bit too "normal" - but not to the point where you'd stumble if it were brought up in an interview!

For a HR job, it might be an idea to highlight your customer relation skills a bit more (i.e. tailor each CV submission to the specific job requirements, even more so for a non-retail job).

And remember: Be factual and not opinionative. It's all too easy to say "I work well in a team." but more of an impression to say "I demonstrated good teamwork last month when our department achieved our sales target of 1,000 units."

Thanks.

SideWinder · 9 Sep 2008 at 16:59

msm722 said:
I just don't think saying "I built a Computer" is note worthy. If you're going to put it there put something like "I build Computers". This way you're not saying "yay I once built a computer", if you know what I mean.

Changed to this...

My first passion has always been computers and I followed this subject by learning more about gadgets and building computers.

Opinion?

skolem said:
Don't have time to read the whole thing in detail right now but.

In my opinion you want your best acheivements / the things you want to sell yourself most on, on the first page. In your case I suspect this would be your degree / education as this is what you've done up until now. As an employer I'm not really that interested in the few months you spent in Tesco, and as a first impression at the top of the first page it isn't the best place for it.

Question to ask yourself:

- What kind of job is it I am applying for, and what attributes do I have to sell that suit that employment area most.

For you you probably want to say, hey look at my totally awesome education, I'm bright and have these skills, and then on the next page say, oh and I have made a bit of an effort though my education to do some work at these places - but they're not really where you want to sell yourself.

Hmm, my best achievement in the work place and overall IS my 2.5 years worth of Tesco experience...my education isn't that strong.

Noted your comments, thanks.

SideWinder · 9 Sep 2008 at 20:00

I'll post an update later on, any other feedback?

Peño · 9 Sep 2008 at 20:11

Dude! You go Roehampton! I live near there (Hammersmith), my girlfriend goes there, and I know a shedload of people that go there. My buddy at uni also likes to go to Friday night @ The Bop to pick up chicks too.

Okay back to CV lol..

SideWinder · 9 Sep 2008 at 20:20

Peño said:
Dude! You go Roehampton! I live near there (Hammersmith), my girlfriend goes there, and I know a shedload of people that go there. My buddy at uni also likes to go to Friday night @ The Bop to pick up chicks too.

Okay back to CV lol..

Can you think of anything i could do to improve my CV? Anything at all?

Back to Roehampton...i am going into my 2nd year and the Bop, a drunken school disco! And you have to be drunk or it isn't any fun! :eek:

mattyfez · 9 Sep 2008 at 20:35

The format dosent seem very consistent, try to keep the theme uniform, rather than going from boxes to bullets to paragraphs: the "relevant skills" section is easy on the eye, I would go with that.

I would also ellaborate on your IT slills if thats the kind of job your looking at;

REPLACE;
"IT Skills
- Microsoft Office 2003/2007 (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Publisher)"

With;

Microsoft office suite, system building, configuration, upgrades, troubleshooting hardware and software issues.

SideWinder · 9 Sep 2008 at 20:45

mattyfez said:
The format dosent seem very consistent, try to keep the theme uniform, rather than going from boxes to bullets to paragraphs: the "relevant skills" section is easy on the eye, I would go with that.

I would also ellaborate on your IT slills if thats the kind of job your looking at;

REPLACE;
"IT Skills
- Microsoft Office 2003/2007 (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Publisher)"

With;

Microsoft office suite, system building, configuration, upgrades, troubleshooting hardware and software issues.

I've edited the 'Work History' bit into bullet points,see above, which is much better. With the IT Skills, i do have more advanced skills than most but i am not going into IT, perhaps a certain high street computer shop...so how could i phrase this best? I can do the above to a certain degree though. Perhaps not Access though.

mattyfez · 9 Sep 2008 at 21:06

SideWinder said:
I've edited the 'Work History' bit into bullet points,see above, which is much better. With the IT Skills, i do have more advanced skills than most but i am not going into IT, perhaps a certain high street computer shop...so how could i phrase this best? I can do the above to a certain degree though. Perhaps not Access though.

Ok cool, but access is not really thought of as mainstream office, if you say office, it basicly means you can use word and excel, possibly publisher and powerpoint.

For example if you were profficient with access you would make a bigger deal about databases and all that nonsence.

You should taylor your CV to every job you apply for, keep the core the same, but make alterations to slant it in one direction or the other.

You hinted at a highstreet computer retailer, so the two main things to emphisise into this particular CV are

Customer service / people skills

Im sure you can draw on your tesco experience to cover this nicely.

Technical knowledge/ experience

So you are self taught, like most of us, you still know a thing or two so dont sell yourself short, if you are capable of building a PC, using office, reinstalling an OS, changing hardware etc, then mention it!