Professional CV Checks

[Martynt74]

In my job search i've been offered many free cv checks and always ignored them, however recently i decided to take one up. I've had quite a lot of success with my job search and had quite a bit of interest and interviews so my cv wasn't something i was overly concerned about but it's always worth looking at i figured.

Here's a copy of it as it stands. The 4 roles between 2006 and 2014 were all for the same company
https://www.scribd.com/document/340590295/OCUKCV

The feedback i've got actually seem quite helpful and doesn't push other services/sales which is handy.

Here's a link to the feedback. It generally says that

-the opening paragraph is too brief/non-specific.
-For some roles there is probably too many bullet points/detail
-Many of the bullets are task driven rather than results driven

Full link to the review
https://www.cvnow.co.uk/?action=res...2&utm_source=critique-funnel&utm_medium=email

Now i have no intentions of paying someone to write my cv for me. But wouldn't mind a few extra opinions from people on here.

As for the roles i've been going for, they're quite varied. My background is a bit of a hybrid of IT, Reporting and Finance. As such i've applied for IT based Business/Systems Analyst type roles but also more Commercial/Financial Analyst roles.

As said i'm getting interviews but i think ultimately i fall down as other candidates have more relevant experience for the roles. I think if i find a company looking for the mix i can offer i'll be find, it's just a bit of a niche role.

 

[currantloaf]

Current graduate speaking here but in a similar sector (economics) so might be relevant.

Is the layout of your CV the same as the document in the link? The reason i ask is it is very heavy - just checked the full review and noticed that is mentioned also.

I would also be inclined to say that it is clear you hold a lot of experience but it seems quite a minefield . I think what has been suggested in that report is quite good, there is much more room to sell yourself.

(The feedback they gave about having names/contact details on both pages was something i hadnt thought of, quite a good piece of advice really!)

 

[daver]

I'd be more concerned if you weren't getting interviews, but if you are then obviously your CV isn't a huge problem.

That said, it's a lot of bullet points and there is a lot of information that most prospective employers might not be bothered about. For each bullet point you seem to almost repeat yourself (eg CRM extracts doesn't need to be there, the part after the hyphen says the same thing and more), Don't think you need to give the reader 2 examples as to what ad-hoc means. You can always put relevant information back in when applying for specific roles.

Give a brief description at the start of each jobabout the company (size, industry etc) and your role (who you were reporting to, who you were managing etc). Maybe split up your most recent 1/2 employments with responsibilities & achievements - there is a lot good things in there like automating KPI reports saving x days etc but it is buried in a list of 15 bullet points. Play up any interaction with senior management.

Consider adding a skill section where you can play up your key attributes, talk up interaction with other departments(especially with none finance/it people), maybe list which systems you are familiar(and or talk about ability to pick up new systems easily), definitely talk up any experience in implementing new systems/managing transition.

Also maybe briefly mention what you are looking for in your next role (which could obviously be tailored for specific roles) and maybe why you are moving on.

 

[dowie]

(minor issue) alignment is off on the first line... needs a press of the TAB key...

(slightly unconventional advice but have you ever used Latex before? You don't need to worry about formatting as it takes care of it for you and generally the result looks much better than some random word doc - main caveat is that you end up with a PDF, which can be desirable as a candidate but some recruiters and companies with application portals often insist on word documents.)

I think your CV obviously conveys that you've got relevant experience and demonstrable career progression - that is why you're getting interviews... also given you're getting interviews you've not really got much of a problem here.

It is however way too verbose, I didn't really read whatever waffle you wrote under each job title I just scanned over it while reading the job titles which, by themselves, told a nice story of someone steadily progressing through related roles and building experience. I'd strongly advise cutting that stuff down, virtually no one likely cares too much about the trivial details relating to each role they just want a general picture and maybe just note an achievement or two - you can really just cut that down to a few lines.

This may be subjective/personal preference but I think simply writing that you've got 'excellent personal skills' and are 'logical' is just a waste of space. Anyone and everyone can write similar or put that they're 'hard working' 'organised', 'numerate' etc...

You're nearly qualified as a Chartered Accountant, you've got real world Business Analyst experience and some good tech skills/experience! You don't need waffle - those are the bits you need to emphasise, combination of tech/data skills, and a legit professional qualification is excellent to have.



I'm just going to whack an opinion in that hasn't been asked for so sorry if this is misplaced... if I were in your shoes then I'd consider taking some online courses in R, maybe some stats courses too - basically get some decent foundations for the data side of your role. Consider also getting some exposure to SAP - basically loads of companies use it and I suspect in future plenty of them will be wanting people who can use it in conjunction with R for data analysis. If you're a fully qualified accountant, with Business Analyst/Data Analyst experience, relevant technical skills etc.. then you're likely continue to be in demand - you'd also be hedging yourself a bit against the potential future mass redundancies when large %s of your non-technical accountant colleagues get automated out of existence over the next couple of decades.

 

[Martynt74]

Cheers guys, i agree it's a bit too waffley and whilst i'm doing well at getting interviews i wonder how many more i could be getting which is key really.

I've never used Latex, i might have a look at that.

Dowie - I agree about the crap at the top, i think i need to make it more personal and tell a better story about me rather than adding words like that. Its probably a carry over from when i was much more junior and i've never really deleted it out.

I'll look into the R stuff now, i have been interested in doing some of the more PM style courses like ITIL and Prince2, to help on the BA side. But more data'y stuff might be good aswell. I've been trying to get my head around VBA too as that can be pretty key, especially in financial modelling.

 

[Edrof]

Snip.

Check the link in my signature, it might help.