Essential Guide to CV Writing
By Les King
Published by Les King at Smashwords
Copyright 2010 Les King
Introduction
The Essential Guide to CV Writing is presented by Les King who started working with computers at the age of 18 and spent several years in programming, systems design and IT project management before moving into the area of staff recruitment over 25 years ago.
He is currently owner and manager of Eurofile IT Recruitment Limited who specialise in the placement of Information Technology personnel at all levels.
The company also provide a PC and network support service aimed at small businesses and individuals whose needs are not really addressed by the major IT consultancies.
Although this eBook is based primarily on the experience gained from reading, writing and reviewing the CVs of Information Technology personnel, all job seekers will benefit from the experience and advice presented within these pages.
Table of Contents
Section 1—CV Basics
Section 2—CV Content
Section 3—CV Checklist
Section 4—Typical CV Problems
Section 5—Sample CV
Section 1—CV Basics
What is a CV?
The Curriculum Vitae or Résumé is primarily an advertisement whose objective is to show what you have to offer in a compact and easily-digestible form.
Just like any other advertisement, the essential details need to be registered ‘at a glance’.
The principal purpose of a CV is to secure a job interview but it also provides a useful structure for the said interview.
A good CV is your primary marketing tool.
The CV Problem
Major employers receive dozens of CVs every day by post, fax and e-mail.
Being largely unsolicited, most of these are not ‘filtered’ to match any specific vacancy.
To read every one ‘from cover to cover’ would be physically impossible so it is crucial for the employer to grasp the essence of what you have to offer within a few seconds.
If interest is aroused during the critical ‘first pass’, they are likely to read further.
In these circumstances, the CV needs to make an impact during the first few seconds or it is likely to be binned.
CV’s don’t improve with age
Because job opportunities often appear and disappear within hours, it is essential to keep the CV up-to-date.
Where there are plenty of candidates, employers are disinclined to follow-up those CVs with out-of-date contact details or those which fail to provide details of recent relevant experience—recruitment companies are unlikely to submit candidates whose CVs require ‘interpretation’
I am not a big fan of CVs ‘targeted’ at a particular job—apart from the time lost producing them, they tend to transform some minor aspect of the candidate’s experience into their ‘life’s work’
Aoart fron any other consideration, the job market is now so competitive that you need to get your application in as fast as possible.
The CV should be comprehensive enough to secure an interview without being ‘massaged’ to meet a specific job specification.
How long should it be?
The readability of the CV is directly related to it’s length so it needs to be short, but not obsessively so.
Prevailing wisdom among many ‘experts’ is that a CV should not exceed two A4 pages though this is unlikely to serve the best interests of a person with twenty years of relevant experience.
On the other hand, a 15-page CV defeats the reader at the outset and is most likely to be discarded.
In reality, most 15-page CVs don’t have fifteen pages-worth of information and the bulk is usually attributable to unnecessary repetition, excessive use of ‘white space’ and a verbose writing style.
Sometimes, these weighty CVs are a deliberate attempt to bulk-up a meagre serving of relevant experience.
The fashionable one-page ‘consultancy’ CV tends to hide more than it reveals, making it difficult to ‘get a handle’ on what the candidate is all about.
Remember, the principal object is to present your experience effectively and not to get it all on one page.
There is nothing wrong with a three or four page CV provided that the first page generates enough interest to encourage further reading.
The crucial point is to include all of the essential details on page one.
Covering Letters
I am firmly of the opinion that a CV should ‘stand on it’s own’ and not be supported by several paragraphs of additional material in a covering letter, FAX or email—neither should it be artificially ‘tailored’ to a specific job.
Apart from anything else, covering letters often become separated from the basic CV which can be a bit of a disaster if they are the only source of some essential information such as your contact details.