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The CV & Covering Letter Thread [New CV Help Forum Now Open]

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Ahmato

Hi could somebody please have a look over mine? Not sure if I've waffled enough/too much, but I managed to keep it to one page!

Its not for anything specific, as I'm trying to apply to a range of places, anywhere that'll accept me really :confused:

It's too paragraphy. Use bulletpoints (I like bulletpoints! :biggrin:

). If I was an employer I'd look at your CV and think "wall of text hits and crits for 100 points". Bullet point your employment history especially.

Put your employment history from most recent to least recent, not vice versa like you have. If you're going to talk about what you plan to do in your future, don't put it in your CV, or you'll be forever having to update it for no reason. You talk about your ambitions in a cover letter. Put down that you plan to study dentistry at KCL/wherever, don't bother saying you got offers from everywhere else too, they don't need to know that.

Try keeping the "interests" section short but informative. Also, slip in somewhere any other languages you command, and your computer skills (incl. qualifications like ECDL or whatever it is these days).

That said, I could do with some criticism of my CV. I've deleted my name and addy etc, and I don't have great work XP, but I have to say that I pretty much copied the layout from a template in "Real World"... it was so much clearer, I was quite amazed. :s-smilie:

EDIT: Have removed my CV, having gotten valuable and relevant criticism.

Reply 581

JennLlama

ponjavic

Allrite here's mine,

yes I've read through the whole thread, but I might have missed something, it's a lot of pages... please comment on my CV though

It is based of my university's CV template and it will mainly be used for engineering company applications for internships

As Crimson Black says, I would definitely make better use of bullet points. For example, for your degree I would think you could pretty much get it down to maybe 2 or 3 bullet points like:
* Main areas of study include a, b and c. (Note: if you're applying for engineering jobs, don't bother talking about "application of physics and mathematics" and stuff, concentrate more on things like the CAD work which makes your degree different to one in physics or maths or whatever).
* Carried out a large group project involving the creation of ... (Note: no need to go into great detail about who it was for, etc. and I definitely wouldn't put in the bit about the required quality and the budget motivating you as it sounds like you are only going to work hard when you really have to!).
* Developed skills x, y and z through ... (Note: as you're doing a conventional - rather than skills-based - CV, this sounds to me like it might be better put in a covering letter).
Bullet points should be short and easily readible so think about breaking down some of the points in your work experience or making the phrasing much more concise (at most 2 sentences per bullet point I find is a reasonable guide, and I would normally aim for 1).

You could also generally make much better use of space by using tables or something similar to lay it out. You're losing an awful lot of space by indenting things like the bullets for your work experience so far - experiment a bit with layouts so it is still clear but without indenting like that.

Your computer skills are very crammed together - you've covered an awful lot of very different things under the heading of "software". You've also just listed a bunch of software without actually saying why! I would tend to group things, e.g. MS Office; CAD/Modelling; Programming. You look like you've got enough space to do each group as a different (probably one-line) bullet point, especially after reformatting, e.g.
* Very experienced user of Microsoft Office packages, including Word and Excel.
* Coversant with various CAD and modelling packages such as SolidWorks, MATLAB and MathCAD.
etc.

Be careful with some of the words you use. For example, under programming languages "Fluid with ..." doesn't make any sense - perhaps you could go with something like "Good knowledge of ..."/"Excellent knowledge of ..." and "Some knowledge of ...". "diffuse requests" in your work experience also is just the wrong word - I'm not even quite sure what you mean here to suggest an alternative :s-smilie:

sorry!

I wouldn't bother stating references available on request - it's just wasting a line here.

Hope some of those comments help! If you want to repost an updated version - particularly with new formatting - I'll be happy to look over that for you too.

Reply 582

JennLlama

Ahmato

Please have a read through the advice in the rest of this thread and repost it once you've updated it according to the suggestions which have been made repeatedly (e.g. *never* writing "CV" or "Curriculum Vitae" across the top). Then I'll be happy to post comments specific to you.

Reply 583

JennLlama

Crimson Black

That said, I could do with some criticism of my CV. I've deleted my name and addy etc, and I don't have great work XP, but I have to say that I pretty much copied the layout from a template in "Real World"... it was so much clearer, I was quite amazed. :s-smilie:

Someone else who went to school in Edinburgh :biggrin:

anyway...
I'm not too sure about your top three bullet points, but I can't stand the wee personal statement things so if you're happy with them and RealWorld is, fair enough - the only thing is that putting "High achiever with leadership experience" alongside the fact that you're fluent in German doesn't seem to hang together really and feels like you actually want two separate points.

Education is fine but I think you need a '-' instead of a '.' between the years. No need to restate your graduation date: just make it "October 2005 - July 2008" or whatever months it actually is and that will be clear. It would be better to state an average or anticipated overall mark rather than a breakdown of module results, which is pretty hard to read. No need to bold Maths and English in your GCSEs either and you might as well spell out "including" - no need to abbreviate that!

Do check your formatting - the top two bullet points in your "Relevant Experience" section are way bigger than any of the others, for example. It's a small thing but if you get it wrong it just looks like you don't care enough to bother. You could also try laying things out in tables to get rid of the unsightly '/'s in your work experience and to make it a bit easier to read. Everything seems really spaced out so you may find that with tables you are able to put things closer together and can get the CV down to a full page - otherwise you really need some extra stuff to say (e.g. expanding on your work experience some how) as your second page looks a bit empty!

I'm really interested to know why you've split things into "Relevant" and "Other" - there doesn't really seem to be a common thread! If there is genuinely some logic then fair enough but otherwise I would definitely combine them as they all look potentially equally relevant to a job. I would be careful with how much detail you give in the bullet points - for example, the names of the productions you were involved with don't really need to be stated (unless perhaps you're going for a job as an actor? but even then...) but with your volunteer role I'm not really sure what you mean by "leaflet pouch around street-poster" so perhaps some more explanation is required there if you want to include it. Make sure you phrase things well too, for example "Assist Weekend Docent with visitors by beginning and ending tours and handing out flyers." sounds a bit better and is also in the present tense, as it should be if you're still doing it. "Weekend volunteer" is your job title so doesn't need re-stating.

Unless your hobbies and interests are actually really relevant to the job you're applying for, I'd summarise it down, e.g.:
• Active member of KCL Muay Thai Kickboxing society and also like long-distance running, rowing and sailing.
• Enjoy the performing arts with 8 years choir and choral experience, ability to play piano and bagpipes and experience as an actor and technical crew member in various drama productions.
• Held rank of WO2 in CCF at school. (Note: outside the CCF and maybe armed forces, it's really unlikely anyone will know what a "WO2" is - I certainly don't! You'll need to explain it, and may want to expand "CCF" too.)
• Hold a Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Lose "references on request" - it's just wasting a line really.

Hope some of that helps!

Reply 584

Crimson Black

JennLlama

Someone else who went to school in Edinburgh :biggrin:

anyway...

Do check your formatting - the top two bullet points in your "Relevant Experience" section are way bigger than any of the others, for example. It's a small thing but if you get it wrong it just looks like you don't care enough to bother. You could also try laying things out in tables to get rid of the unsightly '/'s in your work experience and to make it a bit easier to read. Everything seems really spaced out so you may find that with tables you are able to put things closer together and can get the CV down to a full page - otherwise you really need some extra stuff to say (e.g. expanding on your work experience some how) as your second page looks a bit empty!

I'm really interested to know why you've split things into "Relevant" and "Other" - there doesn't really seem to be a common thread! If there is genuinely some logic then fair enough but otherwise I would definitely combine them as they all look potentially equally relevant to a job. I would be careful with how much detail you give in the bullet points - for example, the names of the productions you were involved with don't really need to be stated (unless perhaps you're going for a job as an actor? but even then...) but with your volunteer role I'm not really sure what you mean by "leaflet pouch around street-poster" so perhaps some more explanation is required there if you want to include it. Make sure you phrase things well too, for example "Assist Weekend Docent with visitors by beginning and ending tours and handing out flyers." sounds a bit better and is also in the present tense, as it should be if you're still doing it. "Weekend volunteer" is your job title so doesn't need re-stating.

Unless your hobbies and interests are actually really relevant to the job you're applying for, I'd summarise it down, e.g.:
• Active member of KCL Muay Thai Kickboxing society and also like long-distance running, rowing and sailing.
• Enjoy the performing arts with 8 years choir and choral experience, ability to play piano and bagpipes and experience as an actor and technical crew member in various drama productions.
• Held rank of WO2 in CCF at school. (Note: outside the CCF and maybe armed forces, it's really unlikely anyone will know what a "WO2" is - I certainly don't! You'll need to explain it, and may want to expand "CCF" too.)
• Hold a Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Hope some of that helps!

Thanks for the advice. :smile:

I'll make sure I format it to make it easier to read.

In defence of what I did: Relevant and Other experience changes depending on what I'm applying for. So, if I was applying to be a student volunteer at a local Army Barracks (supposing... :biggrin:

), I'd put my ULOTC experience first. I have a very tailorable CV, I can pick and choose stuff I want to put in.

I daresay I could expand on the work XP but there's always a fine balance between overwhelming the reader and giving just enough info for them to be content with. Also, the point is that it is spaced out, you have to agree that it makes it very easy to read and follow. I guess I could lose the bolded words though. I try hard not to write paragraphs, two lines max per bullet. Paragraphs make employers lose interest (unless you've got something groundbreaking to say, like "During my tenure at Microsoft I invented Microsoft Excel, Word and Powerpoint".). I would expand it once I have actual decent experience working in a grad job, because right now it's simply what I did at uni I guess.

To be honest, people in Britain will know what a CCF is. I'm not going to insult their intelligence by telling them what it is. I guess I could call it a Combined Cadet Force though. :smile:

Reply 585

JennLlama

Crimson Black

In defence of what I did: Relevant and Other experience changes depending on what I'm applying for. So, if I was applying to be a student volunteer at a local Army Barracks (supposing... :biggrin:

), I'd put my ULOTC experience first. I have a very tailorable CV, I can pick and choose stuff I want to put in.

That's absolutely fine - it was just with the particular selection of jobs you'd picked it seemed a bit like you'd have to be applying to be a volunteer army actor for those jobs to be that notably more relevant than your other work! As long as you tailor it, that's just fine :smile:

Crimson Black

I daresay I could expand on the work XP but there's always a fine balance between overwhelming the reader and giving just enough info for them to be content with. Also, the point is that it is spaced out, you have to agree that it makes it very easy to read and follow. I guess I could lose the bolded words though. I try hard not to write paragraphs, two lines max per bullet. Paragraphs make employers lose interest (unless you've got something groundbreaking to say, like "During my tenure at Microsoft I invented Microsoft Excel, Word and Powerpoint".). I would expand it once I have actual decent experience working in a grad job, because right now it's simply what I did at uni I guess.

I agree that spacing generally makes things easy to read, but the problem here is that it looks a little sparse to me, rather than just spaced out. I think with a better layout, you could make it clear, neat and like you're not just trying to fill in space by leaving blank lines (sorry - that's harsher than I mean but hopefully you can sorta see my point?). It probably comes down to personal opinion - to me it looks over-spaced but if you'd rather have it like that then fair enough. Expanding on your work experience was just a suggestion if you reformatted and found it was still more like a page and a half/two thirds rather than two full pages - what you have is fine but if you need more material to make up full pages, I generally find that work is the best place to get it from.

Crimson Black

To be honest, people in Britain will know what a CCF is. I'm not going to insult their intelligence by telling them what it is. I guess I could call it a Combined Cadet Force though. :smile:

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean you had to explain the whole thing, just expanding the acronym perhaps if you agreed it was appropriate - was more concerned by the "WO2" thing really.

Reply 586

Little Lamb

I have my two various CV's here that I tinker with as necessary for each application.

They are too long I know but I think everything contained is relevant. I've actually had two professional CV checkers look at them (for free) but they told me the complete opposite of each other....

Any help would be EXTREMELY appreciated!

Little Lamb

OK, at a glance at least they look very similar so I think most of my comments will apply to both.

Firstly, you don't need everything so spaced apart! Yes, you don't want to crush everything in but - as I think I've been saying quite a bit recently - if you use tables well, you can make much better use of space. Also don't forget that you don't need to leave a whole blank line between things - for example, there is definitely no need to leave a line between bullet points as the bullets themselves clearly indicate where each one starts and ends. Instead of leaving a whole blank line between jobs, you could also use Format -> Paragraph in Word to add in a 6pt gap between them instead (about half the size of the gaps you have just now); as you've bolded the titles, it's easy for the eye to see where one ends and the next starts so 6pt should be plenty.

Hopefully reformatting will help you get your work experience down so it's all on the first page, but it might be a good idea to group things as you seem to have some distinct groups (e.g. writing articles for websites) which would make it easier for people to read. Bullet points are good but having 12 separate jobs with only one or two bullets to go through makes it look a bit like you've had loads of not-very-significant jobs.

For your education, group by establishment: i.e. list your uni & quals, then your sixth form & all quals from there, then high school & quals
* 2004(? or whatever year you started) - Present
My University
Degree & predicted grade
* 2002-2003
My Sixth Form
A-levels in Media (grade), Communication (grade) and Film (grade)
AS-levels in English (grade), Psychology (grade), French (grade), Spanish (grade) and Sociology (grade)
**NOTE: No real point in stating the GCSE if you also did the AS-level to be honest; and if you'd rather not state your grades then just leave them out.
* 2001
My High School
8 GCSEs at grades A-D (or whatever you got) including Maths and English
**NOTE: no need to list all your different GCSE subjects; also, if you use tables you should be able to get the dates and the place you studied on the same line, which will definitely help save space and will be perfectly readable.

Another way to make things take up less space will be in your skills: group them. Your list of journalism skills, to me, looks rather like what you've stated in your personal statement at the top so quite honestly I would lose that section completely as you're just (not very concisely) restating your interests and skills which should be apparently from your range of work experience. Putting the relevant ones into a cover letter will hold much more weight than just stating a list of all the journalism-related things you can do. For the IT skills, I would tend to put things like:
* Experienced user of Microsoft Office packages, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
* Competent with various design programs, such as InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and QuarkExpress.
* Worked with Content Management Systems, specifically x, y and z/ OR /Worked with several in-house Content Management Systems.
In terms of your language skills, it looks from your quals like you might speak a bit of Spanish too...? That would make the French seem a little less "tacked on the end" if you added that into your skills too.

For your interests, they generally to show that you're well rounded but different, so try to avoid really generic things like "socialising with friends", "music", etc. It sounds like you have a few things there that genuinely set you apart (I'd say the film perhaps, travelling and learning languages, parapsychology and spirituality, web design) so I'd just have one sentence with them in; though if you're going for a job in, say, music journalism then leave that in and expand on it (e.g. "music, in particular attending live concerts by new bands") to make it relevant.

Finally, I'd lose "references available on request" as I don't really think it adds much and is just wasting a line.

I hope you find some of that useful. If you'd like to post up a revised draft - especially if you want an opinion on reformatting - then I'd be happy to look over it too.

Reply 588

Crimson Black

JennLlama

I like tables.

Why do you have a table fetish? :p:

I find they're bulky and not nice to look at. Then again, I have a similar bullet-point fetish. :biggrin:

Reply 589

bleeper

How about now?

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 590

emmaholloway

I'm trying to get a job somewhere as a sales assistant but I have no experience and don't really do much...
As you can imagine my CV is pretty empty, how could I improve it?

Emma Holloway CV2.doc28.2KB

Reply 591

*lulu7*

Hey everyone, i have altered my cv with a cover letter according to all the previous points and advice stated by everyone. Please could you have another look at my cv again to double check.

Thank you

Leanne xxxxxxxx

Reply 592

*lulu7*

Here is my covering letter and CV xxx

Leanne Sara Jones CV new copy.docx17.2KB

Reply 593

*lulu7*

pleaseeeeeeee someone check this for me ^^^^^^^^^^ xxxxx

Reply 594

JennLlama

*lulu7*

pleaseeeeeeee someone check this for me ^^^^^^^^^^ xxxxx

I would but I can't open .docx files - can you save it as a normal .doc or a PDF please? Then I'll try and take a look...

Reply 595

kelly1989

Could someone give me some advice on my CV, I am applying for admin jobs

TSR CV.doc

Reply 596

ss4

I am currently a year 11 student and am looking for part time work next year. I have created my cv but need help in writing a covering letter.

Reply 597

JennLlama

kelly1989

Could someone give me some advice on my CV, I am applying for admin jobs

TSR CV.doc

Firstly, please read through this thread and take the advice already posted here (e.g. not typing out each individual GCSE). Some general points for you:
* "Key skills & competencies" sounds a bit vague - if you want to do a skills-based CV then Google it and do it properly, otherwise I'd just scrap this section as you're just naming skills there with nothing particularly to back them up.
* Education should be listed like employment - say which school/college you went to and give the dates.
* Employment history would be much clearer as bullet points - it's too much effort to read through paragraphs to find out what you did. Try to emphasise achivements as well as just stating specific duties you had.
* I'd stick your volunteer work under employment history (include the word "volunteer" in the job title) so it hangs together a bit better. Or you could retitle the section to "Work experience" or something, though that sounds a bit strange if you've been employed full-time for a while.
* There's no reason you couldn't put your work experience before your education - it sounds like it might be more relevant and recent than your grades from school.
* Combine "Computer Skills" and "Additional Information" into one section called "Additional Skills" (or something similar). Then you can get rid of the randomly-naming-computer-programs section and summarise more like this:
* Competent user of Microsoft Office packages, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
* Graphic manipulation skills in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premier.
* Typing speed of 60 wpm.
* Hold a full, clean driving license.
* Interests would probably be better expressed just as a sentence - it will just look nicer in the layout in my opinion.
* No need to put "References supplied on request" really.
Couple of other things - *never* use the asterisks (*) as bullet points in a word processed CV. If you're claiming to have skills in Word, you should be able to get it to do proper bullet points. Finally, I think you could get this down to a nice one page CV. As it stands, the second page is very empty and that doesn't make a good impression but you should be able to get it down to one full page by rephrasing, etc.
Hope that helps!

Reply 598

JennLlama

user35

I am currently a year 11 student and am looking for part time work next year. I have created my cv but need help in writing a covering letter.

Google is your friend... Seriously though, there are *loads* of sites which will give you advice about how to create a covering letter so a quick search should turn up plenty. If you are confused by any of the advice or want a specific question answered, or would like someone to have a look over your CV & covering letter then feel free to post again. I just don't feel reproducing stuff that is said on a hundred other sites is going to help either of us much.

Reply 599

JennLlama

emmaholloway

I'm trying to get a job somewhere as a sales assistant but I have no experience and don't really do much...
As you can imagine my CV is pretty empty, how could I improve it?

No problem with having a lack of experience - everyone has to start somewhere! First a few general pointers:
* List your education most recent first (i.e. your predicated A-level grades should be above your GCSEs).
* Summarise your GCSE grades ("9 GCSEs at grades A*-B including Maths and English). I know you're trying to fill up space but that's just not the way to go about it!
* Make a bigger deal of your work experience. You seem to have a job now - talk a bit more about it. Do you have to work with other people, for example? If so, that's developing team working skills. No need to state that you're part-time either; give a job description though (e.g. "Accounts Assistant" or something). You've got some experience on a shop floor so that's got to be helpful if you're going for a job in a shop - try and expand on that a bit if you can.
* If you get paid for the babysitting (and, quite honestly, even if you don't), I'd be tempted to move it up to work experience and talk about that more - it's a position of responsibility after all...
* If you do that, I'd make the final section something like "Extra-Curricular Activities". Then you can put the stuff about being a prefect (bullet point it and it'll be easier to read) and your hobbies in. Please note: they are *prospective* parents, not *perspective* parents; also "grade two" doesn't need a hyphen.
Give that a go and see how you get on. Nobody is going to expect you to have a packed CV full of experience at your age so it's all about making the most of what you have. If you're really concerned and have a bit of free time, you could try volunteering in a charity shop which will give you cash-handling experience, etc. and can be quite useful.