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Can someone check my cv?

I'm planning on applying to retail/fast food jobs. Can someone check if my cv is good enough?
Original post by verysmallman
I'm planning on applying to retail/fast food jobs. Can someone check if my cv is good enough?


You are considering the right sort of skills, but all you have written in a bunch of claims that you can do those things. What an employer wants to see if evidence. So you need to break the CV down into Education, Experience and Interest sections and then use bullet points to evidence what you did eg

Served drinks and cake to guests at a charity afternoon tea in aid of Macmillan

Organised a group of scouts to put on a jumble sale

Captained my schools football team for 3 years

Reply 2
I like it, it is concise, clear and perfectly adequate for the roles you are going for. You could maybe do a bit of work on formatting, do some web browsing for a contemporary look
Agree with the above.

You may also want to consider the following:-

As @threeportdrift has said, most employers want to see some evidence that you've got a natural passion for the type of job you're applying for. For example, you mention that you like Chess... although this will impress those who are looking for someone with meticulous, methodical, analytical, strategic or problem solving skills, it's not really relevant for catering or retail positions, and certainly not for the entry level positions you're presumably applying for. Also, it's a different kind of pressure you'll get from working in retail / fast food. They'll want an example of pressure from working in a busy, fast paced environment with demanding customers / clients.

As you mentioned fast food, could you not include something like you enjoy hosting and cooking for your friends? Do you have an online blog regarding cooking catering etc? You could say you really enjoyed the team exercises in school / college as there's a real sense of camaraderie (employers love that sort of stuff)... especially when you've smashed it by getting a good grade.

Please try and make sure your CV fills the entire page, without it being too "wordy" (should be either exactly one or two sides of A4) Bullet points are good as it makes the information easy to find. I would also suggest swapping the order of your grades so your predicted "A" level grades come first. You've included GCSE Maths and English language, which is good... but it may also be worth including any subjects you studied that are relevant to this (e.g. home economics, marketing, anything hygiene related etc.)
(edited 10 months ago)
Reply 4
Original post by Old Skool Freak
Agree with the above.

You may also want to consider the following:-

As @threeportdrift has said, most employers want to see some evidence that you've got a natural passion for the type of job you're applying for. For example, you mention that you like Chess... although this will impress those who are looking for someone with meticulous, methodical, analytical, strategic or problem solving skills, it's not really relevant for catering or retail positions, and certainly not for the entry level positions you're presumably applying for. Also, it's a different kind of pressure you'll get from working in retail / fast food. They'll want an example of pressure from working in a busy, fast paced environment with demanding customers / clients.

As you mentioned fast food, could you not include something like you enjoy hosting and cooking for your friends? Do you have an online blog regarding cooking catering etc? You could say you really enjoyed the team exercises in school / college as there's a real sense of camaraderie (employers love that sort of stuff)... especially when you've smashed it by getting a good grade.

Please try and make sure your CV fills the entire page, without it being too "wordy" (should be either exactly one or two sides of A4) Bullet points are good as it makes the information easy to find. I would also suggest swapping the order of your grades so your predicted "A" level grades come first. You've included GCSE Maths and English language, which is good... but it may also be worth including any subjects you studied that are relevant to this (e.g. home economics, marketing, anything hygiene related etc.)

Would adding an experience section with "Helped in serving food and drinks to customers at a charity event." be good?
Original post by verysmallman
Would adding an experience section with "Helped in serving food and drinks to customers at a charity event." be good?


Provided you've actually have done it, then great.

Bear in mind in an interview, they can pick up on anything that you've written in your CV and query you on it. Therefore, you'll need to be able to elaborate on it in a convincing manner. So think about the people you worked with, the name / nature of the charity, any issues you had and how you dealt with them etc.

Caveat:- If a potential employer ever finds out you've lied on your CV, you can forget about getting that job.

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