by Lis McGuire | Feb 9, 2015 | CV tips, Graduate CV tips, News
Behind the marketing message of your CV, there is always an element of a timeline, requiring you to remember and present a series of dates. Dates can make or break a CV, and further or diminish your suitability as judged by a recruiter. Here are some handy dos and don’ts of presenting dates on your CV.
Your date of birth
Don’t include your age or date of birth on your CV. It is not necessary, and including it could indicate to recruiters that you are out of touch with current requirements.
Don’t include an email address which clearly incorporates your year of birth – see above.
Dates within your profile
If you have an extensive history within a particular type of role or industry, do indicate the number of years you have worked in this field. A great place to include this information on your CV is in your profile, at the top of page one. Examples include ‘seven years’ experience at C-Level’ or ‘over 20 years’ learning and development experience’.
Dates within your career history
Don’t feel obliged to list your entire career history, outlining what you have done for the past 10 to 15 years is perfectly acceptable. It is better to show experience as relevant for a particular opportunity, than to outline all roles held since year dot of your career.
Do list your experience in reverse chronological order within each section, so that your current or most recent role is presented first. You can still split your experience into Relevant Experience and Other Experience, with relevant experience appearing first on your CV, but make sure that each section uses the reverse chronological format.
Do make sure that the dates in your career history stack up, ideally showing a seamless transition from one role or experience to another.
Recognising that not every jobseeker has a continuous career history, do explain any gaps in your career history in a clear and concise way. Using years rather than months and years is a good way to deflect attention from short gaps in employment, though if you have a gap-free career history, I’d personally opt for the month and year approach.
Do list dates consistently throughout your career history. If you indicate January 2003 – March 2005 as the dates you undertook one particular role, follow this format (full month name and year) throughout your career history. I tend to abbreviate dates within the career history to give the first three letters of the month name and the year, for example Jan. 2003 – Mar. 2005.
Don’t be tempted to fudge the dates. It might present a temporary solution, but truly it is not worth fudging your employment dates.
Do list your current role as <<insert date>> – Present. Writing Oct. 2003 – Jan. 2015 would suggest that you have completed this period of employment.
If you are not currently employed, and have only recently finished your last employed role, do indicate the month and year your employment finished. For example, listing Oct. 2003 – Dec. 2014 would clearly show that you have only recently finished your last employed role, whereas 2003 – 2014 leaves the reader unsure as to whether your role finished in January 2014 or December 2014, and if you have been unemployed since, this could make quite a difference to how you are perceived.
Do give the date (month and year, or just year) of a promotion to show career progression.
Don’t be afraid to group short-term contracts and projects of a similar nature under one date period. You may wish to indicate the duration of short-term contracts or projects undertaken, for example, ‘Delivered a six-month project to relocate the fish finger production facility, driving monthly production savings of £200k’.
Dates of education and professional training
Do list your education and professional training in reverse chronological order. You may wish to consider breaking the information up into two separate sections, depending on how many qualifications and courses you are listing.
Don’t always detail secondary school education. If you are a graduate with several years’ experience under your belt, or you have further tertiary education to list on your CV, there is no real need to list your A Level or GCSE qualifications, as these will have been prerequisite to your university education. Similarly, I often see non-graduate C-level executives wondering about whether to list A Levels or O Levels. In fact, this could then draw unnecessary attention to a missing degree, when the experience gained since school or university is far more relevant and compelling.
Do include the date of your degree if you are a recent graduate. If you gained your degree ten, twenty, or thirty years ago, then you can opt to list your degree without the date you acquired it.
Don’t include and list dates for every professional training course you have ever completed. Instead, think about what the reader will want and expect to see, and remove anything that represents white noise. As a general rule of thumb, do make sure you are consistent, so if you list the date you completed one course, follow suit for others.
Do show that your certifications are current. Some certifications expire after a number of years, so make it clear that yours are current by indicating the date of attainment and re-certification.
by Lis McGuire | Jan 19, 2015 | Graduate CV tips, News
An internship is a much-coveted, experience-gathering, employability-boosting, and CV-enhancing work placement which can hold equal appeal for participants and recruiters alike.
They come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from a few weeks to a year or more, with some paid and some unpaid. Regardless of format and remuneration, one thing is for sure: internships are hot currency in today’s graduate job market.
Read our 15 top internship tips on how to make the most of this experience and optimise the impact it has on your professional development and future career.
#1 Show up, physically and mentally.
Dressed well, on time, with a smile, and a trunk full of work ethic. As an intern, you must be ready and prepared to learn.
#2 Be prepared to take baby steps.
Accept that you WILL be asked to do tasks that you feel overqualified for and realise that, in doing them, you will gain a valuable insight into what makes your placement company tick, from the ground up. Carry out these tasks well and with a smile and, before you know it, you will be asked to perform tasks which have a little more meat on their bones.
#3 Stop, collaborate and listen.
Channel Spongebob and soak up everything you can. Open your ears and try to hear what is really going on all around you. You may not see the value in what you hear immediately, but there will indubitably be some golden nuggets to pick up which you can mull over and learn from.
#4 Read up.
Complement your real time insight gained on the job with research into the company’s vision, mission, press releases, collaborations, industry challenges etc. This will give you a better handle on what is going on and enable you to understand day-to-day office life in a wider context.
#5 Ask.
If you are unsure on a system, process, or task then ask those around you for practical advice. Pick an appropriate time (i.e. not an hour before a client presentation or when a proposal is due to fly out the door) and ask for the information you need. This demonstrates willingness to learn and can appeal to and flatter the ‘inner expert’ in the person you consult.
#6 Be proactive.
Step up and show willingness to assist before being asked to help.
#7 Take advantage of what is on offer.
I don’t mean empty the office fridge or take advantage of your work colleagues’ kindness, just make the absolute most of the learning opportunity you have been given.
#8 Reach out but don’t kiss ass.
Don’t assume the person you need to impress is at the top. Impress at all levels, connect with colleagues, and build a network. If it feels right, you could invite your new contacts to connect with you on LinkedIn.
#9 Only compete with yourself.
Internships should be considered as a personal learning experience, not a competition or continuous battle for one-upmanship with fellow interns. Remember that we are all on our own journey, so rather than trying to compete with your peers, compete with yourself. Ask yourself what YOU could do better, how YOU can be getting more out of the opportunity, and go for it.
#10 Be yourself.
You are the only you and whilst you are there to learn, realise the value of what you personally can bring to your own experience and those around you. Whether it’s a positive mental attitude, bags of energy, or an ability to see problems differently, bring it to your internship and make it work for you and the team.
#11 Take your passion and make it happen.
Your internship might be hard work at times, but remember why you are doing it, keep your end goal in mind, and see it through. Envisage your bright and beautiful future. It is waiting for you.
#12 Give something back.
Consider making your internship more of a two-way street by meeting with the company’s social media or marketing team. Offer to guest blog on your internship experience for the company website, feature as an interviewee in the company newsletter, or tweet on the progress of your internship. This can be good PR for your placement company and boost your chances of getting your name known and remembered for the right reasons.
#13 Don’t burn out.
As an intern, you should be prepared to work hard, but remember that work should ultimately be something you enjoy. It’s not worth winning at any cost.
#14 Show gratitude.
Whilst you are there, show you are thankful for the opportunity by making the most of it. When your internship has finished, say thank you to those who hired you and those who helped you. Manners cost nothing.
#15 Take time to reflect.
How you present your internship on your CV is as important as how you perform during the internship. Every few days, take some time to reflect and recap on what you have learned and how you have contributed, then note it down to build your CV.
Giraffe CVs help would-be interns to secure a coveted internship by delivering compelling, interview-winning CVs. We also help those with an internship under their belts to present it on their CV for maximum effect.
by Lis McGuire | Oct 28, 2014 | CV tips, Graduate CV tips, News
In a blog about unusual CVs earlier this year, we looked at some of the more ‘off the wall’ formats people have used to bring attention to their CV and stand out from their fellow jobseekers. Generally speaking though, a highly designed, stylistic CV could be a big gamble that doesn’t pay off. The ‘classic’ CV is still in vogue with the majority of recruiters.
That’s not to say your CV doesn’t need a little pizzazz. When we talk about the ‘classic’ CV, we mean dressed to impress.
When was the last time you looked at your CV with fresh eyes? Is it looking a little tired and thrown together? Does it need a little ‘zhoosh’ to make it flow and draw the recruiter’s gaze to all the right places?
Yes? Then try these seven simple CV formatting hacks.
#1 Let your headings make a statement
Headings are a fantastic tool for signposting the content of your CV for the reader, creating obvious focal points, whether someone’s scanning the text or reading it in detail. To help your headings grab attention, format them in a clear and confident way that sets the structure for your CV.
We’d recommend doing this by having your headers in capitals and underlining them with a line that runs across the entire width of the page. Leave a line space or border below the underline to give your heading room to make a statement.
#2 Your font style matters
Style is everything when it comes to picking the right font for your CV. Although there’s no definitive font to use, it’s important to pick an easy-to-read font that looks good in print and on screen. In an article for Business News Daily in October 2013, a selection of recruiters narrowed down the top seven recommended fonts for CV writing: Arial, Calibri, Century Old Style, Garamond, Georgia, Times New Roman, or Trebuchet MS.
In most cases, a sans serif (‘without fancy’) font is a good bet because it displays well on screen and in print, whereas more stylised serif fonts like Times New Roman and Century Old Style are perhaps suited to CVs targeted at more ‘traditional’ fields.
#3 Use consistent spacing
Our eyes look for uniformity and consistency, especially when we’re reading a document like a CV. Inconsistent line spacing can jar the reader and stick out like a sore thumb, drawing attention for the wrong reasons. And if the line spacing of your CV is all over the place, it can raise a red flag about your attention to detail – not ideal for a job application.
Try to ensure that you use consistent spacing throughout your CV. We tend to use 6pt before and 6pt after. If you’re writing your CV in Microsoft Word, look for the ‘Page layout’ options where you can set the desired spacing for your document.
#4 Leave enough white space
Like a fine wine, a good CV needs space to breathe. Although you may want to cram in every last detail about your career and interests to date, it’s often the case that less is more when it comes to getting your CV seen.
Recruiters are generally time poor and faced with the enormous challenge of finding the best prospects when sifting through CVs, even if they are assisted by Applicant Tracking Software. By leaving sufficient white space, breaks between different sections and bullet points to highlight your key skills, you’re giving the recruiter the space they need to read what you’re saying and between the lines.
#5 Stay out of the margins
If you’re running short of room on your CV, you may be tempted to decrease the margins at each edge of the page to eke out every last millimetre of space. But stop… step away from ‘Page layout>Margins’ option before you do anything hasty. Having narrow, squeezed borders around your CV can make it look squashed and chaotic, whereas ‘normal’ margins of 2.54cm create a sense of calm and order that recruiters will love.
#6 Consider putting keywords in bold and using bullet points to highlight your experience
At Giraffe CVs, we certainly favour using bullet points to pull out your relevant experience and help recruiters scan the highlights of your career to date. You might also consider emphasising keywords in bold, which is another way the formatting of your CV can help the reader skim read, while still paying attention to all the most relevant points.
#7 Check it looks good on and off screen
Finally, remember to print your CV off and check it looks good on and off screen. Be alert to spacing inconsistencies, incorrect formatting, typos, margin size, and check whether there’s enough white space – these aspects are all generally easier to see in print.
How does your CV look now? Have you been committing some serious formatting faux pas or is your CV good to go? If you need help presenting your CV or getting the content right for your next job application, we’re always happy to help.
by Lis McGuire | Sep 29, 2014 | CV tips, Graduate CV tips, News
Have you ever wondered how to quantify achievements on your CV?
This morning, I received an email from one of my lovely customers. I had sent her an initial draft of her new CV, along with some notes for discussion, and mentioned that it would be useful for us to work on quantifying and qualifying her achievements within her roles. I had also sent her a link to my recent blog, which explains why this process is so important.
Her reply came back, “I always get stuck with achievements on my CV. I can’t think of anything obvious that has a measurable impact on the company.”
This lady is not alone. Quantifying and qualifying achievements is a stumbling block that trips up many people when they attempt to write a CV. It can all feel too much like hard work, the CV writing equivalent of searching for the Holy Grail. Many jobseekers seriously doubt that those tangible results are there to find.
With this in mind, I thought it would be useful to put together a set of five achievement hacks. These should help you to shortcut what can be a laborious process, and avoid you sitting rubbing your chin for hours on end, getting increasingly frustrated by the minute. Here they are:
#1 Think of what you already know
Although, initially, you may not think of them, you will already have some facts and figures firmly in your grasp, ready to be noted on your CV.
For example:When talking about your team, quantify the size of the team. Say that you lead XX people, and note their job titles. If you have played a key role in growing the team, indicate the level of team expansion, from X to X employees, in what defined period of time.You could go on to say what the impact of this expansion was for your employer – how did they leverage that enhanced people power? Did the increased resources allow them to secure more customers (how many?), increase revenue (by how much?), or diversify their service offering (what’s new?)?
If you manage a client account, how have you developed that relationship? Have you retained the account within a competitive market? If so, how many times has the contract been renewed? What is the revenue and profit from the account? Have you increased these figures? Have you leveraged the relationship to position your employer for new work with other respected clients? Again, how many? How much?
Even if this data is not quite at your fingertips, ready to slot into your CV, it should be relatively easy to gather and leverage to illustrate your value.
#2 Look at the data that is already available
If you are lacking inspiration, one place to find it is within the public domain, placed there by your company. Whether you peruse the company website, marketing brochure, social media sites, or annual report, you should find plenty of quantified achievements which your employer wants to sing from the rooftops. Although these may be on a larger scale than you can claim to have delivered, track it back and think about what you have specifically delivered that has supported the achievement of these more grandiose accomplishments.
#3 Consider your employer’s ‘pain point’ that enticed them to hire you
You were recruited for a reason, not just to expand the workforce. What was that reason? What were you employed to do? What problem did your recruitment aim to solve? Look back at the job advert if you still have it, or your job description for inspiration.
Or, if you can’t lay your hands on these documents, consider the reason you were employed. I don’t mean to simply replace the last person who carried out you role. What would have happened if the company hadn’t replaced your predecessor? Who would have taken on those responsibilities? Would these extra tasks have decreased this team member’s bandwidth for other important work? What would the results have been?
Once you have that reason firmly in mind, think about the work you have done to move towards that goal, and try to quantify it. For example, if you work in recruitment, perhaps your remit was to develop a talent pool full of pre-qualified candidates to shorten the recruitment process, ensure that managers could select appropriately skilled individuals, and facilitate achievement of their goals. Think of the numbers involved – how many people have you sourced and interviewed? How many have you hired?
#4 Revisit your last appraisal
In today’s cut-and-thrust world, most employees are targeted and monitored to within an inch of their lives – it’s not enough to have a general sense that you are a good egg, or that you are achieving. Your input and results are likely to be be targeted, assessed, quantified, and graded on a company-wide and closely monitored scale. Although this may feel like a lot of pressure on a day-to-day basis whilst you are at work, it is good news for your CV. Revisit your last appraisal. The results of what you are doing, and how far you have come, should be there, plain and clear for all to see.
#5 Get specific
If quantifiable achievements for your role as a whole are proving to be elusive, then think about a specific project you have worked on. What was the objective? What was the budget? The timeframe? The size of the team? Who did you interact with, internally and externally? Did you achieve the objective? What was the result to the company, in the short and long term?
If you take a handful of projects like this and quantify and qualify them, then before you know it, your CV will have the depth and substance you are looking for.
I lay down the gauntlet.
Pick up your CV where you last left it, and put some meat on the bones. If you do, you’ll take it from a boring 2D summary to a dynamic 3D promise.
In a nutshell, you are looking to quantify your achievements to add meaningful substance to your CV, and expressing these through numbers makes it easier for recruiters and prospective employers to pick out relevant information, as numbers often speak for themselves.
by Lis McGuire | Jul 28, 2014 | CV tips, Graduate CV tips, News, Social media for your job search
It’s my birthday this week, and how better to celebrate it than by sharing my very own prezumé!
A while ago on the blog, Giraffe CVs examined unusual CVs coming soon to a job hunt near you, discussing some creative methods that jobseekers are using to ensure their applications stand out from the crowd.
It got me thinking about creating my very own, not because I’m looking for a job (I’m very happy in mine), but because (a) I thought it would be fun and (b) it might provide a useful reference point for jobseekers seeking to inject a bit of creativity into their job search. Although the idea to produce a creative CV of my own had been burning in the background for some time, I should credit an inspirational jobseeker, Paul Duxbury, who inspired me to action with his own recent prezumé. Thanks Paul!
‘What IS a prezumé?’ I hear you asking.
A prezumé is a combination of a Prezi presentation and a resume. As Prezi explains here, the prezumé was born by chance, as jobseekers sought a different visual medium to showcase their credentials.
How is a prezumé similar to a traditional CV?
Both need to provide the information that a recruiter is looking for, essentially giving them the reason(s) why they should call you up today and request an interview.
Consider a prezumé as a movie trailer to your CV, it should highlight the key messages you want to get across to a target recruiter and leave them wanting to find out more by reading the full feature.
How is a prezumé different from a traditional CV?
The great thing about a prezumé, along with other creative CVs, is that it provides jobseekers with the opportunity to showcase their personality alongside their skills and experience.
In my view, a creative CV shouldn’t just replicate your formal CV or LinkedIn profile. The medium presents an opportunity to get funky, tell a story and really engage your target audience.
How to get started with a prezumé
Prezi provides a selection of three helpful templates to suit different tastes and targets. These present a great easy way to get started. You can even mix and match template components using the My Collection feature, customising your structure and look for a unique deliverable.
I had a quick look at the templates, but decided to create my own blank Prezi. Here’s how I did it:
1. I decided on the key points I wanted to include in my prezumé and thought about how to present them in a way that would engage the reader
2. I developed a logical structure for my story
3. I sourced great images to bring my messages to life, using Dollar Photo Club
4. I pulled together my slides in PicMonkey – I love their fonts and features
5. I imported all my finished images slides to PowerPoint
6. I uploaded my PowerPoint to Prezi
7. I shared with a very select group to gauge their reactions then decided to go live!
Prezi have shared some handy hints for an awesome Prezi here.
Would I recommend using a prezumé in your job search?
In some contexts, it just might work! The new trends in CV writing are unlikely to replace traditional CVs in the short term, but they can definitely complement them. They’re good for grabbing attention in the right context and showing off some highlights, although the wackier versions are certainly only for the brave and bold.
There is an inherent risk with any kind of creative CV, that what looks and feels great to you may alienate the recruiter (remember, these are busy people for whom time is of the essence). There’s also a chance that design features on your CV could distract from your key message.
It’s all about knowing your audience and hitting the right tone.
by Lis McGuire | Dec 24, 2013 | CV tips, Graduate CV tips, News
Are you wondering how on earth you can use your CV to sell yourself when the basic elements take up so much space?
When I’m writing a CV, space is at a premium. I have to be totally aware of what is important and absolutely ruthless about what is not. With only two pages to play with, careful planning is a must, and every word needs to be considered and reconsidered before it makes the grade and gets admitted to the high society of your premium two-page space.
This week’s blog names and shames the top five CV space eaters which stop people shaping a compelling, interview-winning two page document.
1. Contact details
As these are often the first thing that gets written down on a CV, people often get drawn in to making their name, address, telephone numbers and email addresses look all fancy schmancy. This is all well and good but, before you know it, you’ve eaten up a good quarter to half a page of your CV without having yet presented any information that will convince a recruiter they need to call you. Sure, they’ll know HOW to contact you, but not why they should.
2. Too much detail on older or irrelevant job roles
Unwillingness to let go of finer details relating to older roles and roles that are not directly relevant can result in another huge space eater on your CV. See my previous blog Five top tips to get rid of the CV flab for more detail on how and why you should ditch the excess in this area.
3. Replicated sections
I quite often see CVs which restate information in different sections, with the same points repeated in Key Skills, Achievements and Experience section. This is unnecessary and confusing for the reader. Say it well and you’ll only need to say it once. I advise making each section of your CV work harder for you by giving it a specific job.
Your key skills, for example, can be used to outline the transferable business skills you can bring to a new employer. I find using snappy bullets in a columned format makes it easier for the reader to skim over quickly and get a feel for your transferable business skills, before reading on. I myself don’t tend to feature Achievements as a separate section on the CVs I write. Instead, I use the Experience section to outline key accomplishments within the context of each role undertaken.
4. Irrelevant training
Over the course of your career, chances are that you will have completed a great number of internal and externally-run training courses. Of course, training is a big advantage on your CV, but I urge you to consider what the recruiter needs to know and adapt your list to suit. A lengthy list can suck up premium space on your CV and represent ‘white noise’ to the recruiter; they may not even bother to read it. Plus, listing courses that are basic or too generic could even go against you. Listing that you attended a communication skills course may not add much, and a time management course may suggest to the recruiter that you were experiencing difficulty in this area. If you state that you attended a Basic Microsoft Word course the recruiter may infer that you had very basic IT skills to start with, and your grasp of IT may not be up to scratch.
5. References
As with contact details, quoting the names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, Twitter handle and inside leg measurement of your referees can eat up valuable space on your CV. The recruiter will only need to know these details if they are convinced you are the right person for the job, and will mostly call on this information after an interview has taken place. At this stage of your application, you can simply state ‘References available on request’, though it’s questionable whether this is needed – it’s kind of a given.
