CV Writing: Impressing Companies

At some point in our lives, we have all had to write a CV in order to get a decent job and earn money to live on.

With the job market getting more and more competitive everyday, it has become more important than ever to ensure that your CV stands out from all of the others sent to employers.

A good CV should include all of the following information:

Your Name, Address, and Contact Numbers (put this at the top of your CV)English, Maths and Science GCSEs (or secondary school equivalent for those outside of the UK) as well as any work experience you may have. Although you should list all work experience that you have, it is important to make it as relevant as possible to the job you are applying for.At least two referees, one of which should be personal, the other being someone that you know in a professional capacity, i.e. a former teacher or employer.

It is also a good idea to tailor your CV to the job which you are applying for, i.e. you would have different content if you were applying for a job in computing than you would if applying for a job in a supermarket.

For almost all jobs out there, customer service experience and the ability to be polite to people is extremely important and something that employers look for in potential candidates.

An example of the text order within a good CV is as follows:

Joe Bloggs

123 Nowhere St, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 1AA

Tel: 0151 496 0000 Mobile: 07880 029182

* Do not include your date of birth or national insurance number here (social security number if in the US)

Work Experience (should be in reverse chronological order)

January 2010 - Present - Checkout Operator at ASDA Stores Ltd - This job involves serving customers and helping them to pack their shopping bags. This requires me to have a friendly attitude as well as the ability to speak confidently and to be a good listener. (For current jobs, be sure to write this paragraph in the present tense, whilst the others should be written in the past tense)

February 2009 - January 2010 - Paper Delivery Person at McColls Newsagents - This job involved delivering newspapers around my local area, requiring me to have a good navigational skills and also a friendly attitude when talking to people whilst delivering their newspapers to them.

Education (also in reverse chronological order)

September 2007 - May 2009 - Liverpool Community College, Liverpool, L1 1AB - Achieved 4 A2 Level qualifications

September 2002 - May 2007 - Liverpool High School, Liverpool, L1 1AC - Achieved 10 GCSEs including English, Maths and Science.

Hobbies and Interests (should be at least 2 paragraphs)

I enjoy a wide range of activities including ten-pin bowling and listening to music. From September 2008 to March 2009, I was a keyboard player for a local band, which was something that I enjoyed a great deal.

It also involved a lot of communication between the band themselves and potential venues where they would play gigs. In addition to this, in order for our band to be successful, it was vital that we all co-operated as part of a team.

Referees (one personal and one professional)

* The personal reference cannot be a family member and should have a valid work address.

Mr Andrew Smith

Liverpool Community College

Liverpool

Merseyside

L1 1AB

Tel: 0151 496 0001

Ms Jane Doe

ABC Insurance Limited

20 Main Street

Liverpool

Merseyside

L1 1AD

Tel: 0151 496 0002

Article by John Courtenay @ The Free Web Space Provider World It's Me.

Read more ...

11 Computer Science Resume Tips For Impressing Employers

You've probably heard it a 1000 times but it's true, the job market is extremely competitive.

If you've made a decision to get into the job marketplace for the fist time, or just looking to gain an advantage over the competition, you need a compelling and hard hitting resume. If you think your resume could do with a "power up" I've listed 11 suggestions you can try out.

1. Create A Career Achievements Section
Make sure your resume features a section where you summarise all the highlights from your career. Place this section on the first page for maximum impact. You don't want recruiters having to read page after page to find out what sort of employee you might be.

2. Use Big Numbers
Use big numbers when describing your previous projects, products, systems or roles. Try to make your earlier work appear as remarkable as possible. If you haven't worked on anything that's really big, consider the amount of money your project, product or system made or saved your previous companies.

3. Show Experience In A Range Of Industries
Try and demonstrate that you have experience in a wide range of different industries. If you have only worked for one company, what individual areas did you work in? Was it marketing? Manufacturing? IT? Be inventive.

4. Make Sure You List Any Certifications
Make sure you put any certifications on the first page, these are very important. If you don't have any, why not start one! This way you can legitimately put one on your resume, you don't need to lie, just make a note mentioning the certification is "in progress".

5. Avoid Over Used Power Words
Make sure you don't completely fill your resume with overused power words like "Extensive experience", "Results-oriented", "Proven track record" and "Team Player". Once or twice is acceptable but not for every job listed.

6. Scannable First Page
Your very first page has to be scannable in just a few seconds or less, use font size 12 (but not different types) and use bold to draw the readers attention.

7. Clarity
Don't babble, get to the point, every sentence should be clear and concise, no waffle. For example "I successfully ran project XYZ generating 100k in additional sales for CompanyX". That's clear and to the point.

8. Don't Include Links To External Sites
Don't link your resume to sites like MySpace or Facebook where recruiters could see pictures of you at the pub.

9. Update Your LinkedIn Site
Don't let your LinkedIn site go stale. Employers often review your LinkedIn site to ensure the jobs listed here match those listed in your resume. Get one if you don't have one!

10. Don't List Your Referees
You don't need to list referees in your resume. This is mostly unnecessary for a resume. If the potential employer is interested in referees they'll ask you.

11. Don't Use A Boring Resume Template
Standard templates look exactly that, standard. Dress your resume up with a splash of color, specific formatting, sections and easy to read fonts.

These 11 tips could help improve your resume giving you the edge you need to beat the competition.

Justin is a former KPMG Manager, advisor to the Australian Department of Defence and Hewlett Packard consultant. As a manager and employer Justin can help you jump ahead of the pack with your computer science resume visit http://computerscienceresume.net/ to see suggestions for resume templates, tips and tricks

Read more ...

11 Computer Science Resume Tips For Impressing Employers

You've probably heard it a 1000 times but it's true, the job market is extremely competitive.

If you've made a decision to get into the job marketplace for the fist time, or just looking to gain an advantage over the competition, you need a compelling and hard hitting resume. If you think your resume could do with a "power up" I've listed 11 suggestions you can try out.

1. Create A Career Achievements Section
Make sure your resume features a section where you summarise all the highlights from your career. Place this section on the first page for maximum impact. You don't want recruiters having to read page after page to find out what sort of employee you might be.

2. Use Big Numbers
Use big numbers when describing your previous projects, products, systems or roles. Try to make your earlier work appear as remarkable as possible. If you haven't worked on anything that's really big, consider the amount of money your project, product or system made or saved your previous companies.

3. Show Experience In A Range Of Industries
Try and demonstrate that you have experience in a wide range of different industries. If you have only worked for one company, what individual areas did you work in? Was it marketing? Manufacturing? IT? Be inventive.

4. Make Sure You List Any Certifications
Make sure you put any certifications on the first page, these are very important. If you don't have any, why not start one! This way you can legitimately put one on your resume, you don't need to lie, just make a note mentioning the certification is "in progress".

5. Avoid Over Used Power Words
Make sure you don't completely fill your resume with overused power words like "Extensive experience", "Results-oriented", "Proven track record" and "Team Player". Once or twice is acceptable but not for every job listed.

6. Scannable First Page
Your very first page has to be scannable in just a few seconds or less, use font size 12 (but not different types) and use bold to draw the readers attention.

7. Clarity
Don't babble, get to the point, every sentence should be clear and concise, no waffle. For example "I successfully ran project XYZ generating 100k in additional sales for CompanyX". That's clear and to the point.

8. Don't Include Links To External Sites
Don't link your resume to sites like MySpace or Facebook where recruiters could see pictures of you at the pub.

9. Update Your LinkedIn Site
Don't let your LinkedIn site go stale. Employers often review your LinkedIn site to ensure the jobs listed here match those listed in your resume. Get one if you don't have one!

10. Don't List Your Referees
You don't need to list referees in your resume. This is mostly unnecessary for a resume. If the potential employer is interested in referees they'll ask you.

11. Don't Use A Boring Resume Template
Standard templates look exactly that, standard. Dress your resume up with a splash of color, specific formatting, sections and easy to read fonts.

These 11 tips could help improve your resume giving you the edge you need to beat the competition.

Read more ...

CV Writing: Impressing Companies

At some point in our lives, we have all had to write a CV in order to get a decent job and earn money to live on.

With the job market getting more and more competitive everyday, it has become more important than ever to ensure that your CV stands out from all of the others sent to employers.

A good CV should include all of the following information:

Your Name, Address, and Contact Numbers (put this at the top of your CV)English, Maths and Science GCSEs (or secondary school equivalent for those outside of the UK) as well as any work experience you may have. Although you should list all work experience that you have, it is important to make it as relevant as possible to the job you are applying for.At least two referees, one of which should be personal, the other being someone that you know in a professional capacity, i.e. a former teacher or employer.

It is also a good idea to tailor your CV to the job which you are applying for, i.e. you would have different content if you were applying for a job in computing than you would if applying for a job in a supermarket.

For almost all jobs out there, customer service experience and the ability to be polite to people is extremely important and something that employers look for in potential candidates.

An example of the text order within a good CV is as follows:

Joe Bloggs

123 Nowhere St, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 1AA

Tel: 0151 496 0000 Mobile: 07880 029182

* Do not include your date of birth or national insurance number here (social security number if in the US)

Work Experience (should be in reverse chronological order)

January 2010 - Present - Checkout Operator at ASDA Stores Ltd - This job involves serving customers and helping them to pack their shopping bags. This requires me to have a friendly attitude as well as the ability to speak confidently and to be a good listener. (For current jobs, be sure to write this paragraph in the present tense, whilst the others should be written in the past tense)

February 2009 - January 2010 - Paper Delivery Person at McColls Newsagents - This job involved delivering newspapers around my local area, requiring me to have a good navigational skills and also a friendly attitude when talking to people whilst delivering their newspapers to them.

Education (also in reverse chronological order)

September 2007 - May 2009 - Liverpool Community College, Liverpool, L1 1AB - Achieved 4 A2 Level qualifications

September 2002 - May 2007 - Liverpool High School, Liverpool, L1 1AC - Achieved 10 GCSEs including English, Maths and Science.

Hobbies and Interests (should be at least 2 paragraphs)

I enjoy a wide range of activities including ten-pin bowling and listening to music. From September 2008 to March 2009, I was a keyboard player for a local band, which was something that I enjoyed a great deal.

It also involved a lot of communication between the band themselves and potential venues where they would play gigs. In addition to this, in order for our band to be successful, it was vital that we all co-operated as part of a team.

Referees (one personal and one professional)

* The personal reference cannot be a family member and should have a valid work address.

Mr Andrew Smith

Liverpool Community College

Liverpool

Merseyside

L1 1AB

Tel: 0151 496 0001

Ms Jane Doe

ABC Insurance Limited

20 Main Street

Liverpool

Merseyside

L1 1AD

Tel: 0151 496 0002

Article by John Courtenay @ The Free Web Space Provider World It's Me.

Read more ...

CV Writing: Impressing Companies

At some point in our lives, we have all had to write a CV in order to get a decent job and earn money to live on.

With the job market getting more and more competitive everyday, it has become more important than ever to ensure that your CV stands out from all of the others sent to employers.

A good CV should include all of the following information:

Your Name, Address, and Contact Numbers (put this at the top of your CV)English, Maths and Science GCSEs (or secondary school equivalent for those outside of the UK) as well as any work experience you may have. Although you should list all work experience that you have, it is important to make it as relevant as possible to the job you are applying for.At least two referees, one of which should be personal, the other being someone that you know in a professional capacity, i.e. a former teacher or employer.

It is also a good idea to tailor your CV to the job which you are applying for, i.e. you would have different content if you were applying for a job in computing than you would if applying for a job in a supermarket.

For almost all jobs out there, customer service experience and the ability to be polite to people is extremely important and something that employers look for in potential candidates.

An example of the text order within a good CV is as follows:

Joe Bloggs

123 Nowhere St, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 1AA

Tel: 0151 496 0000 Mobile: 07880 029182

* Do not include your date of birth or national insurance number here (social security number if in the US)

Work Experience (should be in reverse chronological order)

January 2010 - Present - Checkout Operator at ASDA Stores Ltd - This job involves serving customers and helping them to pack their shopping bags. This requires me to have a friendly attitude as well as the ability to speak confidently and to be a good listener. (For current jobs, be sure to write this paragraph in the present tense, whilst the others should be written in the past tense)

February 2009 - January 2010 - Paper Delivery Person at McColls Newsagents - This job involved delivering newspapers around my local area, requiring me to have a good navigational skills and also a friendly attitude when talking to people whilst delivering their newspapers to them.

Education (also in reverse chronological order)

September 2007 - May 2009 - Liverpool Community College, Liverpool, L1 1AB - Achieved 4 A2 Level qualifications

September 2002 - May 2007 - Liverpool High School, Liverpool, L1 1AC - Achieved 10 GCSEs including English, Maths and Science.

Hobbies and Interests (should be at least 2 paragraphs)

I enjoy a wide range of activities including ten-pin bowling and listening to music. From September 2008 to March 2009, I was a keyboard player for a local band, which was something that I enjoyed a great deal.

It also involved a lot of communication between the band themselves and potential venues where they would play gigs. In addition to this, in order for our band to be successful, it was vital that we all co-operated as part of a team.

Referees (one personal and one professional)

* The personal reference cannot be a family member and should have a valid work address.

Mr Andrew Smith

Liverpool Community College

Liverpool

Merseyside

L1 1AB

Tel: 0151 496 0001

Ms Jane Doe

ABC Insurance Limited

20 Main Street

Liverpool

Merseyside

L1 1AD

Tel: 0151 496 0002

Article by John Courtenay @ The Free Web Space Provider World It's Me.

Read more ...