Is my CV good?

bubble bobble bing

I have applied to over 30 jobs in the last week. I was wondering If i even had a good CV? My cv is attached to this.

Mrs OBumble

Just to reassure other readers, the OP has removed personal details from the uploaded copy!

Noopti

Hi,

What type of job are you looking for? I assume a retail position or similar based on previous experience? I can't really comment on what skills are most pertinent to these types of roles, so I will just give me comments on the CV structure etc.

Some thoughts, take them as you will:
1. Mentioning "I am a happy out-going person." to me is not needed. Employers will judge your personality and team fit at interview stage, and not by reading the CV.
2. " I have an experienced back round". Spelling mistake, make sure you run the CV through a spell checker and also have someone proof read it.
3. I would put your leaving cert results after your experience. If you are going for similar positions to before then this is more relevant to employers.
4. "(November 2012 - Current Date)" instead of current date say "Present". Small niggle, but to me "current date" looks like you forgot to change a template CV.
5. "This job as thought me Self control ". Grammatical errors & mistakes. See point 3 above.
6. Jackie Royal (Country Crafts) (May 2012 - December 2012). You say you finished here in Dec 12, but your next job states you started it in Nov 12. Doesn't add up, so make sure the start/end dates are accurate.
7. "(September 2011 - October 2012)". Again, you say you worked here until Oct 12. But the next job says you worked there from May 12 to Dec 12. Did you have two jobs? If so that's fine.
8. "I worked successfully leading a team of staff." You mention leading teams as a key achievement, which is great. But none of the roles in the experience section mentions leading teams, so you should include this in the relevant role(s). It is an important experience to highlight.
9. Similar to the above but you mention having outstanding management skills. Again this is a great skill to have, so you should be highlighting which roles this skill pertains to. Employers will want to know where and how you used this skill.
10. Small thing but instead of saying "I have gained many skills from this job such as:" I would say "Skills Gained". And instead of "My main responsibilities in this job were:" I would say "Main Responsibilities". Could be just a personal preference, but with CV's you want to be very concise, without losing important info of course. Often the people reading them are going through a lot applications, so make it as easy to read as possible.

Overall, it is an easy CV to read. Ensuring there are no spelling/grammatical errors is pretty important in my opinion as it shows attention to detail. Also maybe work on making it more concise, and ensuring your most important skills are highlighted in the applicable roles in the experience section. Would be worth getting feedback from someone who works in the relevant industry, as they might have some good ideas on what skills to highlight front and centre.

Best of luck with the job hunting!

Procrastastudy

Just some initial thoughts.

The US spelling and sentence structure is a bit meh - would put me off in all honesty. Some of the wording needs work. Having education where you have put it and the space dedicated to it shows you think that is most important. Depending on what the CV is for it's probably the least important - focus on your previous experience and skills. That said it's not a bad first draft of a CV.

:eek: just seen the 30 jobs thing! Tailor your CV and write a covering letter in every case. Scatter gun CVs always ended up in my bin. My pet hate was:

"Can I leave in a CV"
"Sure"
Bag opened, large pile of CVs in a plastic folder - one taken out and handed to me
"There you go"
"Thanks"
Walked out the back, gave it a glance to make sure the person wasn't a sales messiah or there wasn't some hilarous error and then filed it in the bin.

shamrock55

you really should check your spelling

Esoteric_

Your grammar needs a bit of work.

mark renton

LyndaMcL wrote: »

Your grammar needs a bit of work.

Your grammar may require some work

Esoteric_

mark renton wrote: »

Your grammar may require some work

I, however, am not currently applying for any jobs.

Mrs OBumble

mark renton wrote: »

Your grammar may require some work

If I wasn't a mod, I'd be making some very smart-ass comments about full stops and balanced vocabulary. But I am, so I'm gonna slap myself on the fingers and stay quiet.

the_syco

I am confident, reliable and adaptable. I am a happy out-going person. I have a great ability to deal with pressure, in any work situation and I am greatly enthusiastic about work. I work well with a team and leading a team. I have an experienced back round, in both retail and catering.

You seem to prefer "I am" rather than "I'm" for some reason. Try to mix it up slightly;

I'm confident, reliable and adaptable with a happy out-going personality. I've a great ability to deal with pressure, in any work situation and I am greatly enthusiastic about work. I work well within a team and leading the team, with experience in both retail and catering.

The "Key Achievements" and "Skills" should maybe have different headings, as the "Key Achievements" listed aren't really achievements as such. Maybe "Skills" should be relabelled "Qualities"?

=-=

"Cooking and preparing foods." - commi chef or sandwich maker?

mark renton

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

If I wasn't a mod, I'd be making some very smart-ass comments about full stops and balanced vocabulary. But I am, so I'm gonna slap myself on the fingers and stay quiet.

Shocking.

If I were not a moderator, my feedback would be that of a sarcastic nature given your inability to insert a punctuation mark at the termination of a standard sentence.

Alas, I do hold the almighty position of moderator on this forum, therefore I shall uphold the integrity of said position and remain quite.

Esoteric_

mark renton wrote: »

Shocking.

If I were not a moderator, my feedback would be that of a sarcastic nature given your inability to insert a punctuation mark at the termination of a standard sentence.

Alas, I do hold the almighty position of moderator on this forum, therefore I shall uphold the integrity of said position and remain quite.

Beautiful irony.

mark renton

LyndaMcL wrote: »

Beautiful irony.

Pun intended.

Jim2007

bubble bobble bing wrote: »

I have applied to over 30 jobs in the last week. I was wondering If i even had a good CV? My cv is attached to this.

To my mind this is the most important document you are going to write and that said I would expect that you will make every effort to get it right. So not bothering to do something as simple as run the spellchecker, begs the question what can one expect if you actually come and work for them???

Next your profile paragraph, it does not say anything of importance about you
! I could take that paragraph and paste it into anyone of a thousand other CVs and it would work just as well. You need to really make this about you, people have to get a sense of what you are about and what you bring to the table. You have to make them want to take it to the next level and meet you.

The same again for the hobbies and interests section, it's generic, it could refer to anyone of a thousand people. It's your chance to talk about your passions and what makes you tick, so do so.

The other thing you need to remember, is that the person reading your CV, will have maybe 50 others to go through, so the easier you make it to read yours, the better your chance of success. One of the first questions an employer wants to know is do you have the required skills, so make it easy for them - put it on the first page!

A CV is not just a history of what you did, it is also a sales document, it's what gets you to the next level, an interview. So it needs to grab people's attention - it's got to make them think: oh he/she sounds interesting lets have them in.

RiseToMe

Under Jackie royal heading you have "issuing recipes to customers"
Did you mean receipts here?

Irishder

Looks like a decent enough CV, but one comment i would make is you have mentioned a number of times of leading teams and managing people as a key skill, however you do not mention it in your work experience. If you do get an interview have plenty of examples of:

-Leading people
-Dealing with angry customers
-Improvements made

Good luck and well done for coming on here looking for advice, maybe you should of done it before you sent in the CV's

starlit

Hi there.

I am basing my advice on what I have been given and give my own opinion on it.

It's clear, concise to the point. Well laid out just the wording, grammar and spelling mistakes need to be corrected. Its ok as a first CV for someone after their leaving cert but to be honest you need to market the skills you have developed not just highlight work experience/qualities/education. I think you have gone into too much detail regarding your qualities.

Two pages is perfect, its consistent. Nicely presented. The CV itself, might be ok if just looking for part-time/student work but if you looking for something more it probably wouldn't do, you need to market yourself a bit more. It have worked grand a few years ago but now you have to really go for it, market your skills in such a way to grab the employer's attention otherwise binned after a few seconds. Think of who you are targeting not just what you think they should read.

What job are you looking for? I think stick out the job you have at the moment, being in a job for too short a time can see that you are job hopping too much yes getting experience and transferable skills but employers won't see it like that. They see that you aren't committed to any one job unless its in a similar industry/discipline/field of work or it all contract work or internship that be understandable. If you aren't in a specific direction/goal/job/industry or career then they won't really know what job you want or looking for.

I'll suggest a few things:

Profile is ok. Its more about experience and education you want to highlight. Its a career profile, What you done and what you doing and what you do in the future - what goal/plans you have for the future. Have you any plans to go back to education/further education? Worded ok. The rest should be in 3rd person when it comes to you.

If you do after your first year take out your leaving results. I suggest to just state school, year of leaving cert, leaving cert results nothing else same applies if you do further study.

Be careful of your wordings. Distinguish between the English and American spellings. Proofread! Add in '-' for self-control, and proper grammar where you see fit.
Simple words, nothing fancy but words that grab someone's attention. What makes you different what makes you stand out what have you got to offer no one else can. A lot of what you mention in your CV could be covered in a cover letter!?

Where you mention 'team' and other things mentioned in your work experience good layout regarding bullet points but you need to give an example of some sort where/how/what/result have you developed certain skills/qualities? Not just mention it sell it you have to convince them. Few lines would do - 'STAR' approach. When it come to interviews you can go into more detail.

A lot of it is how you put your point across, even if well presented you need to get your point across otherwise employers won't know what you are getting at. You have think that its their first time reading it, first time ever reading a CV.

Another thing I noticed you put too many words in some areas, I am notorious for it myself and its a mistake people make. Watch out for that. In particular take out words that aren't needed or necessary.

Skills section some of it fine other parts not so good. If you mention communication as a skill you need to give an example or explain a little bit further and write in 3rd person. Are there any other skills or practical skills you could mention? Regarding skills, list/bullet point form or list in paragraph.

Hobbies, only a few lines here can be 3rd person or not stick with what you have but only mention actual hobbies - list/bullet points be sufficient here.

Achievements I don't know if I'd class them as achievements did you get any awards or sporting achievements or something like that in school? Anything something small don't be shy to mention it! The training staff is the only point I put in here other than completing leaving cert. Example include speech and drama/extra curricular activities if you had something achieved like that, if I were you i'd nearly leave achievements out or replace it with something else. Did you do any volunteering stuff or work placement in school say if you did TY say? Be a team leader of something either work/school?

Some of the skills you mentioned could be part of your achievements but word it in such away that be classed as achievements.

Tailor your CV is important to take note. Regardless of industry/sector/job each job be a little bit different no job is the same similar duties/title maybe but you do need to tailor CV's a lot of the time. Same applies to interviews, no interview is the same, they look for different things or similar things but not always the same things some might some might look for something a bit more than what they want or want offered!?

Refs on request - that's perfectly acceptable.

You are quiet lucky to have a job at the moment though no harm in looking for something else but spending more than a few months in one job would mean more than just a few weeks, that is from what I have noticed when looking for work which I still am since leaving college.

Maybe take up a night course or hobby course or something like that or join a club that might fill in the achievement/hobbies/interest section more. Show off what you have to offer!

Best of luck!

scullersky

Any advice on my CV layout?

Procrastastudy

3 pages is too long unless you've significant experience in an area and move around a lot.

Aswerty

@OP

The things that stand out for me are:

• You should have your name as the heading of your CV.
• As others have said you're personal profile is very generic.
• You've prioritised education over work experience.
• Your leaving cert results take up a good chunk of your CV.
• You rely heavily on bullet points and have very few sentence based paragraphs.
• Your previous work experience titles appear to start with your managers name (I think) and the most important thing the job description is at the end instead of the start of the title.
• Your skill and achievment sections appear to rehash much of what you already have in your work experience sections.

You're on the right track with your responsibilities andd skills approach to your work experience. Also your hobbies section is concise and personal though I've had a manager mention before that socialising with friends is pretty much read as enjoying a few pints. Over all the CV looks very much like a template that you've customised to your experiences which won't really make it stand out.