cagandchris

Hi
I'm trying to put my CV together ready for Australia. I've heard that employers/agencies like much more detailed CV's there than they do in the UK (I have always been encouraged to keep mine brief)

Is this correct?
If so how much detail do they need?
How many pages is about right?

Thanks!

Carole

TrickyTree

Hi Carole

Just having a look at the other halfs CV and she has about half a page of A4 for every one of her previous jobs. She goes into quite a bit of detail of job description and hardward/software used. Looks very much like what a job spec would look like in a UK application pack. As well as the usual stuff (name, address, tel no etc etc) and her CV is currently 4 pages long.

Looks totally different to ours which were told to be no longer than 2 pages of A4 or they end up in the bin.

Hope it helps

cheers

TT

Trevglas

I am not too sure on this one, I have always kept my cv's brief.

However, I have been fortunate in that the jobs I have applied for have also had selection criteria, i.e. specific questions relating to what the employer (thinks) they want. These are a superb idea, you go to town answering specific questions.

Every public service job comes with selection criteria, but I have also come across them with a few companies

cagandchris

Thanks this is all helpful...I am right in assuming that MS products word, excel etc are instantly recognisable in Oz as they are here??

Hels

Its been a few years since I worked in the Recruitment industry in Oz, however when I was there, the main points I used to suggest to jobseekers was make it easy to read(point form as much as possible), Keep the first page soley for your personal details and unless you have education that directly effects the work you do, dont put it on there. With your employment history also make it easy to read, the most recent job to the oldest and if you can put why you left. Always put an objective at the top of the second page or even the under your personal details explaining what you are looking for from a job and what you can bring to the company eg experience, training and attitude. It might all seem quite obvious, but it does make an impression.

One other thing I would always suggest is think about the number of CV's an employer will have land on their desk. Make yours stand out. I usually use a colour paper other than white and good quality paper makes a difference and shows you have made an effort. I used to use a butter yellow colour as its not offensive but stands out in a stack of white. I bought a load of plastic binders and well and put my CV in one to hand to them and usually took extra photo copies just in case.

Hope this helps. If there is anything else I can think of, I will let ya know.

Hels

cagandchris

Hels

This is great!

Thanks!!!!

DollyDaydream

Carole

We've used info from these sites.

http://www.jobera.com/job-resumes-c...stralian-cv.htm

http://sponsorship.freespirit.com.au/guide_resume.asp

http://www.careers.unsw.edu.au/care.../checklist.aspx

http://www.winningresumes.com.au/advice.html

Hope they are of use.

D D

Dreamaway 10

Very interesting thread this one as I was just wondering about this the other day and have also heard the same as Cag and Chris unlike the UK Cv's they need to be in much more detail .
Many thanks Hels and Dollydaydream for taking the time to provide this much needed advice I will include this one on my favourites.
Cheers all the best Dreamaway.