LisaD_uk

I need to do a CV but I have never really done one before. I went to a website saying free CVs but it was bull and at the end asked for £16.99. Does anyone have any advice or any websites that have templates on them.
Thanks in advance.

Geelong Gent

Personal Details
- Enough for them to make contact with you,but not enough to allow them to discriminate against you (even if you have protection by law, you risk personal bias - so give yourself a chance).
- Hobbies etc should be left for discussion during interview (ie helps break the ice etc)

Qualifications
- Start most recent and work backwards

Skills
- ie IT related or additonal workrelated that would be of interest to prospective employers.

Employment History
Start with current and work backwards.
- Name of employer
- Description of employer (brief) ie level of turnover, industry involved in
- Period of employment
- Position Description
- Duties
- Accomplishments
- Reason for leaving/desire to leave ie company making you redundant or relocating to Perth

References
- I would recommend "To Be Advised" for the pure reason it is so annoying getting unindated with calls from agents "unexpected". Better to forewarn your referees - agents are fully aware of how annoying people get when they have 5 or 6 agents calling asking the same questions.

Reference each page with your name (so they remember) with page numbers on the bottom.

This is just my personal advice, others may wish to add or disagree, but hope this gets you started.

esperanza

That's good advice!

People are bound to argue about the order that things should be in, and how much detail to go in to - but there is no correct answer. The same CV might end up in one person's bin or another person's 'maybe' pile.
A couple of don'ts for you - don't lie. Ever! You probably wouldn't, but it's not uncommon and it's not worth it. Don't send off anything with spelling errors or grammatical ones - get it checked by two other people if you can. Don't give it a funny name on your computer and then email it to people who see the funny name - it won't look good! Don't send off the same basic generic CV for every job you apply for - tailor it to answer all the criteria in the ad. If the ad is not clear, then ring to ask for details - that alone will make you stand out from the other applicants.
Also once you've sent it off, ring to make sure it has been received.
And don't be disheartened if the first dozen jobs you go for don't get you anywhere - it just takes one right job to come up, and best to wait an extra month for a great job than take a crappy one on day two.
There are always temp agencies! Which is actually quite a good way to get out there and see what there is.

Good luck!

ridds

Always use a standard font like arial or times roman.

Some sites which have useful advice and some sample resumes / CVs are:

Bestresumes - has some samples and guides for a wide range of industries. Also has a useful list on most pages of verbs which help you describe what you do, and ensuring you keep your resume action oriented, rather than passive.
Careers at USNW
Susan Ireland

HTH

Wendy

Some more sites:

http://www.rockportinstitute.com/powerwords.html

http://www.careerone.com.au/jobs/job...ve-your-resume

Big Galah

Don't be unlucky.

I heard of a manager who, faced with a mountain of CVs (when IT was in one of its down periods), took half of them and dumped them in the bin.

"Right, that's the losers out of the running."

...and then looked at the other half.


Seriously though, here's a link to some examples, though as someone already said, there's no right or wrong way to do it - you just want to present yourself as well as possible without lying.

CV/Resume Examples

Personally, I prefer work experience before education (it's more important in areas like IT):

Personal Details
Career Summary (2 concise paragraphs)
Work History (starting with most recent - bullet points for ahievements/responsibilities)
Education

You don't want to take up unnecessary space - I would leave out interests and referees - if they want that information they'll ask at the interview.

Of course, it depends on actually having work experience to begin with. If you don't, you can always present college/training courses in a work-like format, or word temporary jobs to emphasise any supervisory or financial aspects (was promoted to burger assembly supervisor - that's when the big bucks started rolling in... )

Cheers,

Big,

LisaD_uk

Thank-you eveyone for all your advice. I didn't think to put most recent first doh.
I shall be checking out the links for some ideas.
Thanks again all.

gr8144

Here's a link to my blog on CV Layout Hints and tips:
http://http://hubpages.com/hub/CV_Layout_Hints_and_Tips
where I've written up details of what to include in each section of a CV. I hope you find it useful and good luck with your job hunting!