chelly77

Morning all,

We have finally been given our Visa yea
Our flights are booked for the 21st Jan, the dogs paper work has been sorted.

The only sting in the tail is that my companys office in OZ now no longer have any empty positions so I need to start looking else where.

Can anyone let me know if the layout of a CV for OZ is different from the UK?
Any tips would be great.

Ta Very much
Chelly

Rod-Helen-Poppy

in my line of work they tend to want to know what projects you have worked on and their value.

im an engineering geologist (kind of civil engineer) who does railway work so i put down projects i have worked on and their size and value.

hope that helps.

homewardbound

It depends and since i have redone mine i have had much quicker success.

rules are:

No more than 3 pages!

Name, contact details

Career Vision Statement - 1 paragraph

Last jobs - no more than 5 year history
Key Skills and responsibilities

Education/training history

Personal Interests

THEN the nitty gritty comes in your cover letter where you can address all the skills requested for the position you apply for.

NOT too much writing - make it bullet point and brief.

Kingseat

Most places here want a Resume rather than a CV so submit it as a Resume or CV depending on what is asked for. I have both saved!

DibDob

I have recently discovered that on top of the covering letter (no more than 2 pages) and your resume/cv, in a lot of jobs you also have to answer each of the job specifications and personal specifications. This can be as long as 10 or so pages and is expected, if you do not you may not even be considered for an interview (as in my case) luckily the boss was impressed with my application and contacted me and asked me to send him the job/person spec statement, this has resulted in an interview

sr71

They go for details over here - the 2 pages rule does not apply.

It is insulting at times, but that's ho it works over here, certainly with IT recruiters.

INDOAUS

How come there is no concensus on oz CV/Resume format? Does each oz industry/job has their own standard CV/Resume format?

INDOAUS

How come there is no concensus on one oz CV/Resume format? Does each oz industry/job has their own standard CV/Resume format?

mecheng

I can only speak from my background in the engineering industry but unless you've been working more than 10/15 years, don't go over 2 pages for the CV/resume. I would ditch the career vision statement because it takes up valuable space and it's nothing that can't be partially covered in your cover letter. Some mention on here of a 2 page cover letter, not in this lifetime...and not in the UK either. I'll get jumped on if this disagrees with anyone but that's my personal experience so take it or leave it.

DibDob

Well shows how different it can be
I have been asked in all my 3 jobs i have got interviews for to provide a cv (not over 4 pages) a covering letter (2 pages) and a job spec personal spec statement which is around 14 pages (and i have been informed this is by no meens large)

I was very shocked to hear this so i asked for confirmation and this is what they said

"The practice of addressing the essential criteria is a long standing practice in all governmental settings such as healthcare etc, often requiring an individual to spend long hours preparing an application addressing the criteria. If you have been applying for jobs and not getting to the interview stage with Australian employers companies it is possible it is because they will argue that the essential criteria have not been addressed therefore they do not proceed to the second stage of the selection process being an interview."

So i would say read the application form back to front upside down and back again and ask them exactly what they want.

Good Luck

homewardbound

So I think the rule is - to find out the industry expectation for your field as we have all said different things. I think I am about to get offered a job as an Employment Consultant/Advisor so should know more soon after training! :-)

Amazulu

Same as any other country - short and sweet, 1-3 pages.

CVs are a waste of time anyway but that's another story.

paddyo

How on earth can you make that statement??? A CV gets you the interview, fact, if your CV does not interest them, be it content/applicability/length/suitability then thats fine. The potential employer has the right of choice so they can decide themselves what they think is appropriate.
I have seen the short 1 page CV's and I have seen the loooooooong 10 page CV's but in all honesty our HR team don't care, most candidate recruitment teams have search software now which scans the CV's and if it comes up with an above say 80% match to the job requirements then its looked at further. If not then tough, there is little human interaction now in initial CV scans from larger companies. Its the way of the world, so when responding to a job and sending in a CV/Resume whatever you want to call it, just make sure your respond to each job spec and just think 'key words'.

bourbon-biscuit

Interesting- it clearly varies. My mother is prof in healthcare there and when she made her CV Australian (using kindly loaned peers' CVs for guidance) she had to lengthen it hugely, make is much more descriptive and include EVERYTHING, every scrap of published work, every conference attended etc.

Here in NZ teacher CVs are a really unfamiliar format and can include photos and samples of work!

So get advice from someone who works or recruits in your field of work at your level wrt CVs

Amazulu

In the past couple of years I've interviewed loads of people and read loads of CVs. Here's what I've found out:
The person with the 'best' CV is often the worst candidate.
The person with the 'worst' CV is often the best candidate.
I can learn more from a candidate in a 5 minute interview than from any CV.
Asking 3-4 pertinant questions tells me all I need to know.
I usually know within 30-60 seconds whether a person is suitable or not.
HR people are generally a waste of space. They are usually air-head girls who have not got a clue about what we need. You should see some of the f**kwits they have sent to us for interview.
I don't care what a person's hobbies, life skills etc are. Are they qualified? Are they experienced? Can they do the job? All the rest is bollocks.

Unfortunately we now live in a world of corporate bullshit, lawyers, accountants and irrelevant arts degrees and this is what we have to put up with.