Personal references. Unless you are specifically asked for personal references don’t give them. I have known many people give best friends, their doctor or a relative as a reference. Unless these people have seen you at work, or have been your boss, they probably won’t have the opinions I am looking for. The only time personal references tend to get used is when the person has just left school, college or university and has not had a previous employer. Even then, surely there was a Saturday job, a holiday job or an evening job?
one minute wonder Make sure that you approach the people you are choosing as referees and let them know about the job you are applying for, so they can expect a letter or a phone call and prepare what they want to say.
2 Business references. Consider the job that you are applying for. Which of your previous managers would be able to comment on your ability and its match to the job that you are applying for? Choose the best fit. Ask them first before you put them forward as a matter of courtesy. Make sure you have their up to date contact details so it makes it easier for the recruiter to contact them.
3 ‘To Whom it May Concern’ references. As an HR person I tend not to accept any of these. How do I know that you didn’t write the reference yourself? With the ability to copy and paste logos from the Internet, you could make your own headed paper and forge the reference. I would always check the source of the reference by contacting the referee.
If you aren’t using your last two employers as referees, be prepared to explain why not at interview.
Writing a curriculum vitae is something we all have to do at some time, yet few of us have ever been given any real training. Do you know what to put in and what to leave out? Some CVs are like reading a novel and others are so short they tell you nothing – so where’s the happy medium? This chapter looks at how to put a CV and accompanying letter together. It will help you create a generic CV, but don’t forget you must tailor it to each job you apply for.
The primary purpose of the CV is to provide the recruiter with information about you and an indication of how you meet the criteria that the recruiter is looking for. The CV is the door opener – it can make or break your chance of getting on the shortlist for interview, so great care should be taken to present yourself well.
The kind of things that really annoy recruiters are:
Poor photocopies.
Spelling mistakes.
Crumpled or stained CVs.
No accompanying letter.
A letter which is clearly a template and not even signed.
No effort made to show how you meet the job description.
I could go on but I think you get the picture. What does all this conjure up in your mind – someone who just doesn’t take the care or attention that they need to and that’s the best way to get filed in the wastepaper bin.
Have a look at the CV you have now, show it to some of your friends and colleagues and get some feedback. Have a look at what other people do and then see your own reactions to their CVs – what did you like, what did you hate?
It is time well spent putting together a professional CV targeted at the job that you are applying for. Don’t just have the one CV that you photocopy and send to every job you apply for – this is what I would call a ‘scattergun’ approach, and you are just hoping that one of them will land on the right desk at the right time for the right job. You are really hoping that the recruiter will do your job for you and find the information they are looking for.
Sometimes you may be one of 50 or more CVs landing on a recruiter’s desk. How much time do you think they will spend looking through a CV? It can be as little as 30 seconds. You only have one chance to make a good impression, so start as you mean to go on, with an easy-to-read, well structured and targeted CV.
If you know that you aren’t very good at writing a CV and you really want to make a good impression, then invest in getting several versions of your CV written by a professional. If this is the key to the shortlist, then it’s worth spending some money.
Make sure your CV stands out for the right reasons and not the wrong ones.
Having discussed how important the CV is to make that right impression, let’s take a look at what are the essential elements that go into most CVs. You could ask a number of people and you may get a different response from each of them, depending on their personal preferences, but there are four common points that feature in them all.
1 Contact details. Make sure that you put your up-to-date contact details in where the recruiter can find them easily – centred on the top of page one is usually the best place. Only give the telephone and email addresses that you are happy for them to contact you on. For example, avoid work email if it is not private to you.
Name
Address
Contact telephone number
Personal email address
2 Personal profile. This profile is designed to give the recruiter a snapshot of your skills and abilities so that they will want to read further. Section 2.3 goes into this further as it’s often the key to capturing the reader’s interest.
3 Employment history. Start with your current position and work backwards. List the company name with the relevant dates you worked for that business and then add your job title and responsibilities. If you have some achievements you are proud of, put them in. For example: ABC Services Limited, Sept 2003-present; Administration Manager, responsible for company purchases with a budget of £650k pa; Reduced stationery expenditure by 15% by centralizing purchasing. If you have worked for a long time consider just covering the last 10 years or so and then do a précis paragraph about previous history. We want to fit the CV on two pages if at all possible.
4 Qualifications and professional education & training. List your qualifications with the title of the qualification, the institute that awarded it and the date that you qualified. If you have good grades then by all means mention them. Start with the most important qualifications first, and finish with any relevant training courses that you have completed. The key word here is ‘relevant’ as the recruiter is only looking for those things that make you a good match for their job.
A well-targeted CV of two pages is far better than one of five pages irrelevant to the job you’re applying for.
