How many page you CV is ..?

[NotAllThere]

Be fair, it's a big question to answer, and I appreciate the honesty of the reply. Then again, it is getting to be a Catch-22, as I explained in my Blog a while back (http://www.lpwcs.com/wordpress/2009/...t-for-purpose/), that a CV that gets you the interview won't impress the hiring manager.

I get round that problem, partially, by having a list of skills (buzzwords) at the top, with hiring manager information further down.

Not that I've had to have an interview to get a contract for a long long time.

[gadgetman]

Mine is currently 6 pages but I've not had much trouble getting work and its never been brought up as an issue. All the older jobs are just 3 or 4 bullet points (but there's a lot of them).

If the employer doesn't want to go that far back they can stop after the first two pages. That's what I do when I'm reviewing for jobs myself.

I also include an 'executive summary' type section on the first page which hopefully grabs attention enough to make them want to read on. It also prevents the need for the agent to provide their own (usually inaccurate) summary.

IMO the worst problem is long CV's due to far too much irrelevant information. I had one recently that was over 20 pages and virtually had the guy's whole life story.

[The Agents View]

Can I give you all a tip, that will doubtless have me shunned by the recruitment industry, but nevertheless:

Recruitment companies use search engines to find candidates. We often search on very simple things - so if I'm looking for a Banking Project Manager, I simply type in (Boolean) Bank AND "project manager".

The way in which these search engines work, is to count occurances. So lets say your CV has 100 instances of "Project manager" in it, you will rank above someone who has 80 instances.

Now, imagine what would happen, if you did your whole CV, then in the footer, or right at the bottom of the page, you typed "project manager" over and over and over (copy and paste) and happened to make that text 1pt font size, and colour it white, to blend in with the rest of the page?

I'll leave you guys to work out the rest

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Now, imagine what would happen, if you did your whole CV, then in the footer, or right at the bottom of the page, you typed "project manager" over and over and over (copy and paste) and happened to make that text 1pt font size, and colour it white, to blend in with the rest of the page?

I'll leave you guys to work out the rest

Google would detect that ruse and therefore eliminate your CV from its listings.

[The Agents View]

Google would detect that ruse and therefore eliminate your CV from its listings.

And why on earth would I be looking on Google for CV's?

Google might detect it, but none of the job board search engines do - trust me.....

[darmstadt]

I've decided to put my CV online like this guy (done with Paint)

[The Agents View]

I've decided to put my CV online like this guy (done with Paint)

You know - That's actually quite cool. I guess it depends what you're looking for, but for originality of presentation, and general forward thinking, it hits a spot.

People I would actually see being interested in this kind of presentation are the googles and Pixars of this world.

That's also clearly not done in paint - it's more difficult to draw and write like a child than you might think - although certain posters on CUK seem to do a very good impression

[Ardesco]

Can I give you all a tip, that will doubtless have me shunned by the recruitment industry, but nevertheless:

Recruitment companies use search engines to find candidates. We often search on very simple things - so if I'm looking for a Banking Project Manager, I simply type in (Boolean) Bank AND "project manager".

The way in which these search engines work, is to count occurances. So lets say your CV has 100 instances of "Project manager" in it, you will rank above someone who has 80 instances.

Now, imagine what would happen, if you did your whole CV, then in the footer, or right at the bottom of the page, you typed "project manager" over and over and over (copy and paste) and happened to make that text 1pt font size, and colour it white, to blend in with the rest of the page?

I'll leave you guys to work out the rest

You seriously think that we don't know this?

The amount of times I have agents call me up for roles that I couldn't do because they have done a buzz word search and actually not looked at my CV to see what I do is unbelievable...

[Fred Bloggs]

You seriously think that we don't know this?

The amount of times I have agents call me up for roles that I couldn't do because they have done a buzz word search and actually not looked at my CV to see what I do is unbelievable...

Yes, WHS.

[malvolio]

Can I give you all a tip, that will doubtless have me shunned by the recruitment industry, but nevertheless:

Recruitment companies use search engines to find candidates. We often search on very simple things - so if I'm looking for a Banking Project Manager, I simply type in (Boolean) Bank AND "project manager".

The way in which these search engines work, is to count occurances. So lets say your CV has 100 instances of "Project manager" in it, you will rank above someone who has 80 instances.

Now, imagine what would happen, if you did your whole CV, then in the footer, or right at the bottom of the page, you typed "project manager" over and over and over (copy and paste) and happened to make that text 1pt font size, and colour it white, to blend in with the rest of the page?

I'll leave you guys to work out the rest

That's exactly my point. You may get a PM that's done nothing but banking for several years, you probably won't get someone with solid experience in a range of industries at a senior level who can do the PM role with his eyes shut and probably bring some other expertise to the table. And quite probably someone I would rather hire than the suit from the City.

Not all that many years ago, you wouldn't even search the job boards, you would know which of your regular contractors had the skills. Heigh ho, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of blind commercialism.