CV Writing services - worth it or waste of money?

[Mr Fahrenheit]

If you're on the bench, your local JobCentre may be able to put you in touch with someone who will give CV advice for free.

I've had help revising mine- half a dozen emails to and fro working on it, and I felt it was well worth the 3 hours of my time it took.

They can also point you to training on interview skills, which I may take up next time I'm out of contract.

The adviser I got works for my county council, so I presume things may vary from place to place.

[xchaotic]

I wouldn't risk it here, as you won't get a single serious answer, but other online communities often do the 'rip my CV to pieces' kind of service - you remove your details and they review - works a bit better in a huge market likeUS, I'm sure as here it would be so easy to recognise an individual, even with all the personal details removed.
Still, if you're just starting up or a generic Java programmer etc, why not set up another account and try sending it to us to review on the forums? Just make sure you remove the details of yourself and the clients you make generic. (say 2003-2007 Big Blue Chip PLC, Java Lead Developer etc)

[configman]

You need a CV to make you stand out from the crowd. If it is written by a specialist you will become part of the crowd and your CV will become repetitive when read with other CV's written by specialists. If a CV becomes repetitive it does not get read from beginning to end and you may have wasted your time. My advice is research good formats and information required on a CV and do it yourself avoiding use of all the repetitive words everyone else uses on their CV - use a thesaurus to be different. Just have others double-check spelling and grammar. As for the buzz words - what words bring up all your ideal contracts on the job boards?

[northernrampage]

I wouldn't risk it here, as you won't get a single serious answer, but other online communities often do the 'rip my CV to pieces' kind of service - you remove your details and they review - works a bit better in a huge market likeUS, I'm sure as here it would be so easy to recognise an individual, even with all the personal details removed.

I got my CV reviewed by a couple of people on here (thanks again to those who did it). I asked for help as I was not getting interest from agents. Was done via email. It was really useful.

I also found this link helpful: <snip>

[SueEllen]

I wouldn't risk it here, as you won't get a single serious answer

That's not true.

There have been at least 4 posters who put their CVs on here. They got very serious answers, and in one case I just found the CV layout so confusing I just emailed some CV examples someone else had given me.

, but other online communities often do the 'rip my CV to pieces' kind of service - you remove your details and they review - works a bit better in a huge market likeUS, I'm sure as here it would be so easy to recognise an individual, even with all the personal details removed.

Unless there are about 10 of you on in that particular niche market (like one of my siblings) it is unlikely.

Yes there could be someone who recognises you but unless they were really immature they wouldn't say anything as the vast majority of people need help with their CVs at some point.

Thing is when you review CVs you don't tell people what to exactly write down.

You give them an indication of what words are better than the ones they have chosen in a section, what qualifications to miss out and that it looks odd because certain sections lack information.

This means the final CV will still be individual to them but will be a better form of it.

The problem with CV companies (as already pointed out by configman) is all their CVs are very similar in both appearance and how they read.

There as even if you copied the format of someone elses CV, unless they were from the same background and going for the same roles, you wouldn't use exactly the same words or would remove sections as they are not applicable to you.

Still, if you're just starting up or a generic Java programmer etc, why not set up another account and try sending it to us to review on the forums? Just make sure you remove the details of yourself and the clients you make generic. (say 2003-2007 Big Blue Chip PLC, Java Lead Developer etc)

You also need to remove things like universites as some institutions in this country don't have a large intake in a particular year.

And exact locations of yourself, your clients and anything else you can think off unless they are big cities.

[The Agents View]

If you have a "mainstream" experience, it's worth contacting an agent and building a relationship with them.

I know, I know, it means speaking to agents, who obviously have two heads etc etc, but a lot of the time, we can see trends as to who is interesting to the market and who isn't.

In my experience and opinion, cv's should list the following:

Name
Contact details
Guildeline location (as simple as UK wide if need be)
2-3 line profile
Any relevant qualifications
Career history: Split into company, with a couple of lines max on what you were engaged for. Followed by deliverables achieved, followed by the tangible impact that had on the business (cost saving, time, effort, efficiency, enablement etc)

Gone are the days of needing a 12 page CV - nobody reads them - keep it simple, but not vague - 5 pages is the max I would ever expect to see on a CV.

HTH - TAV