What the hell is up with the market (or is it just me)

[SimonMac]

Christ, that's a huge undertaking.

Not really, for example if I am developer with .NET, Java and C, during my time I would have come across SVN, Team Foundation Server, ClearCase and StarTeam.

All these would be listed in skills/knowledge etc, but when it comes to the job descriptions if the advert say's Java and SVN I would make sure these are prominently placed and examples show where I use them rather than used listed as known.

No more than 10-15 mins, but unless you are firing off 100's of CV's each day and going for the scatter gun approach its not that much of an undertaking.

Next you will be telling us you don't tailor each covering letter to each job, or even worse you use Jobserves default offering.....

[Peter Loew]

Time, yes. Inclination, no.

I'll only do this when I get desperate or when an agent asks me to modify my CV for submission.

P

[Peter Loew]

not really, for example if i am developer with .net, java and c, during my time i would have come across svn, team foundation server, clearcase and starteam.

All these would be listed in skills/knowledge etc, but when it comes to the job descriptions if the advert say's java and svn i would make sure these are prominently placed and examples show where i use them rather than used listed as known.

No more than 10-15 mins, but unless you are firing off 100's of cv's each day and going for the scatter gun approach its not that much of an undertaking.

Next you will be telling us you don't tailor each covering letter to each job, or even worse you use jobserves default offering.....

tailoring a cover letter? You've got to be joking!

[The Spartan]

No, he just took off anything that might have indicated he was from Wales.

Correct including changing my hispanic name to something more british so that immigration don't catch up with me

[The Spartan]

tailoring a cover letter? You've got to be joking!

Well you want to appear professional don't you?

[Harmonic]

tailoring a cover letter? You've got to be joking!

I'm a newbie but seems like a no-brainer to me. I have a few tailored versions of my CV and then use the cover letter to emphasis how close a match I am to the requirement.
It seems to be working in terms of getting me interviews just need to find a gig where they don't decide to use Wipro instead after I've accepted or turn round and offer me a permie role instead.

My take on it is that agents are going to prefer an applicant who makes life easier for them rather than them having to go the effort of actually reading your whole CV.

[SimonMac]

If the OP's sign up date wasn't 2006 I was swear this is a fake thread

[TheFaQQer]

Next you will be telling us you don't tailor each covering letter to each job, or even worse you use Jobserves default offering.....

That must be what I do - last time I wrote a covering letter, I was in university.

[MyUserName]

I do not write covering letters or tailor my cv. I seem to be doing okay though, hmmm ... perhaps the bells and whistles might add a few pounds to the day rate though so I might consider it when I am on the bench.

[Peter Loew]

If the OP's sign up date wasn't 2006 I was swear this is a fake thread

I've been doing well since I started out contracting back in 2006.

Actually, I've only ever had 1 or 2 job offers from actual applications; the rest came through agents finding my CV on their database and calling me up.

I was being a bit sarcastic about the covering letter; but in truth I tend to cover as much scope with the letter as I can, rather than tailor them individually.

The best way to get noticed is to call the agent after submitting your CV. If you're really serious then just electronic means isn't enough, you need to track them down and call them up.