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Reply to: CV length nowadays

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Previously on "CV length nowadays"

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  • PerfectStorm
    replied
    Mine's a good 4-5 pages, had it done by CVIA - with highlights on the front page. They'll read the bits they need to and agent can always shorten it if they want. No shortage of roles.

    Leave a comment:


  • TheDude
    replied
    Originally posted by vwdan View Post

    I also fail to see the issue with repetition - part of my "sales pitch" is that what's really complex, niche work for some is bread and butter day to day work for me that I can do with my eyes closed. If you're looking for a brain surgeon, you probably want the one with a long list of successful surgeries, not just a very impressive latest one.
    Depends on the role you are hiring for. Developers will often cite their 'experience' when trying to justify suitability for a role using new/different technologies but if you are looking for (say) a scala/spark developer then someone with 20 years of Java/C++ and Oracle experience isn't necessarily going to be a great fit despite them trying to convince you otherwise.
    Last edited by TheDude; 18 October 2021, 08:42.

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  • vwdan
    replied
    Originally posted by kloos View Post
    The point of a CV is to get an interview. People think that it is there to get you a job but that's not the case. .
    An over simplification, surely? I've done some hiring and quite often we'd wind up sat there with a few candidates CV's after interview, especially if things were really tight between a few.

    The CV is your sales brochure, fundamentally, and I'd expect it to be referenced throughout the hiring process.

    I also fail to see the issue with repetition - part of my "sales pitch" is that what's really complex, niche work for some is bread and butter day to day work for me that I can do with my eyes closed. If you're looking for a brain surgeon, you probably want the one with a long list of successful surgeries, not just a very impressive latest one.

    Leave a comment:


  • northernladuk
    replied
    Originally posted by malvolio View Post

    At a minimum, you need to say what you were there for, and what you achieved - for example, "I provided interim management of a team, saved £40,000 in cashable savings and achieved a 7% improvement in throughput". (Both true, incidentally) That might get their attention.

    Sadly you also have to squeeze in the keywords the agent put in the original advert so there is a chance they will actually bother to look at it properly.
    And that's just to get you in front of the client. Once you are there you could argue they want to see repetition. They have nothing but a piece of paper in front of them. What on a one pager tells them you've decades of experience delivering exactly what they want. Does a client engage a consultancy to do some work for them because theyve done it once or because they've done it five, six times and more.

    Sounds very much that he's in love with his CV again and is forgetting the needs of the people in the chain. I'm sure it works for them but I'm also sure it puts blockers in the way that a more open minded approach to their CV would not have. The CV is for the agent and the client, not for the contractor to be proud of. What we think sometimes doesn't matter if it's bucking the norm that they are looking for.

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  • malvolio
    replied
    Originally posted by kloos View Post
    The point of a CV is to get an interview. People think that it is there to get you a job but that's not the case. My CV used to be 3 pages, but I recently decided to slim it down and when you really start boiling things down, it's surprising how much repetition and non-achievements were there. For example, I stated that I managed a team of 10. But didn't say how good I was at doing it or how successful I had been. I now have 3 versions of my CV.

    1 page very to the point version which is the one I use most often.
    2 pages, which fluffs it up a bit but, I rarely use this.
    4 pages, which is my personal version containing all the bits I might want to swap into the 1 pages to suit the role.
    At a minimum, you need to say what you were there for, and what you achieved - for example, "I provided interim management of a team, saved £40,000 in cashable savings and achieved a 7% improvement in throughput". (Both true, incidentally) That might get their attention.

    Sadly you also have to squeeze in the keywords the agent put in the original advert so there is a chance they will actually bother to look at it properly.

    Leave a comment:


  • kloos
    replied
    The point of a CV is to get an interview. People think that it is there to get you a job but that's not the case. My CV used to be 3 pages, but I recently decided to slim it down and when you really start boiling things down, it's surprising how much repetition and non-achievements were there. For example, I stated that I managed a team of 10. But didn't say how good I was at doing it or how successful I had been. I now have 3 versions of my CV.

    1 page very to the point version which is the one I use most often.
    2 pages, which fluffs it up a bit but, I rarely use this.
    4 pages, which is my personal version containing all the bits I might want to swap into the 1 pages to suit the role.

    Leave a comment:


  • Robinho
    replied
    Mine is 4 pages,

    I don't see the point in compacting it, clients aren't obliged to read it all are they, and i doubt agents manage to get halfway down the first page.

    Leave a comment:


  • _V_
    replied
    The best CV is simply a tag cloud, because basically, all agents do now it match buzzwords on the CV to buzzwords on the job advert.

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  • BolshieBastard
    replied
    Originally posted by TheDude View Post
    I like CVs that are brief and to the point.

    I hate CVs that cover decades of irrelevant or obsolete technologies.

    I don't care what version of Delphi you used 20 years ago - particularly if you are the type who tries to hide their lack of relevance with arrogance, bluster and war stories.

    I especially hated the CV with two pages on the candidates philosophy on software development which raised just about every red flag possible.
    I like short cvs as well. The trouble is, 95% of agents have no idea and are no more than call centre staff meaning you have to cram in what I consider to be not very relevant stuff to grab their attention.

    An 'agent' working for one of the then so called big agencies some time ago, once said to me during a phone conversation that it was 'difficult to determine what your role was'! This despite 'Test Analyst' being clearly stated in each role description. I mean what hope have you got?

    Leave a comment:


  • TheDude
    replied
    I like CVs that are brief and to the point.

    I hate CVs that cover decades of irrelevant or obsolete technologies.

    I don't care what version of Delphi you used 20 years ago - particularly if you are the type who tries to hide their lack of relevance with arrogance, bluster and war stories.

    I especially hated the CV with two pages on the candidates philosophy on software development which raised just about every red flag possible.
    Last edited by TheDude; 5 October 2021, 12:07.

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  • PCTNN
    replied
    CV - 2 pages
    Design portfolio - 4 pages

    Leave a comment:


  • northernladuk
    replied
    Originally posted by _V_ View Post
    Next I might get botox and a wig for video call interviews.
    Tried that, didn't seem to work for some reason.

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  • _V_
    replied
    I have also removed anything that might give my age, dates of graduation etc, old dead skills that no youngster would have heard of. Only in a meeting yesterday, the head of IT in current client was saying how young people will transform IT there, and those without youth eliminated from old ways of thinking.

    Next I might get botox and a wig for video call interviews.

    Leave a comment:


  • hobnob
    replied
    Originally posted by northernladuk View Post
    I just deleted mine but they aren't that relevant anyway. [..] I remember the day I got rid of them though, an agent commented on the fact they'd guess I was XX years old based on the CV. Didn't like that at all so dropped the last 10 years of experience that wasn't relevant to stop agents working out how old I am if nothing else.
    I did the same thing recently: I graduated in 1995, but I've removed the dates from my university degrees, and the first job listed on my CV started in 2005. So, it would be plausible for me to be 10 years younger than I actually am (47).

    As for length, mine is currently 2½ pages. That includes 1 page just for my qualifications, and I've trimmed out the ones which are no longer relevant (e.g. for Windows XP). I could re-format it to fit on 2 pages, but I think that a list of bullet points is easier to read than one big paragraph. So, word count might be a better metric than page count; mine is about 700 words.

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  • vwdan
    replied
    Originally posted by CheeseSlice View Post
    I'd be interested to know what others do with the really old ones. Do you just delete them as if they never happened, or do you put something like 'various positions between Years X-and-Y' ?
    The totally immaterial stuff before I got into IT I just don't put on there. The last line on my CV just says:

    Various 1st and 2nd Line Roles - Date to Date

    I then have a couple of one-liner roles, with no description. The first description is of my first consultancy role in 2010. I think like NLUK says, it's pretty gutting to erase your history - especially when you still remember when those roles were the important ones, taking up half a page and getting you interviews. My entry into consultancy was quite a big break - it's now reduced to two short bullet points!

    But, ultimately - it's a long time ago and apart from giving some information on the path I've taken it's pretty immaterial

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