Reply to: Contractor CV, long or short?!

[Lockhouse]

There are an awful lot of old people on this site

I prefer to be called "experienced"....

[oraclesmith]

Sew a logo on it and issue one to each of your 'employees' and I guess it will do as a company uniform !!

[rootsnall]

'koff I'm not old. When I keep a pair of slippers under the desk and a flea-bitten cardigan on the back of my chair you can call me old.

That reminds me, must buy a new cardie this year. Are cardigans tax deductible and will it effect my IR35 status ?

[oraclesmith]

'koff I'm not old. When I keep a pair of slippers under the desk and a flea-bitten cardigan on the back of my chair you can call me old.

[DodgyAgent]

There are an awful lot of old people on this site

[Lockhouse]

19 yrs 4 pages but it is starting to get a bit cluttered. Do you have 4 pages of densely packed text or formatted into columns etc?

I thought about dropping education but I keep getting asked about it in euroland.

Formatted neatly with about 15% whitespace. A header page with all the relevant stuff on then three pages of contracts. The last few contracts in more detail, everything older that 6 years reduced to 1 liners.

[Jawz]

Same, 15 years, 2 pages. Trying to keep it that way but sometimes it's a call which company/companies to drop off. Not easy since almost all are well-known multi-nationals.

If the only important thing is simply being pulled out of the database then my CV would be just one page, as almost all the stuff they might index is covered right there.

The idea of the two page rule is not just for the agent who finds your CV from a DB search, and perhaps does a quick once-over, but the client who then gets yours along with 101 other CVs emailed/faxed to him.

You must be Helpdesk?

[Jawz]

Maybe its time for a rewrite, 8 pages covering 30 odd jobs. I just keep adding sections as I complete a contract. It has always worked well so I haven't tinkered with it. Some of the jobs from a decade ago are often relevant when looking for new work. My guess is most people just look at the recent work but the old stuff is there to either chuck or read at their leisure.

Yeah I agree. I've had around 35 contracts and to get that all into 3 pages along with personal details and a skills matrix is impossible. Also when you go for an interview with say Shell and they they see you worked for BP 8 years aho it helps. I've never had any complaints about it being too long..

[BrilloPad]

23 years, 20 jobs, 3 pages. summary of main experience/skills, the last 5 years of jobs in depth, 10 years of overview, then bullet points.

really no-one cares apart from education, last 5 years, main skills.

[rootsnall]

Maybe its time for a rewrite, 8 pages covering 30 odd jobs. I just keep adding sections as I complete a contract. It has always worked well so I haven't tinkered with it. Some of the jobs from a decade ago are often relevant when looking for new work. My guess is most people just look at the recent work but the old stuff is there to either chuck or read at their leisure.

[Rantor]

25 years experience. 4 pages.

19 yrs 4 pages but it is starting to get a bit cluttered. Do you have 4 pages of densely packed text or formatted into columns etc?

I thought about dropping education but I keep getting asked about it in euroland.

[Joe Black]

15 Years of IT condensed into 2 pages!

I have been tempted to go to a thrird page. Perhaps on the next rewrite....

Same, 15 years, 2 pages. Trying to keep it that way but sometimes it's a call which company/companies to drop off. Not easy since almost all are well-known multi-nationals.

I think the 2 page rule went out of the window with e-mail.

TO be fair how many agents do anything more than just word search your cv when it is in the "database" who knows.

Mine is 3 pages.

If the only important thing is simply being pulled out of the database then my CV would be just one page, as almost all the stuff they might index is covered right there.

The idea of the two page rule is not just for the agent who finds your CV from a DB search, and perhaps does a quick once-over, but the client who then gets yours along with 101 other CVs emailed/faxed to him.

[Euro-commuter]

It doesn't matter, agents won't read it anyway.

[Weltchy]

13 years exp. 3 pages, bordering on four.

Most of my early stuff is listed as one liners, showing company name, time frame and a role summary.

[Lockhouse]

25 years experience. 4 pages.