Reply to: CV length

[daviejones]

More of a wrong word, or a word in the wrong context, than a spelling mistake, if you want to be pedantic, though....

Very good, you copied it out...wicked.

[DBA_bloke]

More of a wrong word or a word in the wrong context than a spelling mistake if you want to be pedantic though....

More of a wrong word, or a word in the wrong context, than a spelling mistake, if you want to be pedantic, though....

[daviejones]

past

More of a wrong word or a word in the wrong context than a spelling mistake if you want to be pedantic though....

[TheFaQQer]

Probably, I am a very lazy typist on here.....which one was it?

Yep. Very very few recruiters will ever get passed the first page...

past

[daviejones]

You missed your own mistake at the top of the page !

Probably, I am a very lazy typist on here.....which one was it?

[rootsnall]

arbitray (not one that involved spelling then?)

You missed your own mistake at the top of the page !

[daviejones]

I agree, like I say its laziness and the use of cut, paste and modify that has made it so long rather than my love of the english language.

I had a spell vetting CVs for a big Co and came up with a new arbitray method each day, preferably as unfair as possible.

arbitray (not one that involved spelling then?)

[rootsnall]

I have seen CVs discarded, owing to being too long. And 8 pages is well on the way to being a fecking novel.

I agree, like I say its laziness and the use of cut, paste and modify that has made it so long rather than my love of the english language.

I had a spell vetting CVs for a big Co and came up with a new arbitray method each day, preferably as unfair as possible.

[daviejones]

I have seen CVs discarded, owing to being too long. And 8 pages is well on the way to being a fecking novel.

Yep. Very very few recruiters will ever get passed the first page...

[DBA_bloke]

I have seen CVs discarded, owing to being too long. And 8 pages is well on the way to being a fecking novel.

[daviejones]

So you don't look at their experience !? Atleast they'll be good at spelling.

When you get a large number of CVs through, you have to have some criteria or you would be reading every CV and that can be very time consuming. You have to trust that a competent, adult IT professional will be able to spell and a CV that has poor spelling shows an interesting insight into a person.

[rootsnall]

When I am interviewing for a role there is usually a good response so I lay all of the CVs on the table in front of me and then identify the ones that just look badly formatted, too long, have pics on etc. They go in the bin. Then I skim over and look for spelling mistakes and bad grammar etc. They also go in the bin. This usually leaves me with about 4-5. These I then interview.

Not saying my approach is right, but it is a common approach.

So you don't look at their experience !? Atleast they'll be good at spelling.

[daviejones]

I'm in trouble its 8 pages ! I'm certainly not 'executive' and the 8 pager has a good hit rate. Its size may put some off but if you are a client looking for someone with a lot of techie experience then I doubt you'd bin a big CV that is easy to skim over. Its got a summary page and then contains 4 or 5 contracts per page with key skills and buzz words for each and then a few sentences of detail. The clients want to see big Co's and consultancies on your CV, the more the merrier I reckon. It'll get a revamp when I'm next struggling to find work.

When I am interviewing for a role there is usually a good response so I lay all of the CVs on the table in front of me and then identify the ones that just look badly formatted, too long, have pics on etc. They go in the bin. Then I skim over and look for spelling mistakes and bad grammar etc. They also go in the bin. This usually leaves me with about 4-5. These I then interview.

Not saying my approach is right, but it is a common approach.

[rootsnall]

I disagree with the max 2 pages. 2 pages is fine for some roles and would go to 3 for senior management roles. I believe 4 pages is accepted fror executive positions.

I'm in trouble its 8 pages ! I'm certainly not 'executive' and the 8 pager has a good hit rate. Its size may put some off but if you are a client looking for someone with a lot of techie experience then I doubt you'd bin a big CV that is easy to skim over. Its got a summary page and then contains 4 or 5 contracts per page with key skills and buzz words for each and then a few sentences of detail. The clients want to see big Co's and consultancies on your CV, the more the merrier I reckon. It'll get a revamp when I'm next struggling to find work.

[daviejones]

Fair enough. I'd expect a 4-page bod to be capable of transmuting lead into gold, though.

Wrong, he would be a director type, only just capable of walking upright!!!