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Reply to: Ideal CV

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Previously on "Ideal CV"

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  • TheFaQQer
    replied
    Originally posted by chasingtheaurora View Post
    Or second line

    "...and convicted war criminal"
    Works for James T. Kirk

    Leave a comment:


  • monkeyBoy32
    replied
    I've generally had a decent response from my cv - recruiters/agencies have commented on how easy it was to read. I keep it to 2 - 3 pages (even with 7 - 8 years experience, it’s possible). But the main thing that helps me is- the first thing on my cv is a grid with my skills and then years experience in that skill.

    I have also been on the other end of the recruitment process and been responsible for hiring people.

    What used to annoy me was "Joe Bloggs - a hard working, motivated person with a desire to.. blah blah blah.... " I'm not bothered about that. It should be standard that you're hard working.. don’t bother putting it on your cv.

    Anyway - after my skills/years grid, I then go into details of my previous employment and explain where and how I've used the technologies I mentioned in the grid at the top. If you know what you're talking about, you can quite economical here and still get your point across.

    Basically, I was recruiting for an asp.net developer - if I didn't see "ASP.NET" in the first few lines of the CV, I didn't bother with it....

    Leave a comment:


  • poser
    replied
    ive heard people on this board go on about its not a cv its a business profile etc. fo someone with only a years contracting experience and a few years perm what is the best way to market myself, as an individual or a company?

    Leave a comment:


  • chasingtheaurora
    replied
    My CV is basically

    Company
    Dates
    Task / Role (similar to title in a permies CV)
    One sentence summary of task
    3 bullets of achievements in role (over and above "delivery on time")

    ... repeated all the way down

    Leave a comment:


  • chasingtheaurora
    replied
    Originally posted by DimPrawn View Post
    Ideal CV.

    One line.

    Ex Prime Minister of UK.

    Or second line

    "...and convicted war criminal"

    Leave a comment:


  • malvolio
    replied
    Originally posted by poser View Post
    how about bullet pointing everything?
    How about bullet pointing the bits relevant to the job in hand?

    Big difference between permie and contractor CVs - the former is all about how much you bring to the company long term, the latter is all about how much you know about the job to be done and everything else is of minor interest. That's why we customise them for each gig (or have a set of variants pre-prepared if you work in two or three broad areas). The hirer is only interested in getting one job done.

    The 3-month thing is nonsense as well. If I go in to fix a problem with a Service Desk process or define a strategy for a major hardware migration, I'd look pretty silly if I had to go back and do it again. OTOH if I were a coder working on agile reporting for trading floors (to take the other extreme!), continuing renewals would prove I knew my job.

    Leave a comment:


  • poser
    replied
    how about bullet pointing everything?

    Leave a comment:


  • Ashwin2007
    replied
    The length of the CV depends on the number of years experience you have.

    I feel for experience upto 5 years, one should try to fit in two pages.
    For those experienced more than 5 years, in any case, should fit into 3 pages, as the Agent will not be reading all these pages.

    In all cases, highlights of experience and skillset should be listed on the first page, in the first paragraph itself. This will get your CV shortlisted first before the Agent goes through the remaining pages of the resume.

    Leave a comment:


  • poser
    replied
    i said ideal CV not description of a tw*t!

    Leave a comment:


  • DimPrawn
    replied
    Ideal CV.

    One line.

    Ex Prime Minister of UK.

    Leave a comment:


  • thunderlizard
    replied
    Bad person

    Only from the point of view of somebody who knows they want you for 3 months but might want you for 12.

    Leave a comment:


  • Funkywood
    replied
    Originally posted by Zorba View Post
    Agreed - make sure CVs highlight relevant experience, and explain any gaps. I also like to see explanations for short (3 month, no extensions) contracts but that's just me - no doubt someone here will flame me for it, along the lines of 'true contractors only do 3 month gigs'. YMMV.
    What is your concern when you see short gigs? Is it cuz you think they're not good enough to get a renewal or does lack of loyalty matter?

    I've had a series of short gigs because I wanted the breadth of experience. I did good work and chose to not continue. Am I a bad person?

    Leave a comment:


  • DaveB
    replied
    Originally posted by Zorba View Post
    Agreed - make sure CVs highlight relevant experience, and explain any gaps. I also like to see explanations for short (3 month, no extensions) contracts but that's just me - no doubt someone here will flame me for it, along the lines of 'true contractors only do 3 month gigs'. YMMV.

    "Fixed price 3 month contract. Thats all the client wanted."

    Leave a comment:


  • Zorba
    replied
    Agreed - make sure CVs highlight relevant experience, and explain any gaps. I also like to see explanations for short (3 month, no extensions) contracts but that's just me - no doubt someone here will flame me for it, along the lines of 'true contractors only do 3 month gigs'. YMMV.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bluebird
    replied
    Originally posted by poser View Post
    Please dont shoot me down on this if this has been up here before, from what ive read ive still got a few questions.

    For those of you who employ other contractors etc, what should a contractors cv/ltd co. profile look like?
    i.e. ideal amount of pages,
    content - level of detail ,
    do you mention client names etc?

    Cheers in advance
    3 pages
    Detail any thing relevant to the position you're applying for
    Client Names - yes if it's worth it

    Leave a comment:

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