Reply to: The length of a contractor's CV?

[SandyDown]

Mine is two pages, making sure that it includes a general description and list of skills at the top, with careful formatting and bullet points to highlight the "interesting" bit. If the CV grows too big to include everything in two pages, I would suggest to have an "appendix" with details of previous jobs/gigs, or even a note saying "more details available on request".

My loosely related question now is:

Do you mention the actual names of the places you have been working or do you just write something like "Global Telecommunication Company"?

I mention the name definitely, IMO it reassures the client that you have worked in a similar environment - you may even be selected on the basis of having worked somewhere. E.g.; my brother was selected for his role because 3 years ago he was working for a specific company within a specific department, it happened that the interviewer worked in that company few years ago, and he knew about that team, my brother thought he was sure that the interview was just formal as the interviewer already decided to gave him the job prior to starting.

Mind you I know some senior people who recruit, and if they know people in the company you mention in your CV they’d quite happily pick the phone up and enquire about you from their contact (without your permission) I saw this myself as one partner (within the big 4) was reviewing the CV, he noticed a name of a company that he had contact in so he just picked the phone and asked him, have you worked with so and so?? What was he like??
So mentioning the names can be good or bad, depending on the person they contact.

[Ben_Butterfield]

I have seen CVs up to 20 odd pages long, which aren't much use IMO. I would say anywhere between 2 and 4 pages is fine. Quite a few of the more experienced contractors I know have a few variations of their CV, which often saves messing around with a CV to put the best foot forward with a tricky / picky client.

[Paddy]

My CV is interactive, it requires the lasted Flash plug-in to be downloaded. The downside is that the CV is two gigabytes. I only get contracts where the customers have good bandwidth.

[DS23]

i name and shame and also provide details as to client and end client as necessary. goddam dutch tax office used my cv (given to them by agent) as a bible for determining my employment status. grrr. so i changed the details to make it clear that i was not working for the client but at the client.

[To BI or not to BI?]

Mine is two pages, making sure that it includes a general description and list of skills at the top, with careful formatting and bullet points to highlight the "interesting" bit. If the CV grows too big to include everything in two pages, I would suggest to have an "appendix" with details of previous jobs/gigs, or even a note saying "more details available on request".

My loosely related question now is:

Do you mention the actual names of the places you have been working or do you just write something like "Global Telecommunication Company"?

[SandyDown]

They sometimes do sh1te CVs. How do you know which you've got?

Cuz God gave me jsut a few brain cells that I can actually tell if the agency have written a good CV when they send it to review, you can always ask and insist that they show you the copy of the CV they are sending to the client - do it nicely and most would agree. And as RebecaLoo advised a long time ago if you go to an interview ask the client to see the copy of the CV the agent has sent you (again do that nicely) and you'll know if its sh1te or not

[wendigo100]

btw: a good trick to having a good CV done is to register with a high class agency (hahaha) and usually they ask you to look at it and approve it before they send it anywhere .. so you can re use this professionally done CV (I know it sounds hysterical but it can happen) for other applications

They sometimes do sh1te CVs. How do you know which you've got?

[DS23]

a high class agency? isn't that an oxymoron?

[SandyDown]

btw: a good trick to having a good CV done is to register with a high class agency (hahaha) and usually they ask you to look at it and approve it before they send it anywhere .. so you can re use this professionally done CV (I know it sounds hysterical but it can happen) for other applications

[DS23]

3 pages exactly.

i hate deleting the older stuff - they are like my children... sob.

[SandyDown]

I do that too. When I turn up at interview they are expecting someone in their 30s.

heh - I can only imagine MF's CV, soooo many contracts they'd expect someone in his 60's

[bobhope]

2 pages max. When / if you've been on the other side of the recruitment process and receive a hundred CVs, you want to quickly filter them and anything longer than 2 pages doesn't get looked at.

I've been on the receiving end of a couple of War & Peace CVs - dozens of pages long with certificates, testaments, etc.

Good for a quick laugh, before dropping in the bin.

[wendigo100]

What do the established contractors here do? Any advice welcome!

Four pages. Front summary page, and I've got a lot of different contracts to list and keywords to include in the rest. Took me years to end up with the current format, but agents like it.

I don't do a one-or-two page summary CV, or recent CV, because I have usually spoken to the agent already and given him that level of information, and I put a few one liners relevant to the job in the covering email. Also, the agent will pass the CV on to a client, who usually like to know a bit more. I've been surprised by clients who like me partly because of something I did twelve years ago!

I don't drop contracts off the end, I just remove more and more detail from the earlier ones until they become just one-liners.

[xoggoth]

I do that too. When I turn up at interview they are expecting someone in their 30s.

[Cowboy Bob]

Mine is 2 pages. As with OrangeHopper I just drop older contracts off the bottom when necessary. I would give a fuller history if asked, but I never have been.