As you may have heard I am going into consolation in May and will then have 90 days before I am made redundant.

I really need to update my CV as I have been with my current employer for 9 years and really have no idea where to start.

Wondered if anyone on here could help?
Point me in the right direction?

Ash

Bound to be loads of sites with examples on the web.

Last time I did it (7 or so years ago) the 'fashion' had changed to selling yourself on page 1 with your qualities and skills etc rather than the old style of doing it chronologically starting with your primary school etc and only getting to the latest relevant bits on page 2 when the reader had fallen asleep - which made sense.

Yeah, I've had loads of professional advice over the years on CV's. FWIW the rules I have always followed are:
- No more than 2 pages;
- Name, address, phone number, email at the top of first page;
- Then a summary paragraph of who you are and what you want in your next job;
- Then, in reverse chronological order (so most recent first)... Employer/dates to and from you worked there/job title/a few bullet points of the highlights of what you did, focusing on what you achieved;
- The most recent will have anything up to 8-9 bullet points, the later ones perhaps just 1-2;
- If like me you've had loads of jobs over the years, just summarise all the oldest together into one line that says "prior to this I worked at a variety of companies doing xxxx";
- Then, at the end, a small section of 3-4 lines on academic record, date of birth, marital status, hobbies & interests.

For technical people (which I'm not) they should also squeeze in a section at the end listing the technical skills they are proficient in.

HTH.

I don't see a lot of CV's these days (small specialist team and fairly small pool of people with the necessary skills so I don't have to sift through loads of applications when we do recruit), but when I used to recruit a lot of people the thing that really bugged me were CV's that were clearly written by a recruitment consultant. I've even seen some written in the third person (Andrew has a first class honours degree - well whoopy do - if Andrew's so smart how come he can't write his own fking CV )

I just want to know whether someone has the right skills and whether they are likely to fit into the team. The second part comes over in interview (although a brief bit about interests outside work in the CV is useful to bring this out at the interview stage - the key part being brief). The first part is the job of the CV, and will vary depending on the broad type of job you're going for.

And please, please check the spelling and grammar. It's vital to me, because the job involves a lot of report writing, but even if it's not core to the job it does at least show that you give a shyte, which lots of people seem not to (the ones who's CV's go straight in the 'no' pile). I find it amazing that so many supposedly intelligent graduates can't seem to write.

oh yes - put in anything that shows that you've displayed a bit of initiative in previous jobs or outside of work. Don't embellish it (well not too much anyway) but anything that's a bit different from 'I like playing football and reading' will at least make you come across a bit different. 'Social' activities are better than solo ones as well - if your only hobbies are playing solitaire and long walks in the park on your own then it's probably better just to not mention them at all. Don't try to be too off the wall though - some things are best kept to yourself.

Oh, and did I say keep it short.

ps - if you're being made redundant, but likely to be going for jobs in the same sector, try asking someone involved in recruitment at your current company (preferably someone operational, rather than one of the overheads) what they look for in a CV. You should hopefully get some support as part of the redundancy process, but depends where you work.

Try to tailor your CV to the particular job that you are applying for emphasising the skills that the job advert is looking for, rather than using exactly the same CV for every application.

+1

Have a number of different CV's with small twists on each to suit that specific role that you are going for.

Agree, I have lots of varients of my CV. I always save/photocopy past applications as well, just in case. It must be said though that just finding a suitable vacancy to apply for is an uphill struggle at the moment. But I suppose as long as the deficit is paid off by hook or crook that's fine...

Update,

I start my new job on Monday.

Have to say I am nervous after being with my last company for nine years.

Good luck mate, hope to be your position soon

I left my old company on the 6th October, so took around 4-8 weeks as I was looking in early September.

Have you applied for much?

Mmm, about 6 months on-off, more on lately though. Having a job gets in the way...

You want to PM pa102aw.

I think he knows all about CVs

You might wannna look on another CV thread - Richt sorted me out and mine is bitching now

Not need for anymore help with my CV. Previous company paid for CV advice and I have been offered an interview for every role I have applied for since.