Thread: Need help updating my curricular vitae

Print it out on hot pink paper? That will draw attention to it.

Or write it down as a poem

CVs tend to look "boring", it's hard to make them stand out in a good way. I've written lots and lots of CV and applications, so I know how it goes.

Originally Posted by Line

Or write it down as a poem

Should he make it rhyme?

(Aren't you glad you asked for help, Adam? )

Originally Posted by Moonbeam

Should he make it rhyme?

(Aren't you glad you asked for help, Adam? )

Isn't that the point? Don't forget illustrations.

About me

I am not special.
I am not a beautiful or unique snowflake.
I am the same decaying organic matter as everything else.

Originally Posted by Line

Isn't that the point? Don't forget illustrations.

Should he draw them himself, or cut them out of magazines?

Ynot, while your poem is quite beautiful, you must have missed the part where he wants to stand out, not admit that he is just like everyone else.

Oh...I get it...reverse psychology! In that case, it's brilliant. Use it, Adam.

Originally Posted by Ynot

About me

I am not special.
I am not a beautiful or unique snowflake.
I am the same decaying organic matter as everything else.

Fight Club, right?

Originally Posted by Line

Fight Club, right?

I am Jack's affirmative head-nod

I'm fairly sure what emloyers look for in a potential employee is 1337 speak.

i c4n ha5 j0b plz?

Originally Posted by Siиdяed

I'm fairly sure what emloyers look for in a potential employee is 1337 speak.

i c4n ha5 j0b plz?

H4Xx0rz.

If we could actually see your CV that would be a help. Otherwise how can we tell what's wrong with it?

Oh and the book Fight Club is as good as the film, if not better. It's written by Chuck Palahniuk. Get it.

Originally Posted by Goldney

If we could actually see your CV that would be a help. Otherwise how can we tell what's wrong with it?

Yup, we really need to see it to be able to comment on it.

Some general rules (note that I come from the tech industry, so it might be different for others):

- DO NOT make it longer than 2 pages. 2 pages is the ABSOLUTE MAX you should ever make a resume (unless it's a formal CV as an academic, but that doesn't seem like what you're describing).
- Make it readable (like, NICE on the eyes). Don't try to squish everything in. It's more important for it to be nice on the eyes than for it to have everything you could ever possibly want to tell them (leave some for the interview, man).

(Let's take a quick break to point out that those two bullets are EXTREMELY important - when we go through a stack of hundreds of resumes for maybe 7-8 positions, we maybe take 8-13 seconds on average per resume, and believe me when I say that it doesn't matter how brilliant it is, if it's longer than 3 pages, we're kind of bitter when going through it to begin with, which will really lower your chances... and if it's not nicely laid out enough to make me WANT to read it, I'll merely skim it. Also, the first half of the first page is PRIME real-estate, and it determines whether I bother to go through the rest, so make it good, and don't waste a fifth of a page to put your name and address - use it to tempt me to read the rest. I even employ some sneaky techniques on mine, like "used <such and such> to work on a special project (see second page)" hehe tantalizing )

- Only put things you can stand behind and make look really good during an interview
- The ordering of the sections is a toss-up, but in general, everyone has a "skills" section (which tends to combine some soft skills and some relevant-to-job technical skills, whatever those may be), and I believe that should be the FIRST thing on there.
- Depending on where you're at, your education section should be shrinking (e.g. if you just graduated from university, nobody gives a rat's ass what high school you went to).

For cover letters:

- Make it shortish and sweet (like maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of the page, including paragraph breaks).
- As opposed to what lots of people will say, I think generic letters are okay (if they're well-written, and not generic-sounding), SO LONG as you include AN ENTIRE PARAGRAPH that is dedicated to what you will bring to this specific company. Like, identify what you think they need, and tell them how you will bring it.
- When writing one from scratch, use the same kind of wording for the letter as the company's attitude. If you're applying for a bank, write the way boring accountant-types would write. If applying for some off-the-wall company (like go-daddy.com haha), definitely put more personality and humour into the letter. One time, SUN Microsystems had a job posting to help with a research project that involves building the JVM into the kernel. I arrogantly wrote them a cover letter saying I couldn't stop laughing after reading that proposal, and that they'd need someone bold and slightly mad like myself to get the job done. I somehow worked the word "morbidly" in there too. Anyway, they LOVED it and it scored me an interview with them.

Beyond this kind of advice, seeing your current resume would be really useful.

Wow that's good stuff ^ his advice FTW!

Thanks for the earlier replies, you guys are teh bestest!

CV (although I have lost most of the formatting on here). The latest job is something I have just started, so a little weak in description.


Professional Profile

I am an enthusiastic and quick learning Business Analyst. I enjoy being part of a busy team but also able to work well on my own initiative. I am quick to grasp new ideas and concepts, and keen to develop my skills in order to reach my goals. I am very flexible and have dedicated a number of hours of my own personal time to the success of the projects I have been working on. Looking to continue to develop professionally as a Business Analyst. I am keen to develop my technical skills and achieve further professional qualifications.

Experience

November 2007 – present Legal & General, Kingswood, Surrey

Business Analyst, Protection Strategy and Development.

·Define, analyse, and document Business Requirements within a project and assist in gaining agreement to proceed from the appropriate Operational Managers, in accordance with an agreed Operational Strategy.
·Identify Business opportunities, and where appropriate, suggest changes to the Operational and Organisation Models.
·Contribute to the delivery of project work streams, identifying key risks and issues that will impact project deliverables, and escalate as appropriate.
·Assist in the implementation of deliverables, whilst identifying potential impacts and impediments to anticipated business benefits and their realisation.
·Assist in the design and re-engineering of business processes in alignment with the Protection Services agreed Operational and Organisation models.


January 2006 – October 2007 Legal & General, Kingswood, Surrey

Business Analyst, Technology Deployment, Housing.

·The sole Business Analyst in a team of Deployment managers under the Head of e-deployment.
·Responsibilities have included the gathering, elicitation, documenting and communicating of business requirements. I have also worked to progress these business requirements to implementable system requirements.
·Project based work, working through ideas and solutions and agreeing requirements to meet the needs of the customer.
·Communicating to all levels of management providing project updates
·All project work is run under the PRINCE2 framework to ensure a common platform for all projects is maintained. I am qualified at Practitioner level in PRINCE2
·Responsible for the deployment of protection e-services. Planning for deployments working closely with Senior Management, Project teams, Distribution and sales by producing and maintaining deployment plans for e-commerce technology releases.
·Produce marketing and communication materials to ensure smooth deployment of our services. Liaise with Marketing and agencies to produce core documents to enable us to communicate and train new systems to our customers, both internal and external.
·Production of MI for senior management using Business Objects and Oracle discoverer. Data extracted from our database using these software services and imported into Microsoft Access to query information to produce required reports. All reports presented in PowerPoint.
·Ensure a thorough understanding of all current financial services legislation, including training for Money Laundering, Customer Service and Data Protection including changes within the industry.


November 2004 – December 2005 Legal & General, Kingswood, Surrey

Senior Service Consultant, Protection Services,

·Gained Promotion to Senior Service Consultant.
·Provide support and training to Service Consultants within the team.
·The service desk was set up with the purpose to provide a dedicated service team for Financial Advisers dealing with life, pensions and investments.
·Account manage a number of large accounts to develop relationships and increase business volumes. I would handle complaints for the other Service Consultants and provide training when required.
·Acted as resourcer for the team. Ensuring we had adequate cover for the phones over busy periods of the day. I produced Management Information reporting on call statistics and monitoring trends.


March 2001– October 2004 Legal & General, Kingswood, Surrey

Senior Service Consultant, Protection Services,

·Working in a telephone environment, dealing with queries from Financial Advisers on a day-to-day basis.
·Taking ownership of problematic cases and case managing them until completed.
·Communication skills developed with constant liaison with other departments key to ensuring business completed efficiently


Skills and qualifications
·Financial Planning Certificate 1
·Financial Planning Certificate 2
·PRINCE2 Practitioner Level
·Business Objects
·Oracle Discoverer
·Adobe Captivate 2
·Macromedia Dream Weaver
·Macromedia Flash (basic)
·Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Visio



Education
College: Information Technology, Business Studies, Math & Spanish
School: Science, Math, English, Physical Education, Classics, Graphics, Art,

Looks pretty good in my opinion. However I am not the man to be asking wait for "Better" input

u no how 2 use microsoft word?!

Originally Posted by Adam

*edits large wall of text*

Heh... this was your 3000.

Ironically, this is my 666.

4 Adam.

Ok Adam, that's a really good start. All the pieces are there, and it's mostly a matter of massaging them into the right place. This might be an iterative process.

Some random observations (these are subjective, take whichever pieces of advice you think make most sense).

1) On the "Skills and Qualifications" section

- Like I said, I really like to see this section right at the start of the resume, especially if there are some very important pieces that are must-have requirements. It's definitely "top of first page" material.

- Try putting like things together onto one line (e.g. "Financial Planning Certificate 1 and 2" instead of two separate and redundant-looking entries).

- Some of the software entries could be combined as well (unless you're so good at them that you think it should be separate, but then you can add a little something to highlight your expertise). For instance, there's a huge difference between "someone who can use Excel" and "someone who really knows his way around excel macros and pivot tables and the likes".

- After combining some of it, you'll have room for some soft skills in there. Try not to make it too generic-sounding, like "goal-oriented team player" (which means dick-all to me). If it's unique but useful, it could go in there. If you're fluent in several languages, that's definitely something that should be in there.


2) "Professional Profile" section:

- This is great. Don't change a thing (unless it's to reword it in a more eloquent and compact fashion, but I think it's fine). I see so many people write big-ass paragraphs that basically boil down to "just graduated, got skills, need money". That's fine with me, just not when it's disguised poorly as something more. You basically showed that you have more specific career goals in some direction, which is a great culture fit piece. Kudos for this.


3) "Experience" section

- Like I said earlier, you've got all the right pieces, and it's mostly a matter of arranging them the right way, and I think this is where you will benefit most from that.

- I'm not aware of how many different kinds of standards there are, but I've been told by many a resume stylist to stick to the past tense in the bullets, and to never use periods (which is better style, and also forces you not to put more than one sentence into a bullet). This really has to do with the readability thing. A bulleted list, where each bullet is a mini-paragraph has the "wall of text" effect (like when you open some long-ass post and decide not to read it cause you don't really have the time, or like when you turn the page on a really good book, and feel that sense of despair at the lack of paragraphs, even if it's a great book).

Never mind the irony that I'm using paragraphs in the bullets in my own post here

But yeah, for example:

Production of MI for senior management using Business Objects and Oracle discoverer. Data extracted from our database using these software services and imported into Microsoft Access to query information to produce required reports. All reports presented in PowerPoint.

could become something like this:

- Produced MI for senior management using Business Objects and Oracle Discoverer
- Extracted data from our database and imported it into MS Access
- Presented reports using PowerPoint

Format this further, but you get the idea. Now, it's three stand-alone, bite-size bullets that are easier to digest. Also (totally random note), if you had to present this to senior management, and if you were good at it... DEFINITELY put your superior public speaking skills into your "skills" section!!! That's a BIG plus that not a lot of people can boast about.

- Also, you might want to put some more results (rather than just tasks) into your job description. If your way of doing things - your ideas - saved x hundred thousand dollars in a 2 year run, mention that. Quantify your results. Some people will go on and on about what tools they've used in their many jobs, and I have no sense of how good they were at any of their past jobs, so any accomplishments/achievements are important, and I definitely am on the lookout for that kind of stuff. Quantified time/Money saving == proof that you're not just another replaceable gear in the machine.


4) "Education" section

- I realize I said it should shrink as you go, but I think in your case, being more descriptive would be beneficial. On mine, I include the following:

-- Name of school (I went to one that's pretty well-recognized in the tech industry, but I think you should always say where you went)
-- When you went (like Fall 200x to Winter 200x or whatever, just to give an idea)
-- What degree you earned
-- Most relevant courses: Just a comma-separated list is fine. Mine takes up three lines on my resume (I use a large enough font that it doesn't look crowded).
-- Any other useful achievements (relevant contest awards? dean's list/honour roll type stuff? Maintained an average in the mid 90's?)

I'm not sure what to do for the "school" section. I think getting a high school diploma, and the courses you took in high school, are kind of a given. Then again, I went to a pre-university college (called Cegep, as that's how the Quebec system works), which I list after university, so I have two post-secondary entries and have never felt the need to consider how I would list my high school...

- You did the right thing by listing this section AFTER your experience. Lots of people reverse it, and while that's just another toss-up, if you have had three good jobs and have been working for several years, that's definitely more important, unless you're an academic.

- In your high school list, you have an unsightly trailing comma :p


5) Random stuff that you might consider adding, if there is space

There are two things I have on my resume that help set me apart:

- Other Projects: This is GREAT, depending on what you're doing. In the tech industry, people LOVE to see that you have your own geeky undertakings and that you're keeping up with technology. In the business analysis world, this could include your own business ventures, or maybe some consulting you've done on the side, or... I'm not really sure, to be honest, but I'm sure you can think of something.

- Extracurricular Activities: Two types of things go here: general stuff you do (what sports and activities you do, maybe some non-job-relevant things like first-aid certification, etc.) and some "quirky" stuff about yourself. I make sure I mention that I can solve any sized Rubik's cube (I HAVE been to an interview where the guy brought a cube and said "let's see you do it" hehe).

- The sports/hobbies stuff is really killer if you end up in an interview with someone who (say) loves hockey as much as you do. That kind of rapport-building will definitely help you blow the competition out of the water.

Hope this all helps. Feel free to post updates or whatever you want.

Thanks for all the advice!! I will certainly take a lot of this on board and make some changes. I just felt mine was too generic, and like you say, people might just skip over it as it sounds like the 'norm' for a CV in this field!!

Thanks