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READY MADE CVs THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii READY N O TI DI E MH ADE T 4 CVs Winning CVs for EVERY type of job LYNN WILLIAMS Template and sample CVs can be downloaded from the Kogan Page website. Please go to: www.koganpage.com/readymadecvs password: RMCV53237 Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author. First published in 1996 Second edition 2000 Third edition 2004 Reprinted 2005, 2006, 2007 Fourth edition 2009 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address: Kogan Page Limited 120 Pentonville Road London N1 9JN United Kingdom www.koganpage.com © Lynn Williams 1996, 2000, 2004, 2009 The right of Lynn Williams to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The views expressed in this book are those of the author, and are not necessarily the same as those of Times Newspapers Ltd. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978 0 7494 5323 7 Typeset by JS Typesetting Ltd, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd Contents How to use this book ix 1 The basic CV 1 The aim of a CV 1; Include 8; Leave out 8; Checklist 9; Finally 10; Any questions? 11; 2 CVs section by section 13 Section 1 – the career profile 13; Section 2 – key strengths 14; Section 3 – your key skills 14; Section 4 – your career history 17; Section 5 – your education and training 20; Section 6 – your personal details 24; Any questions? 28 3 The tailor-made CV 31 Read the job ad 32; Look for other information 34; Use the information to customise your CV 35; Any questions? 42 4 The computer-friendly CV 45 How things have changed 45; How the internet can help 46; Is your CV computer-friendly 47; The importance of keywords 49; The internet-friendly CV 51; Changing a CV – an example 55; Online vi Contents application forms 57; Protecting your privacy 58; General points 59; Any questions? 60 5 Problems, problems 61 Problem 1. ‘My CV would fill four pages, at least’ 61; Problem 2. ‘I’ve just left school/college/ university. What do I put in my CV?’ 63; Problem 3. ‘My work history isn’t straightforward’ 63; Problem 4. ‘I’m doing more than one job’ 64; Problem 5. ‘I’ve had a lot of jobs’ 66; Problem 6. ‘I’m changing careers’ 67; Problem 7. ‘My relevant experience is in voluntary/unpaid work’ 67; Problem 8. ‘I haven’t got much experience for the job I want to do’ 68; Problem 9. ‘Most of the jobs I’ve done have been very much the same’ 68; Problem 10. ‘I know I’m right for the job, but how can I get that across’ 69; Problem 11. ‘I’m over-qualified for the job I want’ 70; Problem 12. ‘I don’t have many qualifications’ 70; Problem 13. ‘I’m over 50’ 71; Problem 14. ‘I’m under 25’ 71; Problem 15. ‘I’m returning to work after bringing up children’ 71; Problem 16. ‘I’m applying for two different types of jobs’ 72; Problem 17. ‘I’ve been unemployed for over a year’ 75; Proble m 18. ‘I have two quite different areas of experience’ 76; Problem 19. ‘My last job was actually a bit of a step backwards (or sideways)’ 76; Problem 20. ‘I’ve only ever had one job’ 77 6 Starting out 79 Personal statement 79; Qualifications 79; Achievements 79; Work experience 80 7 Starting again 91 Career profile 91; Key skills 92; Career history 92 Contents vii 8 Keeping going 105 Career profile 105; Key experience 105; Achievements 106; Career history 106; Personal details 106 9 CVs for practical jobs 113 Career profile 114; Key skills 114; Career history 114 10 CVs for creative jobs 129 Career profile 130; Key experience 130; Career history 130 11 CVs for clerical and administrative jobs 145 Key skills 146; Key experience 146; Career history 146 12 CVs for sales and marketing jobs 161 Career profile 162; Key achievements 162; Career history 163 13 CVs for technical jobs 177 Career profile 178; Key qualifications 178; Key skills 178; Career history 178 14 CVs for management jobs 193 Career profile 194; Key achievements 194; Career history 194 15 Mistakes and makeovers 209 Common mistakes 209; The attention-getting CV 211; CV hints and tips 212; CV makeover 213 Appendix: words and phrases 221 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK viii How to use this book Even just a few years ago, unless you were either very ambitious or very unlucky you could expect to go to work in an organisa- tion straight from school or college and stay there, gradually moving up the promotion ladder until you retired. Today, career advancement is more uncertain. Most people will change jobs several times during their working lives; some will even change careers. Increasingly, a good CV is an essential tool in the survival kit of every employee. What is a good CV, though? The short answer is: one that gets you an interview for the job you want. Imagine you’re the employer for a moment. You have 150 CVs on your desk and from them you have to choose just a handful of applicants to interview. What are you looking for? How do you decide? My bet is that you would pick people who look as though they know how to do the job. People, that is, who: (cid:1) have the skills the job requires; (cid:1) have experience relevant to the job; (cid:1) have successfully handled similar challenges in the past. x How to use this book As an employer with 150 career histories to read, you would be grateful, too, to the people who made those facts easy to find on their CV. This book is about making those facts easy to find, and how to highlight them to your best advantage. The first four chapters look in detail at what is in a CV – how to select what goes in and what stays out, layout and presentation, and how to make a good first impression. Few people, however, have absolutely straightforward careers, and some CVs are trickier to write than others. So Chapters 5 to 8 look at some of the problems that people encounter, and how to handle them. They show how, by highlighting key parts of your CV, you can emphasise your strengths rather than stressing your weaknesses. They also look at CVs for specific ‘tricky’ situations – getting your first job, returning to work after a career break, continuing in work as a mature employee or after retirement. The remaining chapters give further examples of CVs. These are written especially for specific categories of jobs – creative positions, sales vacancies, managerial posts, and so on. Different types of job often emphasise different features when it comes to what makes a person right for that position. Some jobs rely heavily on personal qualities, some demand specific academic qualifications, while others require evidence of achieve- ment in that particu lar field. These chapters show how, by highlighting and strengthening the relevant parts of your CV, you can emphasise these key points and put them across to a prospect- ive employer effectively. This book also shows you how to use two special sections of your CV to tailor it specifically for each and every job you apply for so that your suitability for the position stands out so well that an employer would need a really good reason not to interview you. Most of the example CVs you will see here have been customised in this way. If you want to, you can follow the layout of the CV examples in this book to compile your own CV. Each, when typed or