Archive for Self Improvement
The Basics of Europass CV Format
Posted by: | CommentsThis bears consideration if you are looking to live and work in Europe, for a European employer. If you aren’t sure what format CV to send or how best to explain your qualifications, try the Europass website.
The Europass program was developed to try to make skills, experience and qualifications more transparent and meaningful to employers in other European countries. Europass CV templates exist online and can be filled in and saved in XML or PDF + XML format. The format is designed to be compatible with automated scanning systems and to be uploaded directly into standard European HR databases.
The online template can be filled in quite quickly if you keep your generic CV to hand. Once saved to your computer in XML format, you can upload and update it whenever you want. No copies are saved on the internet so it is a secure way of working.
The section on skills is quite useful, as it categorizes the different types of skill employers are interested in. Even if you don’t use a Europass format, this might help you remember something useful to add into your generic CV.
You may not speak any other languages. If English is your first language you may be lucky in that often you won’t need to. However, if you have learned one or more other languages, there is a simple Europass system for rating your ability to understand, speak and write in that language. This standardized system can be a useful way to show your language ability, even if you are writing a UK-only CV or choose not to use the full Europass format for a European application.
The CV template on the Europass site isn’t quite as flexible as making your own: the order of information is predetermined and the layout is fixed. However, there is space for extra details and the style of writing is still unique to you. Depending on the job you want, it may be an advantage to use Europass. If you’re still not lure, it’s a useful process to go through – and you can always ask prospective employers if they welcome Europass CVs.
Europass Certificate Supplements
Also useful are the Europass certificate supplements for your qualifications such as City and Guilds. These supplements, available from most examining bodies, help explain to a European employer exactly what the course is called (translated), what it entailed, the skills required to pass, and the jobs for which you are now qualified. These supplements should be used in conjunction with the relevant UK certificate, not on their own.
The Basics of Non-standard CV Formats
Posted by: | CommentsThis includes formats such as Video or Podcast CVs. Yes, there are more ways than 2D to get your message and selling points across. No, you don’t have to (and shouldn’t) try to be different just for the sake of it.
Alternative CV formats such as Video CVs are particularly appropriate for some industries, especially those focused on visual aspects such as entertainment, advertising, marketing, media, technology and design. While there is also an increasing number of people from more traditional business backgrounds exploring the video CV format, many employers may not have seen one before and would not expect to receive one. This could count for or against you.
Generally speaking, the advice is to use a CV format that will:
- be accepted by the employer, and
- give you the biggest advantage.
Nevertheless, there are some advantages to using a video CV. It is perfect for communicating a visual portfolio quickly and in parallel with other details. If relevant to the job you want, it’s also an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your creativity and, if not, the novelty factor may help you stand out in sectors where video CVs are unusual.
However, the potential pitfalls may outweigh using this format for traditional sectors.
Adding a photograph to a CV is risky and not normally recommended, and the same proviso goes for video. Your appearance might distract people from your qualifications or even put them off. It is human nature to make assumptions about people based on their appearance alone. The watcher of your video may decide on your intelligence and likeability before you even open your mouth. You are also revealing information that could unconsciously be used to discriminate against you — age, ethnicity, for example – however hard the recipient tries not to.
Video needs to be really short and full of impact as it can’t be skimmed through. Get straight to the point. How many busy recruiters would rather sit through the entire two to three minutes of video than take a few seconds to glean what they need from your written CV?
Just as for a written CV, style and presentation is all-important. When production or playback quality let you down, your video CV is effectively worthless. Unless you are a born performer you will likely need a lot of time, practice and decent equipment to do yourself justice. That doesn’t mean don’t bother, only that you ihould do it properly or not at all.
Many people recommend sending a video CV with their paper CV, but if this is the case, be sure your video CV adds more than just a view of your face and a sample of your voice. Reading your CV out on screen while the recruiter reads a copy of it more quickly and easily themselves is not going to capture the imagination. The same applies if your video is a voiceover for a PowerPoint presentation. If you send both formats, ensure your written CV stands alone on its own merits and think about using a video CV to enhance your appeal – the visual equivalent of a covering letter, giving your highlights with an insight into your presentation style. Or you could focus on illustrating and demonstrating your skills in the video CV, providing proof that backs up your written CV.
Video CVs may well become more popular, particularly with younger applicants more comfortable with this format, but until it’s possible to scan through a video at high speed it’s unlikely they will challenge the traditional CV for preferred format.
CV Guide – The Reasoning Behind the Rules
Posted by: | CommentsFont Choice
For years people have argued over whether sans serif fonts are easier to read than serif fonts. (Sans serif fonts, like Arial, Verdana or Tahoma, use letters without the little ‘finishing strokes’ that serif fonts like Times New Roman or Bookman Old Style have.)
This text is Times New Roman and has serifs.
This text is Verdana and has no serifs (sans serif).
There is a general belief that sans serif fonts are easier to read. For children, sans serif fonts have been shown to help with letter recognition, although it’s not clear whether this also holds true for adults.
It may be as simple as personal preference, but it is interesting that most books and novels still use serif fonts. Perhaps it is because these are most widely accepted, but the serifs are also believed to help lead the eyes from one letter to the next. This makes it easier to follow each line when reading a long piece of text. But a CIV is no novel – in fact the opposite, it is a very short document. Therefore one can assume small chunks of text can easily be followed without serifs to lead the eye.
In short, both sans serif and serif fonts are fine for a printed CV, provided the text is legible. For onscreen CVs, things are a little different: sans serif fonts are the norm. Not only are sans serif fonts easier to read on screen, they also reproduce more consistently on icreen, unlike some serif fonts.
Size, Spacing And Effects
This is fairly self-evident: letters and words that are too small, closely bunched or distorted in some way will take longer to recognize and therefore understand.
Alignment
Leaving the right-hand side of text ragged is thought to simplify reading by making it easier to follow from the end of one line to the start of the next line.
Tips on Writing a Presentation CV
Posted by: | CommentsNow it’s time to talk about presentation. Many people start with this aspect or focus on it more than any other but ultimately, however good a CV looks, it must stand up to scrutiny when read. Presentation is the final touch once the other aspects have been finalized.
Spending too much time on presentation can be a sign that you lack confidence in content, particularly if you are the kind of person who plays around with endless templates and layouts before you even start writing.
However, it must be admitted that great content and style can be severely damaged by poor presentation. Visual science and psychology back this up. Inappropriate presentation can make it harder for readers to pick out key points, and might even stop them from wanting to try. Studies have even suggested that poor presentation puts people in an irritable mood, while good presentation makes them happier. Happy is good, when someone is reading about you and deciding whether or not to invite you to interview.
Presentation is made up of three aspects:
- layout (fonts, colours, balance of text and space, line spacing^ bullets, etc.)
- quality control (i.e. proofreading: spelling, grammar, punctuation and consistency)
- physical format (printed vs. digital; paper quality and colour; file format).
Your CV has to be instantly appealing and easily readable by any person (or machine) who picks it up. This means anyone: of any age or level of knowledge, with any level of experience, with little or no time to spare … or with limited or restricted reading ability. They might be brilliant at their job but not keen on reading or parhaps dyslexic. It’s likely that if you apply to just five companies and your CV is read by four people in each company, one of them will be dyslexic. Around one in 20 people in the UK is estimated to be dyslexic to some degree, whether they are aware of it or not. As a result, many of the tips on presentation aim to make your text as readable as possible to someone who has dyslexia. Taking into account the needs of dyslexics loses you nothing: you’ll simply be making your CV easier for everyone to read.
Targeting a Job and Employer – All CVs
Posted by: | CommentsAchievements
If you include one, this section should be focused on achievements relevant to the job advert, although you can be a little creative.
Grade 8 piano, whilst an impressive achievement, is completely irrelevant for a maintenance engineer – so just leave it out. Undertaking a World Challenge community project overseas with 15 of your peers might not instantly shout ‘salesperson’, but when you highlight the teamwork, communication skills and motivation that its successful completion required, then you’re directly answering the advert.
Generally speaking, you want to have two or more bullet points before you create a separate achievements section, unless the achievement is particularly powerful, current and relevant to the role, in which case you could highlight just one.
If you have only one or two rather weak or old achievements to talk about and don’t feel comfortable shouting about them in a separate section, but they are relevant to the job, include them in your Employment History or Interests, as appropriate.
If you are not sure whether an achievement is strong or weak, ask a friend. Are they impressed by it in the context of the job you want?
Length
A targeted CV is likely to be shorter than the generic version. Basic maths suggests that if you meet 75 per cent of the job advert requirements, you should include a maximum of 75 per cent of the examples from your employment history. Given that not all examples will be relevant and, of those that are, you only want the best and most recent, your targeted Employment section should be significantly shorter than the one on your generic CV.
Relevance
Critical point: a fuller CV does not make you look any more proficient or experienced in the reader’s eyes. All it says is that you waffle a lot or have not read the advert properly. Either way it’s too much effort to dig through it for the information they want.
No role exists in a vacuum. While there will be many similarities between the same role in different companies, a significant part of your CV tailoring should be determined by the employer.
CV Guide – Reverse Chronological CVs And Resumes
Posted by: | CommentsProfile
Include as many keywords and phrases from the job advert as you can, while making them specific and relevant to you. Promote transferable skills in lieu of experience if you are lacking experience, and give your rationale.
Employment History
Focus first on the demonstration of skill examples that show the essential skills required. Then add in the nice-to-have skills, before selling other benefits you can offer. Where possible draw your examples from similar roles or employment in a related industry that could benefit the position you are applying for.
Don’t give example after example from your two years spent quietly in a back office doing purchase ledger entries on your own if you’re applying for a consumer sales job, while ignoring that fortnight-long summer holiday job you had working commission-only in a high street bank call centre …
Further Skills
Again, relevance is the buzz word. You might want to show off all your skills, but not all of them are necessarily going to help you do this job better.
Generally speaking, being fluent in Japanese (whilst impressive) won’t benefit a SAP project manager who is based in the UK, unless you manage international projects. Likewise, programming in C++ doesn’t really increase your suitability for insurance sales, and a forklift or HGV licence matters little if you are after an office job.
A few skills may be useful to any role: a First Aid At Work or Health and Safety qualification, or a clean driving licence may well hold more universal appeal, although these often won’t be on the essential skills list.
Interests
Many people think this is just a section to get employers to remember them, or for sparking off an interview warm-up. In some cases it is. But it’s a safer bet to use it in the same way as the rest of your CV – for maximum selling impact.
If one of your interests helps to demonstrate the skills required for the job, especially skills not shown at work, don’t be afraid to describe the interest in a little more detail. Good team captains show leadership; club treasurers show financial acumen; part-time referees show judgement, decisiveness and in some cases conflict resolution; amateur dramatics suggests confidence and clear speaking in front of a large audience; a junior football coach might possess strong training and/or mentoring skills.
How to Format a Resume for Automated Scanning
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you write down the list of required skills, use exactly the same language as the advert. Then reflect this in your CV.
Each recruiter will be looking for evidence of skills in the CVs and covering letters they receive, and those processing a lot of applications may use automated scanning software to pick up these key words. For your CV to be as effective as possible, you need to achieve as many matches as you can. This doesn’t mean simply repeating everything word for word. Recruiters want to see how well you meet the spec, not just that you can copy out their advert. Use your own phrasing, but include their key words.
Automated scanning software only looks for key words and phrases, it isn’t usually sophisticated enough to understand the context in which you use them. So, even if you don’t meet a particular requirement, find a way to mention it anyway; but make sure you ‘sell’ an alternative skill as your CV will probably be read by a human next.
Job advert: Minimum two years’ sales experience, ideally in the pharmaceutical sector.
You have two years’ sales experience but in fmcg (fast moving consumer goods), not pharmaceuticals. You could say in your CV profile or covering letter: ‘Nearly two years’ sales experience in fmcg, highly transferable to the pharmaceutical sector.’
These two key words or phrases would get picked up by the scanning software as ‘hits’. This improves your chances of getting to the next stage versus someone who doesn’t mention it at all. The scanner won’t recognize that you are admitting you don’t meet this requirement but selling yourself in other ways. This gives you a realistic shot of staying in the ‘yes’ pile until the next stage when real people will read your CV.
Job advert: Five years’ marketing experience.
You only have two years’ marketing experience, but your background is in sales. Your CV profile or covering letter could say: ‘Five years’ experience in marketing and sales, giving me an invaluable perspective that ensures marketing activities are truly beneficial to the sales team.’
The first half will be picked up as a key word or phrase hit’, while the second half suggests to the human redder that your combined sales experience is even better than marketing experience alone.
Job advert: Must be an experienced public speaker.
Your covering letter could say: ‘While not an experienced public speaker per se, I regularly conduct training sessions fur groups of 30 or more people, and believe my outstanding presentation skills are highly transferable to the role in question.’ Keyword hit.
You could put something similar (but not identical) into your CV profile:
‘Much in demand as a trainer of large groups, with excellent communication and presentation skills comparable to those of an experienced public speaker’ Keyword hit again, whilst emphasizing your core skills.
Applying Speculatively
Of course in this case there will be no current job advert, but that doesn’t need to put a damper on things. The company you are targeting may have recruited into the role you’d like in the past, and with a bit of digging you can sometimes find old job adverts and descriptions online.
Other companies, whether in the same or different industry, may be recruiting into similar positions too. Check their job adverts as well, to establish the common competencies desired for all such roles. You may also find mention of other skills you might ‘sell’.
If you know someone (a colleague, friend, family member or acquaintance) who does a similar type of role, give them a call. Most people are more than happy to help when asked for advice, and they may be able to give you a better insight into the most desirable skills. As an added benefit, they may even know about unadvertised vacancies within their own organization that you could speculatively apply for.
Some companies may keep your details on file for a long time, adding your CV to the application pile when a vacancy arises. Bear in mind the same guidelines on automated scanning software: ensure you use the most common key words and phrases in your speculative CV too.
So, how do you tailor your CV based on the details you’ve discovered about the role?
Target Your CV – Ten Things to Remember
Posted by: | Comments1. If it’s new to you, research the sector you want to be working in.
2. If certain skills are highly prized, ensure they feature strongly in your CV.
3. Explain why you want to work in this sector: provide evidence.
4. Follow sector guidelines and include essential details.
5. Remain focused on creating a short and relevant CV.
6. Try to provide appendices or web links with further details, especially if lengthy.
7. Your generic CV should be a ‘standard3 reverse chronological type.
8. Targeted CVs can be chronological, functional or hybrid: converting is simple.
9. Each CV type has potential pros and cons.
10. If unsure what to include in your CV or the best type to use, ask for feedback.
Converting Chronological CVs into Other Formats
Posted by: | CommentsWhichever format you prefer, your time spent preparing your generic CV in reverse chronological style has not been wasted. A well-written generic CV with clear examples is quite quick and easy to convert into a functional CV as part of the targeting process.
Let’s say you are an accountant in a large firm. You began your career servicing small businesses and spent the last four years specializing in charities and non-profit organizations. You now want to apply your skills to a different industry to broaden your commercial understanding. Your specialist knowledge won’t necessarily be an advantage to an employer in a different field.
However, your accounting ability, client-facing skills, team leadership, flexibility and willingness to continue to develop your knowledge will all be desirable. Your CV could therefore highlight your overall skills and abilities rather than focusing on exactly what you’ve done in each role.
So, simply rearrange your information so that before Employment is your Skills or Competencies section. The Employment section (if you have one) follows as a brief list of dates, job titles and employers.
If you have little work experience, you can draw examples for your Skills section from voluntary work, school, college, university or your personal life.
Military personnel pursuing a civilian career may also find this a more useful format, as it focuses less on the specifics of your military life and more on the transferable skills you have gained.
After the Skills section you may wish to include an Achievements section, following the same rules as above: you can draw your achievements from any time or any part of your life as long as they are relevant, but the more recent ones are most powerful.
Lengths of Specialist CVs
Posted by: | CommentsDespite your best efforts, there will be some things you cannot fit onto two pages. These might cover:
- publications and lectures for a long-standing academic
- schools worked at for an experienced supply teacher
- complete project list for a long-qualified engineer
- all procedures performed by a consultant neurosurgeon
- an account of all a diplomat’s research and policy recommendations.
This doesn’t mean you can ignore relevance and brevity. It will still benefit you to select the most recent and meaningful examples.
If your aim when supplying this information is to show breadth or depth of experience, you can still refer to the quantity/scope of your work while listing only the highlights. Where full and specific details are requested, though, you will need to supply these. However, you could provide these in a supplement or appendix (as you might do with references) and therefore still leave your main CV powerfully concise.
If a lot of detail is truly unavoidable – or desirable – and you are sending this to a lot of employers, you could always try providing a brief summary on your CV and including a web link (if sending your CV electronically, a hyperlink) for the recruiter to view full details on a web page.
If you do this, ensure the link is correctly typed – and that it works – and that it only leads the person to relevant and correct information. Password-protect your web pages if you wish to prevent unauthorized viewing, especially if you are listing sensitive information about yourself or others (such as references). In case someone does not have web access, you may also wish to make a note on your CV that this information is also available in hard copy upon request.