CVs and Interviews

CV Tips – Help the recruiter find what they need!!

You will find mixed views about CV layout/format. Most CV “professionals” will tell you the exact information information to put in your CV and in what order. I find much of this information is dated. A CV is a marketing document and is fluid rather that tied to strict format or layout.  You should think of a newspaper when you consider a CV. With a newspaper the most important information makes headlines on the front page. This should be the same with your CV. I have created a CV with the References on the first page and another CV with the Hobbies & Interests section on the first page. Why did I do this? It was relevant information for the recruiter. You should never leave it to chance that the reader will review the second page of your CV. It is likely that they will only take the time to review the first page before making a decision to call you to interview.

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CV Tips – If it looks good chances are it will get read!!

The visual appearance of your CV is important and the impact of your CV will improve if it is easy on the reader’s eye. The visual appearance of a CV would not rank as my top priority but it certainly cannot be ignored. Think about it – visual appearance initially attracts us to most things – clothes, food and the opposite sex. Equally a sharp document will draw the reader to examine your CV. I do not mean “Bells & Whistles” like fancy paper, coloured paper or fancy designs. I am a fan of the “Clean & Simple” CV. I strongly believe that you can produce a professional document without extravagance. There does not have to be anything too fancy just effective us of white space, clear headings, bullet points, uniformity of font type and size.

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CV Writing Tips – Bring your CV to life!!

Never has a CV required more attention than the current job market in Ireland. The landscape has changed dramatically over the last 12-18 months. Redundancy has replaced new job creation BUT judging from there 1st two weeks of the year there are still many individuals moving on in their careers. If you are out of work, facing redundancy or just moving on in your career your will need a strong CV. Below I have outlined a few key points to consider. Get this right and you will improve performance in the job market.

• CV should be changed and tailored to the specific needs of different jobs.
• It is likely that the recruiter/hiring manager will only take 20-30 seconds to find what they need – help them find this information through effective positioning.
• On solution is to start your CV with a series of relevant key achievements. Don’t use sweeping statements but instead focus on fact and results.
• You CV should show how you increased sales, reduced costs, improved team performance, implemented new technology. How you will add value!!
• Throughout the CV use every opportunity to bring life to the CV through effective use of language but also effective use of results, achievements and deliverables. This will help your CV stand out.
• Power verbs work and help add impact to your CV. Basically any word ending in “ed” is useful to begin descriptions of your duties and responsibilities.
• Good CV’s talk the talk but great CV’s walk the walk. Show the evidence with every statement – including hard skills and soft skills.

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Just a quick note to wish all our readers a Happy 2008. Here is to landing that new job. We hope that the CV & Interview tips help. You will find more posts added shortly.

CV Writing Tips & Help

Quite often employers sift CV’s by focusing on negative points or weaknesses helping them to reduce potential candidate shortlists. This means that they are looking for reasons not to call you for interview. The unfortunate thing is that a weakness for one employer can be potential strengths for another. Weakness will be determined by the job description but some include:

• Lack of managerial experience or skills
• Inadequate or absent skills, knowledge or experience
• Very patchy work history
• Gaps in employment
• Too many jobs
• Only one previous employer

The best way to hide weakness is through effective CV design, layout and content. For example if you lack qualifications drop this section to the end of your CV giving the employer the chance to read your relevant work history. Alternatively if you are new to a position the opposite is true. Perhaps put emphasis on your relevant qualifications and training. Ensure that you make the experience you have look visually bigger. You can also highlight interests or additional information to support your case.

CVSANDINTERVIEWS offering excellent CV, Interview and Career advice to jobseekers in Ireland – Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Cork, Clare, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Westmeath, Longford, Mayo, Meath, Louth Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, Antrim, Down, Dublin

For other jobhunting tips and advice — CV writing tips — Cover Letter Tips — CV Templates — CV Examples Samples — Interview Skills Tips — Competency Based Interviews — Interview Questions & Answers — Career Guidance Advice

Choosing a professional CV writer in Ireland
I have noticed a surge in companies and individuals offering CV writing services over the last number of months. This increase in choice for jobseekers can cause confusion BUT it in my mind dilutes the level of service in the market and feedback from jobseekers supports this. There are some individuals offering CV services who have no more right than the man on the moon. There are also many individuals offering CV services that many have the ability but lack the interest as this move to CV writing is out of necessity and not desire. To help jobseekers I have outlined a couple of criteria to help you choose a CV writer.

Let me start by making a few assumptions about you and your business:

- You are either about to begin your job search or you are in the middle of it with poor results.
- You’re not trying to get a professional CV on the cheap.
- You’re looking for an experienced professional and your friend or neighbour won’t do.
- You care enough about your career that you are willing to invest money to get the job done right.

Below are some CV tips and information to consider when choosing a CV writer

Cost – I will put this top of the list BUT believe me if you focus here you may end up with a poor standard document. Perhaps a generic computer generated one. Yes cost should be a consideration BUT remember the cheapest isn’t always the worst and the dearest isn’t always the best. Certainly ask for a price to do the work and build it into you final decision making process. By the way the cost of CV writing in Ireland has a wide range – EUR90.00 – EUR395.00. The EUR90.00 would probably be a Graduate CV and the EUR395.00 for an Executive CV.

Geography – This should not be a consideration as CV’s can be written via the phone and email. This means that you can even get a CV designed in the US although I wouldn’t advice it as CV’s vary slightly in different regions. Do you need to meet the CV writer – NO!
What qualifies the writer? – This makes me laugh. Everyone you meet would claim to be an expert including family and friends. Unfortunately reality would disagree with this. I know of skilled professionals writing CV’s who have come from bizarre backgrounds but generally speaking Recruitment/HR backgrounds are quite common. The other important fact is that your writer MUST have extensive experience in cold face of business sifting and selecting CV’s.

Reputation – The first thing I do if I am seeking a service in Google the web. Well why not go further and Google your CV writer. Quite often serious CV writers will comment on other sites, write posts for other sites and comment in national media. This indicates that someone is confident about what they do BUT also interested in what they do. This would be my No.1 criteria. Quite often reputation comes with a price but you may be surprised.

What others say – Take references on websites with a pinch of salt (although all the references on my site are legitimate). The other way is to get a CV writer referral from your own network. Again beware as CV’s that worked over the last decade would not necessarily work in today’s tough market.

A professional CV Writing Service supporting jobseekers across Ireland Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Cork,Clare, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Westmeath, Longford, Mayo, Meath, Louth Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, Antrim, Down, Dublin. If you just want some CV Writing Tips & Help.

CV Examples Ireland

Many jobseekers visit onlines sites to support their efforts to produce a CV for job hunting. The question often remains – Are these free CV examples worthwhile?

If you Google the tem “CV Examples” you will find unlimited pages. CV Examples & CV Templates gives a view. Potentially biased but a view all the same.

CV Writing – CV Preparation & Advice

There are many reasons why jobseekers fail when searching for a new job and quite often it is because their CV is not working. The CV is an important tool for job hunting and if you get this wrong you will miss out on interviews and fail to land that dream job. It is surprising how little time and energy jobseekers invest in creating their CV. This article will explore why most CV’s fail and how you can change your CV to make a bigger impact with employers.

CV content for success

It is estimated that 90% of CV’s fail because they have a lack of focus. A CV is all about the reader and not you. A CV is a marketing document which should focus on the employer. It will contain information about your skills, experience, education BUT the relevance of this information and where it will be located on the CV can change. Identify the employer needs and then tailor your marketing document (CV) to meet those needs. Concentrate on relevant education, training and work duties and responsibilities.

CV’s – Format & Layout

I believe that CV’s are like newspapers. The front page sells the paper and the first page of a CV sells the jobseeker. If information does not make the front page then it is not important to that reader. Some employers do not take the time to read beyond the first page. Like a paper your CV has about 20 seconds to make an impact. I have written one CV with Hobbies & Interests near the top of the first page. Traditional CV writers would frown at this but my argument was that this was very relevant information for that particular application. A CV is a fluid document. You should stay clear of rigid advice about how to structure your CV. I often read that Education should be at the top of the first page of a CV. What if you do not have the exact qualifications BUT very relevant experience? Follow that advice and you can kiss an interview goodbye.

Personally I do not like CV’s that try to use gimmicks or fancy paper to stand out. This is a tactic many jobseekers try but fail with. You need to remember the rule in property – magnolia sells houses. Jobseekers can create and excellent CV that makes impact without being flash. Flash can turn off potential employers. Keep it simple and consider some of these key points; ensure that you have enough white space on your CV, ensure that you use bullet points and ensure uniformity of font size.

Conclusion

A great CV will get you over the first hurdle of the recruitment process and enable you the opportunity to sell yourself at interview. It will also do much more that that. Great CV’s wet the appetite of employers. They create a positive impression and expectation which can give an edge even before you have met the employer. Little things like this are often the difference between success and failure.

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Lets just say you get caught sleeping on the job. Normally this means that you have to get your CV and Interview skills sorted as you are for the highway. Maybe not!! Below are some creative responses to that situation. Try one of these excuses if you get caught sleeping at work BEFORE you come back to our site for excellent CV & Interview advice to help you find that new job……..

“The blood bank told me this might happen.”

“This is a 10-minute power nap just like they raved about on the time-management course I attended.”

“As you can see I was working smarter and not harder.”

“Thank God! I must have left the lid off the glue.”

“Just pacing myself for the work all-nighter tonight!”

“That flu medicine I am taking just won’t wear off!”

“Sorry boss but I thought you were gone for the day.”

“Damn! Get to work at 6am and look what happens!”

“Research has indicated that this is one of the 7 habits of highly effective people.”

“This is to make up for the 7 hours I dreamed about work last night!”

“Why did you interrupt me? I had nearly solved our biggest problem!”

“Somebody must have put decaf in the wrong mug.”

“…and lastly I thank you for my wonderful boss, Amen!”

“Is a CV that important when job hunting in the current job market in Ireland?”

Unemployment has reached new heights with the biggest rises in unemployment since records began.  There has been a 42% increase in people claiming dole in the last year bring the new total of unemployed to 247,384 or 6.1%. Alarmingly unemployment has been increasing at 10,000 per month which looks set to continue as FAS predicted that unemployment could pass the 300,000 mark.

The male population seems to have been hardest hit with making up 80% of the increases in the last year. This can be explained by the collapse of the construction sector. Foreign nationals now account for 16% of the live register an increase from 2% two years ago.

Increase in unemployment rates has an obvious effect on the job market. The most obvious is an increase in competition for jobs as the supply of labour far exceeds the demand. This also has a potential impact on wages with downward pressure.

“Is a CV that important when job hunting in the current job market in Ireland?”

YES YES YES!!!!!

There are now more applications for jobs which gives the employer the luxury of more choice. Employers are busy people so cannot interview everyone. Your CV has about 30 seconds to make an impact. If it does not make an impact you will not get called for interview. Not only do CV’s help secure interviews but they also serve the purpose of heightening the interest of the employer before you meet them at interview. If an employer likes what they read on your CV and you impress at interview this can contribute favourably to salary negotiations.

Do not cut corners when preparing your CV or filling out job applications!!