September Newsletter
“By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer.”
— Helen Hunt Jackson, September
AUTUMN SPECIAL!!!
350VA’s Resume Campaign has been a great success! Because of huge demand, I will extend the offer throughout the month of September
7 Resume/CV questions answered!
Whilst there is no official rule on CV length, your CV should be around 2 pages long. In most cases, this should be enough room to give employers the information they want to see, in a quick and easy manner. 1 page will probably not be enough, and 3 pages could become a boring read for busy hiring managers – meaning important details could be missed. If you go a little either side of this guidance, it will not be a deal-breaker for most recruiters – but try to stick to it as closely as possible.
There are some exceptions too:
- If you have little or no experience, then you could potentially get everything on to one page – there’s no point in trying to drag the CV out, if you don’t need to.
- Academic CVs (researchers, lecturers etc.) tend to include more information than a standard CV, so they can stretch on to 3 or even 4 pages.
- Very experienced people (20 years +) may struggle to get everything on to 2 pages, so it is sometimes OK to spill on to the third page. Try not to go over 3.5 pages as it is unlikely recruiters or hiring managers will read beyond that stage in today’s job market.
The initials CV stand for curriculum vitae, which is Latin for “course of life” and loosely translates to a record of your career and achievements. Believed to have been invented by Leonardo Davinci in 1482, they have since become a required document for job applications across the world.
When you send your CV off for a job application, it will normally be read by one or both of the following people:
- Recruiters – These are people whose job it is to find and screen potential staff for employer vacancies. They are responsible for placing job adverts, reviewing applicant CV's, and arranging interviews for successful candidates.
- Hiring managers – These are the managers within a company who are looking for staff to work directly in their team. If you apply for a job this is the person who you will ultimately be working for, so they have the final decision in whether or not to hire you.
Hiring managers and recruiters tend to be very busy people and will have lots of CVs to review for every vacancy. When writing your CV you should bear this in mind and try to create an easy reading experience for them which allows them to spot your suitability quickly.
The key to writing a good CV is to show recruiters and hiring managers that you are a perfect fit for the jobs you are applying for.
You need to present the information in a way that can be digested quickly by busy people who have hundreds of CVs to review. By following the layout, format and content as described in my blog, anybody should be able to achieve this. To stay on track, always remember the audience of your CV and its purpose when you are writing it.
The type of skills you include in your CV will depend on your experience and the jobs you are applying for, but they will fall into one of two categories.
- Hard skills – These are industry specific skills that are measurable and important to a particular field or job (e.g. Speaking French, knowing how to use Microsoft Windows or technical drawing)
- Soft skills – These are more common personal skills that can be applied to most jobs (such as communication or problem solving)
If you are wondering what the difference between a CV and a resume is, don’t worry – it’s really just two different terms for the same thing. CV is the widely used term in the UK and Europe. Whereas the US call a CV a “resume” along with Australia, New Zealand and some other countries. If you are asked to send a resume for a job, it’s OK to send your CV.
Whenever you apply for a job you should always accompany your CV with a cover letter. A cover letter is a brief note that you send to recruiters to introduce yourself, build rapport and encourage them to open your CV. It should be written within the body of your email (or a job website’s messaging system) and only needs to be a few lines long (unless the employer has specifically requested something more detailed)