Recently, I have found out that writing CV is like trying to sell yourself to a potential employer. Even though it is not necessarily to be presented in colour with the best photos of yours, CV has to give the first positive impression to the HR department or whoever involved in selection process, as it is the first information of you to be introduced to them.
Of course, there are plenty of candidates who want to get the job instead of you. Hence, you have to stand out of crowd and show that you are better than others. Or at least, you are different. It is unarguable true that recruitment agencies or HR departments browse hundreds of, if not thousands, CVs everyday in order to find suitable people with required skills to fill in needed posts.
Well, let’s leave this very general bla-bla part up to here. It is just to guide you to main question that I am interested in. So, what is the main trend now in the UK? Surely, we do not write our CV everyday, but only when it is needed by the current employer or if there is any prospect of career movement.
A while ago, I wrote my CV and it ended up in three pages which included all my personal info such as nationality, Date of Birth, (abbreviated commonly D.O.B, awkward isn’t it?), marriage status and so on. Then, I thought it was a bit long CV as some of them seemed to be not really relevant. These days, everywhere you go there are equal rights or anti-discrimination Acts. So, why on earth do I have to give my personal info like the above mentioned ones?
Ok, let’s move. Personal info is sorted! Next thing is profile. This mini self-description part, so called profile, was difficult one to write about. To be honest, I don’t think many people can describe themselves accurately. Over used clichés such as ‘motivated’ ‘team working’ ‘initiative’ should be binned! I can describe my friends and my colleagues but not myself! Can you?
Then, I searched suitable CV format on Google. And I discovered EU sample CV format. This was a kind of CV format that I will more likely to use. Clear, spacious and with relevant questions…so many advantages in it. But there are pros and cons, obviously. Since I have mentioned already good points above, let us look at bad ones. Well, to put it simply, this European standard CV format is just too long for me. My CV is now again in three pages!
How do you feel about 3 pages CVs? Do you like detailed information or a bullet point sort of information in a CV? Do you have any kind of favourable CV format to look at? Any suggestions are more than welcome!
How do you feel about 3 pages CVs? Do you like detailed information or a bullet point sort of information in a CV? Do you have any kind of favourable CV format to look at? Any suggestions are more than welcome!
