I think it makes sense at this stage to give you a brief history of who I am and what qualifies me to blog about this topic which I am very passionate about.
I am 49 years of age, married to a beautiful wife and we have three amazing kids, along with a dog, horse, 2 cats a rabbit and 3 fish, there is always noise, dirty football boots, ballet, Xbox, iPad, tears and laughter and that’s what we do to unwind! My professional career started in business over 27 years ago. During this time, I have completed a Master’s Degree, worked as a direct employee at group level, been a management consultant internationally, professional profiler and currently, a business owner of a recruitment firm that operates globally. I love what I do and really enjoy working with people and sharing the knowledge I have gained to date in the hope it helps somewhat.
Over the years I have created many CVs for family and friends, and friends of friends, and eventually as word got out, I was being asked by professionals across multiple industries such as Hair & Beauty, Arts, Golfing, Construction, Armed forces, Manufacturing, Senior Management, Electrical etc. to assist them in creating a professional, legible and promoting CV that would get them noticed, and to date the results and feedback from employers and candidates has been excellent.
So why the Blog? During these past 27 years, and despite the plethora of free information available, 1000’s of CV’s have passed my desk for junior and senior candidates, most of which are simply terrible in layout and content! To this day, it still baffles me as to why a candidate would expect to get to an interview when it is quite clear to the reader that they have put little or no effort into the presentation/content of their CV, knowing that this document will unfortunately determine whether they get called for that interview or not.
I think the reason for this is twofold:
1. We don't weight the importance of our CV or take it seriously
2. We don't understand that layout and content is a game changer
Your CV is your professional passport, your representative voice pre-interview and this document will largely determine your fate.
Over the next couple of articles which I hope you find both useful and interesting, I would like to cover some CV basics with you, such as Layout, Colour, Headings, Tone, Career History, Achievements, Social Media, References and Hobbies and getting to know your CV.
So do your career a favour, blow the dust off your CV and ask yourself.
Does my CV impress or depress a reader?
Does my CV represent my current skillset?
Am I excited and proud of myself when I read my CV?
As a document does its realistically represent my professionalism?
Does it match the Job I am applying for?
Would I hire me based on this CV?
Thank you for reading and I hope you will come back for Part II next week.
Clive A, Dunne MSc