Tag Archives: CV Advice

12 days of Christmas, No, Planning, Seasons Greetings

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

On the 12^th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

…12 Drummers Drumming! In our final 12 days of Christmas piece we are going for: on the 12^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a 12 stage plan, 11 ways to keep motivated, 10 years in detail, 9 pages too long, 8 mistakes of applications, 7 deadly sins of job hunting, 6 Key Achievements, 5 Golden Rules, 4 calling cards, 3 networks, 2 referees and a killer CV.

It seemed only fitting to round up the series with a 12 stage plan of finding that next role:

Check your CV – get it professionally reviewed, plenty of organisations will do this for free including The CV Righter.
Make appropriate updates – listen to the feedback given and make sure you address these in your CV.
Make a list – what do you want to achieve? More money, a new challenge, career progression.
Research – look at the roles out there which match your skill-set and start to really understand where your applications will progressed.
Networks – make contact with your networks and let them know you are looking for a new opportunity.
Get your CV out there – place your CV on job websites and register with agencies. Make sure you refresh regularly so you are not going to the bottom of the pile.
Decide who you want to work with – having made a decision about which agencies and job boards work for you, keep to a short list of these and keep in regular contact.
Be clever – set up “jobs by email” and google alerts so you can let the technology do the trawling for you.
Research employers – understand all there is to know about the companies you wish to work for and keep an eye on activity. You may get ahead of all your competitors by anticipating new roles due to changes in the organisation such as new product launches, partnering with other businesses and mergers etc.
Join in professionally related discussions – LinkedIn and Twitter often have lots of discussions; you can get yourself noticed and hear about new roles through such networks.
Review – keep an eye on your applications and see what works and what doesn’t, you may need to revisit point 1 if you are not harvesting interviews.
Keep organised – a simple spreadsheet covering all your applications and endeavours to keep track of everything is a good way to help generate new ideas and see trends for the right jobs for you with specific agencies and job boards.

On the 1^st day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a Killer CV

On the 2^nd day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me Two Referees

On the 3^rd day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me Three Networks

On the 4^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 4 calling cards

On the 5^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 5 golden rules

On the 6^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 6 Key achievements

On the 7th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me the 7 deadly sins of job hunting

On the 8th day of Christmas The CV righter gave to me 8 mistakes of applications

On the 9^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 9 pages too long

On the 10^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 10 years in detail

On the 11^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 11 ways to keep motivated

on the 12^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a 12 stage plan

12 days of Christmas, CV Tips, No, Project management CV, Seasons Greetings

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

Nicola Caswell-Thorp Leave a comment

On the 10^th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

….10 Lords A-leaping! In our case: On the 10^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 10 years in detail, 9 pages too long, 8 mistakes of applications, 7 deadly sins of job hunting, 6 Key Achievements, 5 Golden Rules, 4 calling cards, 3 networks, 2 referees and a killer CV.

The golden rule for writing a CV is to keep the detail within the last 10 years of work experience – you should also cover work experience prior to the 10 years but you can keep this down to 1 line per role stating dates, names of company, job title and location. There are a couple of reasons for this, the first being that actually the most recent work experience is what the employer wants to see – anything over 10 years is deemed as a long time ago and not really relevant to them. This is hard for some as I know you are proud of some of the amazing projects you have been involved in delivering but it is where you are now and what you are doing now (or within the last few years) which matters. This is particularly important with technology as we are in a fast changing world so something which may have been huge back in the day has been superseded over and over.

If there is something which you do deem relevant that is past the 10 year mark then you may wish to talk about this in your cover letter, therefore you are still presenting your most recent work on your CV but also pointing out that you have had exposure to XXX when working at XXX in the past. This also gives a fresh perspective to your application as it says something different in the cover letter than the CV – a lot of candidates feel the need to copy and paste parts of their CV into a cover letter which is a waste of everyone’s time and gives the impression of lazy behaviour.

The other reason it is good to keep with 10 years of work experience is that it helps to reduce the size / length of your CV – helping you keep to the ideal 2/3 pages and encouraging you to keep focussed on the important bits.

On the 1^st day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a Killer CV

On the 2^nd day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me Two Referees

On the 3^rd day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me Three Networks

On the 4^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 4 calling cards

On the 5^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 5 golden rules

On the 6^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 6 Key achievements

On the 7th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me the 7 deadly sins of job hunting

On the 8th day of Christmas The CV righter gave to me 8 mistakes of applications

On the 9^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 9 pages too long

On the 10^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 10 years in detail

12 days of Christmas, CV Tips, CV Writing, No, Project management CV, Seasons Greetings

On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

Nicola Caswell-Thorp Leave a comment

On the 9^th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

…9 Ladies Dancing! How wonderful and cheerful, almost like too many eggs in a pudding – which brings us onto: On the 9^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 9 pages too long, 8 mistakes of applications, 7 deadly sins of job hunting, 6 Key Achievements, 5 Golden Rules, 4 calling cards, 3 networks, 2 referees and a killer CV.

Yep, we are back to the length of CVs and believe me – I have seen CVs 9 pages long. The longest CV I have ever come across was actually 13 pages, but the longer CVs don’t tend to come in just over the recommended 2/3 pages they average 7 to 9 pages… Wow! I cannot stress enough how off putting a long CV is, put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager – when faced with a pile of CVs where all they want to see is that you can hit the mark of their “wish list” they do not want to read beyond the first couple of pages.

It says a lot about a candidate when they cannot condense their skills and experience down to a manageable size, they will be thinking how you interview – and it is not uncommon for them to assume the shear length of a book length CV will mean a really long interview. Can this person get to the point whilst covering all that is required? No, he/she will be going around the houses for a good half hour on the first question and I have 20 to get through!

Here is an article written previously which talks through the length of CVs and what is expected.

On the 1^st day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a Killer CV

On the 2^nd day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me Two Referees

On the 3^rd day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me Three Networks

On the 4^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 4 calling cards

On the 5^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 5 golden rules

On the 6^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 6 Key achievements

On the 7th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me the 7 deadly sins of job hunting

On the 8th day of Christmas The CV righter gave to me 8 mistakes of applications

12 days of Christmas, Careers Advice, CV Writing, Job Applications, Job Hunting, No, Project Management Careers Advice, Project management CV, Seasons Greetings

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

Nicola Caswell-Thorp Leave a comment

On the 8^th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

…8 Maids A-milking! Well all sorts could be read into that, but we’ll go for: On the 8^th day of Christmas the CV righter gave to me 8 mistakes of applications, 7 deadly sins of job hunting, 6 Key Achievements, 5 Golden Rules, 4 calling cards, 3 networks, 2 referees and a killer CV.

A popular article is “What’s the worst that can happen? 8 gaffs when applying for roles” – which talks through some very valid points which I have seen over the years in my recruitment capacity; although they seem obvious these mistakes are still made by eager candidates.

The key to making a successful job application is not to rush – yes there are deadlines but if you have planned and researched from the outset then you will be in a position to start making applications, rather than deciding off the cuff to just start applying one day.

Make sure your CV is up to date – I’ve lost count of applications from candidates who sent in CVs which hadn’t been updated since securing a new role 3 years ago. Or worst still, an updated CV which has a garbled one line about the current role which tells us nothing and doesn’t follow the format of the previous roles so it is obvious they have rushed something to make the application. It does not create a good impression and if anything, says a lot about how you work and where you are willing to put in effort. Not good for a project person – not good for anyone but really, for a project professional!!!

Research your field and understand the basics such as skill-sets required, salary bandings (and where you sit), recruitment agencies specific to your needs, job boards yielding your types of roles and get networking in the right circles.

Putting that extra bit of effort in can be the difference between securing interviews with the lucky few or being discarded with the hundreds of competitors also looking for a new job.

On the 1^st day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a Killer CV

On the 2^nd day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me Two Referees

On the 3^rd day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me Three Networks

On the 4^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 4 calling cards

On the 5^th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 5 golden rules

On the 6^th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 6 Key achievements

On the 7th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me the 7 deadly sins of job hunting

On the 8th day of Christmas The