In tough times it is important to have CV polished by professional. Could anyone recommend a professional and not too expensive IT-related CV editing service in the UK? Thanks in advance
A:
Times are tough so I would avoid the consulting firm and bust out some LaTex documentation and write it up in that...always seems to impress us geeks. Unless you are looking for more content on your CV.
Jesse
2009-07-15 13:14:46
I would suggest that is not such a good idea. Agents like CVs in Word format (because they can search and rewrite them). Mine is available in Word and PDF, and they prefer Word over PDF most every time
Brian Agnew
2009-07-15 13:25:47
@Brian Agnew PDFs are searchable and I would rather not have someone else rewriting my CV without me knowing about it. If they want me to make a couple changes and I think they are reasonable, I can take care of them and resend the CV.
Jesse
2009-07-15 13:38:24
My experience of agencies is that the only editing they do is the removal of my contact details to discourage their clients from going behind their backs to contact prospective employees directly.
David Dorward
2009-07-15 13:44:45
Jesse, as a rule agent might remove your personal info (if they don't have exclusive representation) and add a short summary table on the top stating availablility (both for the job and interview), preferred salary range or daily rate + their commission, and a small paragraph highlighting your expirience relevant to the role. It will normally be clearly indicated that the summary is added by the agency. Adding to CV as opposed to a separate file helps keeping info about the candidate together.
Totophil
2009-07-15 13:46:05
Gotcha...makes sense
Jesse
2009-07-15 13:49:11
@Jesse - We understand that PDFs are searchable. Agents aren't so good at that :-) Or understanding that my latest CV is always at a particular URL :-) I agree re. the editing. It's a pain, and now I've stuck a copyright notice on my CV permitting editing only if they have my permission (I've had agents chop valuable info and convert 'PDE' to 'PDF' - bad news for maths-based roles).
Brian Agnew
2009-07-15 15:22:15
Finally, I do know one agent who can write Latex!
Brian Agnew
2009-07-15 15:22:52
A:
From an employer's perspective, if I had the slightest suspicion that you hadn't written your CV yourself, I would be extremely wary about considering you for interview.
If your written language skills aren't great, spend the money and time on improving them. Don't pay someone else to do it. You will need good language skills (written and spoken) when programming, because good communications are absolutely vital to how well you do your job.
Roddy
2009-07-15 13:28:12
@Roddy, how would you tell if a CV has been edited by a service that was good at such things? You'd probably guess if they turn up for an interview and the level of spoken English didn't match that in the CV but before then...?
Rob Wells
2009-07-15 13:32:20
@rob - fair point. It's easier face to face. If I was 100% serious about this, I might ask for handwritten covering letters with CVs. Agency CVs are another matter...
Roddy
2009-07-15 13:42:31
+1
A:
G'day,
I found this company Career Consultants to be excellent and ethical.
They've also been around for quite a few years and so aren't just slimy bottom feeders that tend to pop up during recessions. Just like dodgy recruitments agencies do during the good times.
HTH
cheers,
Rob Wells
2009-07-15 13:30:43
+1
A:
Just make it yourself:
- Write your name first with a big font (they'll have it printed out so make yours easy to find in a stack of papers)
- Short personal and contact info (name, dob, etc.)
- Your key skills shortly. (what are the things you do best, your most marketable skills)
- Jobs held in reverse order each followed by a very short description.
- Education
- Language skills
- Longer listing of technologies, skills etc.
If you don't have any visual skill, read for example The Non-Designer's Design Book. Keep it under 2 pages. Short and simple will get you into interviews. It's not a movie script of your life.
These principles recently got me over 50% rate of getting contacted by companies which I applied to. I don't know if that's good of bad, but at least I'm very soon starting in a new job. :)
abababa22
2009-07-15 13:48:43