tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post6607373886164268511..comments2023-09-21T15:29:33.588+01:00Comments on Trisha's Ramblings: How to make your CV Not SuckTrishahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11486870702929760981noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-70349387785733275782018-03-11T14:23:27.676+00:002018-03-11T14:23:27.676+00:00Wow, great post.Wow, great post.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13016318328819103801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-72747274090448169832016-05-26T13:04:48.896+01:002016-05-26T13:04:48.896+01:00Good post, interesting facts.,Good post, interesting facts.,Wesley Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11580690852669474483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-56573603275575167212012-02-08T06:46:24.877+00:002012-02-08T06:46:24.877+00:00Hi
Thank you for free help.Hi <br />Thank you for free help.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-30007973341334708982012-01-09T14:03:32.679+00:002012-01-09T14:03:32.679+00:00Hi Trisha
Trenchant advice. Hope you and others m...Hi Trisha<br /><br />Trenchant advice. Hope you and others might find this useful:<br /><br />http://enhyper.blogspot.com/2007/04/step-aid-to-it-recruitment-its.html<br /><br />It's a methodology which helped weed out the "people" candidates whilst I was recruiting. <br /><br />Best advice I was given was that I had the first half page to get across what I did and why I would be suitable for the role. Anything past the first page is for HR.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />GraemeGraeme Burnetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09245381846175594181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-89405341859720866352012-01-05T14:39:49.273+00:002012-01-05T14:39:49.273+00:00I didn't mention CV size because to me, person...I didn't mention CV size because to me, personally, it's not that important. Having said that, I have tossed away CVs that are 7 pages because I frankly don't have time for that. <br /><br />However, my own is about 5 pages so I can't criticise too much, but with mine the first page is the summary, the other pages are optional. With CVs I screen, I read the first page and skim the rest, which is probably a good guideline to bear in mind.Trishahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11486870702929760981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-43309129431249261922012-01-05T11:14:10.699+00:002012-01-05T11:14:10.699+00:00Trisha, thanks for the great advice. My CV mostly ...Trisha, thanks for the great advice. My CV mostly adheres to your pointers, however, I have 2 remarks: <br />- Hobbies. I only mention hobbies which can be useful in the context of job I'm applying for. I don't think would be useful if you knew I brew beer in my free time. So you always need to take into account how relevant the information is you put on your CV.<br />- Size. You haven't mentioned CV size. I've seen a lot of CV's and when I'm pressed for time, the last thing I want is a 7-page CV. I try to limit my CV to 2 pages, so it can be printed on one page. As a rule of thumb, if it takes me more than 60 seconds to read my CV, it's too long.<br /><br />As an experiment (although it's not recommended) I made a 'special' CV and sent it to some companies which weren't actually looking for someone, but I knew they had interesting projects. My experiment can be found here: http://www.doclo.be/cvtest.pdf. Surprisingly, I had a lot of success (mostly because interviewers were intrigued and wanted to know more). I guess it's like you say, if you have 10 CV's to review, you'll probably pick out those that stand out. I think it also helped that it was only a single page.Lieven Doclohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06445284725792400267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-32512682848558180642011-12-27T09:42:06.583+00:002011-12-27T09:42:06.583+00:00Ok, better now :)Ok, better now :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-46716515901437943982011-12-27T09:32:56.606+00:002011-12-27T09:32:56.606+00:00Xorty, I think it's great to emphasise interes...Xorty, I think it's great to emphasise interest in technology as well. I gave one example showing how you can do more than just talk about the technology stack you used, but I could just as easily have written it in a technology-focussed way which is more useful to me. For example: "This was the first project I had used Spring MVC on, and I found it much easier to implement than Struts" or "I chose to use a Spring/Hibernate stack after writing several prototypes in this and a number of alternatives". Both of these show me not only the technology used, but your level of involvement in them.<br /><br />What I don't need is a CV that's *just* a list of technologies. If you've got Spring and Hibernate and five years of Java, I can't tell the difference between you and the other CV I just read with Spring/Hibernate and five years of Java. I've got another ten CVs to get through before I can get on with my own coding, so I'm not going to pick either of you because there's nothing there that differentiates you.Trishahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11486870702929760981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-71779442230373403782011-12-26T18:03:08.018+00:002011-12-26T18:03:08.018+00:00By the way I write my CV in way that non-technical...By the way I write my CV in way that non-technical people even won't understand. I use sentences like: "I really depend on injections" or "My favorite time in year is Spring" or "I can watch Eclipse all day".<br /><br />For most folks working at HR this is just some nonsens and they won't even bother to read it. That's cool, because sucky companies will fail this test and only those who are able to read thorugh lines and see I put there hidden technological words will be able to get the point :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-4706612730503859602011-12-26T17:57:32.266+00:002011-12-26T17:57:32.266+00:00I am sorry but I really disagree. Let's take t...I am sorry but I really disagree. Let's take the sentence: "We developed web application using Hibernate for persistence, Spring as DI container and MVC framework and JSF as view-layer technology. This was really interesting stack to work with".<br /><br />According to you this might be unhelpful so I should write something like "We developed healthcare webapplication that saved our customer lot of time because of easyfying legal issues" - this would seem more helpful to you.<br /><br />So you read thru this and see I am probably passionate webdeveloper and you are in need of PHP/HTML/CSS/JavaScript developer that suits me based on non-technological description.<br /><br />So you'd contact me you're in need of webdeveloper but with completely other technological stack, because I should've ommited my favourites from CV :/<br /><br />There's something for you to understand: I am programmer and I work with technologies. I care mostly about the tools and language I use, and much less about problem domain. I don't give a damn if my next project is going to be from finance, healthcare, insuarance or what. I care about what tools and technologies I am going to use, because this makes me happy!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-61201240555946384602011-12-22T13:52:43.960+00:002011-12-22T13:52:43.960+00:00Yeah totally, I re-wrote my CV when I first starte...Yeah totally, I re-wrote my CV when I first started screening them for recruitment, I realised mine was very mediocre.<br /><br />I mostly agree on the personality buzz words, because they are meaningless - I expect you to have worked in a team and alone and I expect you to have "excellent communication skills" like the rest of the world. However, how people choose to describe themselves is fascinating in its own right, it shows what you value - self-starter suggests that you like to be left alone, can-do attitude suggests you're keen to please (possibly a bit puppy-like too).<br /><br />My most hated phrase is "experienced in all aspects of the software development lifecycle" - I should bloody well hope so! But you're not going to say if you're NOT experienced in all aspects, so it's totally meaningless.Trishahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11486870702929760981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90440057274722849.post-88172675362977569572011-12-22T13:14:57.608+00:002011-12-22T13:14:57.608+00:00My own CV improved after reading through hundreds ...My own CV improved after reading through hundreds of CVs and noticing what looked bad (and realizing I had some of the same problems) and stealing what was good :-)<br /><br />My biggest CV annoyances are meaningless personality buzzwords. Stuff like "self-starting, motivated innovator with a can-do attitude and ability to work in a team". Anyone so socially unaware as to write that probably sits drooling in the corner, chewing their own toenails until you zap them with a cattle prod and micro-manage them.robannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00928193244559930423noreply@blogger.com