CV 4 Jobs

For more information visit CV Workshop Dublin

Paul Mullan of Measurability & Jane Downes of Clearview Coaching Group will be running a Career Workshop in Dublin on 18th of October. This is an excellent opportunity to work with two of Irelands leading Career Coaches. The workshop will explore career change, career direction, essential marketing tools – CV & cover letter, motivation and key job search strategies. If you are changing career or need help chaning career this is a must attend workshop!!

For more information email info@measurability.ie or post a comment.

WORKSHOP CONTENT

Career clarity & career direction
Career planning
Market yourself – CV’s & Cover Letters
Job Search strategies

WORKSHOP INFORMATION

Davonport Hotel Dublin 2.
Saturday 18th Oct 10.00 – 2.00pm.
Investment EUR195.00 (EUR165.00 before 3rd October)

If you want to work in Carlow and you have IT / software development skills read this post.

Excellent opportunities to work with Umun in Ireland.

CV Format is very vital when you are writing a CV for the Irish job market or any job market. If you ignore this element you will miss out on possible interviews. As outlined in a previous post there is a variety of popular formats but I advise jobseekers to take a fluid approach to CV format and not restrict to set formats.

CV Format – The Functional CV

Functional CV’s are common in the job market but not as popular as the chronological CV. Rather that list your work experience you would dissect your experience into functional exposure – like sales experience or IT experience. This type of CV is beneficial if you have gaps in employment or if you have changed jobs frequently after short periods of time. Functional CV’s are also beneficial if your recent work experience is not relevant to the role that you are applying for. The problem with Functional CV’s is that they can generate suspicion from the recruiter. It can also frustrate recruiters in that it is difficult to identify what you actually worked at. Having said this, these CV’s are necessary if you have some of the above outlined issues.

CV Format is only one ingredient for CV success.

As outlined in previous posts there is much more to CV writing than selecting a CV format. There are many areas to pay attention to including the basics like spelling & grammar but also key areas like CV layout and content. CV4jobs has free many posts with free advice on CV writing so feel free to browse the other posts for information to help you design a good CV. Read this useful article.

CV Services for jobseekers in Ireland

You will find many professional CV services in Ireland that can help you improve your application to interview ratio. Measurability offers professional CV services for professionals nationwide. Visit www.measurability.ie for more information about the CV Format and other services.

I have posted quite a few articles on your CV and how to excel at interview. But what about those of you who don’t know what you want to do. There are many employees in Ireland in the wrong job but feel lost as they don’t know what to do next.

There is no point writing a CV or preparing for interviews. You must sit back and analyse the situation. Try to understand yourself providing clarity and career direction.

If you find this difficult to do you can access career assessment tests to support this self discovery. There are tools like personality questionnaires, ability tests and interest inventories. Many organisations use these too to see if you are the right person for their company so why don’t you use these tool to see if you are right for a particular career or job.

To support you through this process there are many career coaching services in Ireland.

When you know what road you want to take pop back to the site and the many resources and article can help you land that dream job.

Employment References are a bit of a taboo subject at the minute. References were once a key component of any recruitment and selection but now they have a reduced role. Increasingly companies are refusing to give out references on past employees for fear of court cases. Most just provide standard script about then length of service and job title BUT they will not go into detail about performance or related issues. What do these standard references tell a hiring company? Not very much.

This development has let many jobseekers with a dodgy career history of the hook.

In a past life I took many references on jobseekers and it always amazed me how many provided referees that did not speak highly of them. You would think that these jobseekers should have an indication about what sort of reference would be provided. This was deflating when you had invested alot of time and effort into the recruitment process only to stumble at the reference hurdle.

On the subject of references. Should you list them on your CV?

I normally say NO and suggest that jobseekers put “References on request”. I say this because it gives more control to the jobseeker. You will know when a potential employer is chasing references as they will have to request this information. The only time I suggest you put reference names and details on a CV is if they can help your cause and get you to interview. Another example – I helped one jobseeker with a CV to apply for a role with a political party. She had two references in the party. I made sure these two names were very visable. And YES she was called for interview.

The easiest way to create a CV is to use one of many CV Templates available on the web. How to find them? Easy, just open Google.ie and type ‘CV Template’, and you will surely get a list of them. By just inserting your contact details, your experience, education and a bit about yourself, you will generate your CV in a few minutes. Great!

Is it really great? Imagine how many people used the same template, and is sending a CV to the recruiter that looks exactly like yours? The fonts, the colours, the layout,… everything is exactly the same. There is absolutely nothing visually characteristic and special about your resume, it is the same as the hundreds and thousands of the resumes a recruiters has to read every day, week or month.

What really makes a difference is to stand out! To send in a CV that is special! Back in the printed CVs era it was advisable to print the CV on a coloured paper, but headings, with anything so that your CV would stand out. Today in the electronic CVs era, it does not work, but you have a whole area of the typography and layout to express yourself. Do not go to the extremes, but be different! Make sure it is easy to read. Make sure it is professional. But also make sure that it looks unique!

How to assure your CV looks unique? Well edit that template you started from, change all font faces and all font sizes. All. And that is only to start with. Be creative, express yourself. Recruiters will notice you. You within thousands. They will remember your CV and will automatically try to match it with all the jobs they have available.

Use the CV templates as a guidance what elements should a CV have, but do not just put your name over it to use it.

“Is your CV ready?”

A properly prepared CV will attract the recruiters instantly. You might be the BEST employee for any job, but without a IMPACT CV you may not get called for interview.

Invest in your future by investing some time in writing your CV. Get it right, and get it right the first time. You will not get a second chance to make a first impression.

Remember, an impact CV is the key to getting through the recruiters door!