A CV is a Resume - And We've Been Very Parochial!

An old friend sent me an e-mail the other day to remind me that CVs are called ‘resumes’ in the United States. "Not that you will have forgotten" she said, "but, CV is an unknown term here - always just resume".

Actually, I hadn’t forgotten – I’d just gotten very parochial and really quite careless.

I have to say that Bill is absolutely innocent – he’s always lived in Britain - but neither Geoffrey nor I have any such excuse. We’ve both of us lived in the United States, and we now live in France, where the word for ‘resume, is - ‘résumé’.

Sorry everyone!

Emily - http://www.therapypartnership.com

Why Do People Want An Application Form When They Already Have a CV?

Some employers ask that candidates complete an Application Form as well as providing a CV and a covering letter. Much of the information demanded by the form can be found on the CV and/or the application letter. So why do people bother with Application Forms – extra pieces of paper which cost money to produce (and, these days, post!)? Well – for several reasons:

A CV is a statement, which may or may not be entirely factual. A CV doesn’t demand that you verify that it is entirely factual; in fact it doesn’t demand that you verify anything at all.

On the other hand most Application Forms generally conclude with a clause that demands that a candidate confirm that the information given on the Form is entirely factual by signing and dating the Form in the space provided next to or below the clause – and some Application Forms positively state that if an employer discovers that any part of the Application is false, then the candidate can be dismissed for that reason.

Here are some of the points you can expect to have to deal with on a standard job Application Form:

1. Personal Details (excluding preferred working arrangements)

2. Education and Professional Qualifications
3. Present Employment (if any)

4. Previous Employment
5. Relevant Skills, Abilities, Knowledge and Experience

6. Other information (this will exclude reference to prior health record, and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974)

7. References
8. Declaration

A job Application Form is a legal document. As such, it offers protection to potential employers. There are several things that you don’t need to reveal – but you do need to be careful about what you say. If you don’t feel able to swear to it, don’t say it. And remember – your CV needs to match your Application Form!

A CV is a pre-prepared statement – usually a very carefully crafted pre-prepared statement. Job Application Forms, on the other hand, are really a sort of questionnaire.

Questionnaires are designed to encourage people to reveal a great deal about themselves without being consciously aware that they’re doing so – which is why so many therapists use them.

Both the questionnaires that therapists use and many job Application Forms ask questions designed to reveal what people genuinely want, rather than what they would like to persuade the reader that they want. A therapist’s form, for example, might ask: ‘Where do you see yourself in five years time?’ The job Application Form version of that question is a request for a ‘Personal Profile’ or an ‘Objective Statement’ setting out an applicant’s hopes, plans, and objectives.

So where do you see yourself in five years time? You might as well spent some time thinking about that question now, because one way or another somewhere along the line somebody is going to ask you to answer it.

If possible, you need to spend as much time crafting and polishing your job Application Form as you spend on your CV. If someone springs an Application Form on you when you arrive for your interview TAKE YOUR TIME. Don’t get pushed into rushing through the form, because people can learn a lot about you from the way you complete it.

Ideally, if you get the form sent to you, you should take a photocopy of it and practice with it, or plan everything you want to say on a separate piece of paper. Practicing with a photocopy is best because you’ll be able to see exactly how much you can fit into each box without cramping your writing and decide what you want to say with space in mind. Don’t forget to ‘angle’ your answers to the Company – and don’t reply to any question with the words “See my CV”.

Obviously, you shouldn’t complete the real form until you’re completely satisfied with how your practice copy looks and reads. When you do, use a black pen so that it can be easily photocopied, use block capitals so that it is easily legible, and make it as neat and clear as possible.

Take a photocopy for yourself so that you can remember exactly what you said – and take the copy with you to the interview, so that you can refresh your memory while travelling or waiting.

Geoffrey, Bill, and Emily

Aghh! Covering Letters! Presentation, Presentation, Presentation!

Obviously, if you’re sending out a CV, then you have to write a covering letter – a relevant, well-produced letter that has to be short enough to hold the reader’s attention, long enough to say what you need to say, and interesting enough to persuade the recipient to read your CV.

I was never actually in love with constructing a CV - and I was never keen on completing application forms either because I almost always managed to put something in the wrong box – but I really HATED writing covering letters!

There’s nothing for it, of course, but to keep on messing around with your sentences until the letter is short enough and long enough and (hopefully!) interesting enough to do the trick. In the meantime clarity and good presentation goes a long way toward grabbing someone’s attention:

• If the advert doesn’t specify to whom exactly you should be writing, ring up and find out who is dealing with the applications. At least that way your letter ends up on the right desk, and you get brownie points for good manners and initiative.


• If you have to telephone to get a name – don’t forget to ask the person to whom you speak to spell the name for you. Geoffrey once got an application addressed to Jeffrey Meltis. I don’t think I need to tell you how impressive he found that.
• Make sure that you state clearly – in a emboldened heading, preferably – exactly which job you’re chasing. Big companies in particular tend have several vacancies at any given time, and you don’t want to find yourself being interviewed for something quite other than you had in mind. Don’t laugh – it can happen. People see what they want to see – and read what they want to read.


• Set the letter well on the page. Don’t cramp everything up at the top and leave a huge white space at the bottom, for example, because letters like that tend to look as though the writer couldn’t be bothered to design the letter properly, and just ran it off in a rush. A piece of paper is a big white space. If it’s filled in a balanced way then it looks pleasant and harmonious – and gives the impression that the writer has taken some care and trouble over it.


• The last word on the page (right at the bottom!) should be ‘enclosures’ – and after it (in brackets) should be the number of enclosures. It’s correct and efficient, of course, to do that, but the fact is that few people can resist counting the enclosures they’re supposed to have – and whilst one is counting one is also looking and reading. It’s a way of drawing attention to the enclosures.


• Try to get some nice paper for your covering letters. People are more impressed by that aspect of presentation than you might think.


• READ WHAT YOU’VE WRITTEN BEFORE YOU SEND THE LETTER. People don’t just see what they want to see – they see what they believe to be there. It’s amazingly easy to miss out a word or overlook a typo. And don’t rely on your spell check. It doesn’t know from context, and it can help you to come up with some real howlers!

Obviously, content is very important – but presentation is very important too, because first impressions are important, and your covering letter offers a prospective employer a chance to form a ‘first impression’ of you. Make it a good one!

Emily http://www.therapypartnership.com

It Can Be Hard to Be Objective...

It can be hard to be objective when you are writing about yourself, but your CV is the key to getting through the ‘interview door’, and unless you can make your reader interested enough to want to see you from your CV, the key isn’t going to work, and you won’t get an interview never mind a job.

Write and design your CV to appeal to your readers - and bear in mind that, because your prospective employer might receive literally hundreds of CVs, something well-organised and brief is more likely to attract and hold his or her attention:

• Contact information should be clearly visible on the first page.

• Format should be easy to follow – headlines that are highlighted and indented, for example, catch the attention of the reader and make it easier for a person to take a QUICK look at your CV.

• CV should be accurate and correct. Fifty percent of people lie a little bit on their CVs; some people lie a lot - see http://metlissbarfield.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html for more information about that. Try to not to exaggerate or embroider facts on your CV. These days you’re likely to be found out – and obviously people aren't too keen on hiring people who haven't been entirely honest.

• Keep the CV as short as you possibly can without crowding the page - or making the typeface very small. Try not to use more than two sheets and keep the typeface very legible.

• Don’t forget to put a header and footer on the second sheet and on all accompanying Certificates, etc. Many people like to spread papers out in a line so as to be able to check one sheet against another – I do myself – so paperclips and staples are regularly removed from documents, and it’s very easy for loose papers to go astray even in the best regulated circles.

• Choose a style that is likely to appeal to the reader. Chronological CVs are the most common style and you will need to have one of those anyway, but skills-based CVs often ‘target’ better. Skills-based CVs are more difficult, because they demand that you think through all of the skills that are necessary to a particular job, and then list personal details under those skill headings. Skills-based CVs are becoming more common the UK, incidentally, so it’s worthwhile trying to design one if circumstances seem to demand it.

• Don’t forget that employers are looking for a ‘perfect match’ at the moment – not only because employing someone is an expensive proposition, but also because they are in a ‘buyers market’. Whether you go for a chronological or skills-based format CV, always write a new CV for each job, so as to tailor information about yourself and your experience for that particular job. It means collecting information about the company and the job in question so that you can match your talents to what they’re looking for – and it can be hard work if you happen to be sending out a lot of CVs. On the other hand you won’t get nearly such good results from sending out a standard CV in every case.

• Try to stay abreast of what’s going on in your particular field – the latest technology, training and jargon that are relevant to what you do. It some cases it’s easy to fall behind if you're ‘out of the loop’ for even very short periods.

• Vary style according to the type of job you are applying for. Big or ‘professional’ Companies (like Solicitors and accountants, for example) usually expect very formal CVs on white paper (and yes, the quality of the paper does matter!), but in some cases you might use coloured paper or an unusual design. Again, it’s a case of finding out as much as possible about the Company and deciding what would be most appropriate and appealing.

Your CV is, of course, is going to have to go out with a covering letter – but that’s a post for another day!

Geoff - http://www.metlissbarfield.com

Believe in Yourself - and Make Sure that Other People Can, Too

To sell a product you need to believe in it, package it, and promote it.

You’re ‘the product’ here - and recently Geoffrey was talking about marketing and promoting yourself. He made some really good suggestions, but the fact is that you need to believe in ‘the product’ - and go on believing in it – to make the best of those suggestions and promote and sell your ‘product’ really well.

It’s the ‘go on believing in it’ part that can get difficult. Being made redundant can knock your belief in the quality of ‘the product’ all by itself, so a few rejections from prospective employers – and everybody is bound to get some of those – can make you begin to wonder whether perhaps you’ve passed your sell-by date.

I did. I’d pretty well walked from one job to another for more than 20 years when I was last made redundant. I had very good skills and an excellent CV – and I’d stayed in jobs and had good references - so it came as a nasty shock when I found I couldn’t give myself away, least of all sell what I had to offer.

I’d just gotten over thinking that my redundancy was MY FAULT – but I immediately began to believe that not being able to get a job was MY FAULT, and that there was something wrong with me that was preventing me from getting a job.

Well, there was something wrong - and it was MY FAULT. I was scatter-gunning CV’s and applications all over the place rather than targeting them properly – and I had desperation written all over me. I was certainly presenting and packaging myself well – but I was doing it far too well for most of the jobs I was chasing. And I had a really bad attitude to what I was doing.

I finally worked that out when somebody told me that he’d love to employ me but he thought I’d be bored within the week. The unspoken comment was “and gone in three months”. There was nothing I could say, because he was right. I likely would have been gone in three months, because at that point I was just looking to get employed by somebody – anybody – who would give me a job – any job - so that I could look around for a ‘real’ job and have the security of being employed in the meantime. And he knew it.

Quite apart from the fact that my approach was expensive in time and money, it was depressing, and bound to fail. I was inviting rejection – and I got it. That didn't make me feel too good. I was intending to use people – and actually to treat them very shabbily, because employing someone is very expensive – and I got found out. That didn’t make me feel too good, either. In fact, in retrospect, I still don't feel very good about that.

Scatter-gunning’ isn’t a route you want to go down. It can make you stop believing in ‘the product’. And it can make you feel pretty bad about yourself in some other ways as well.

Emily http://www.therapypartnership.com/

Get the Picture!

Unless you've got unusual or special skills or a very high profile in a specific field, it's unlikely that potential employers will come looking for you - unless you market and promote yourself, that is.

A good CV is a great marketing tool, - but it will only be seen by a limited number of people if you persist in thinking of your CV as something you are going to send out by post in answer to an advertisement.

There are a lot of sites on the internet that allow you to publish your CV, market and promote yourself, do some networking - and look for jobs - all at the same time.

LinkedIn, Xing, Facebook, Naymz and Google Public Profiles are all free unless you opt to buy 'extras' - which most people don't really need - and some internet providers also provide a free web page as part of the account.

Make plans to use all of these resources. These sites are networking, marketing and self-promotion must-haves, so it's worthwhile clicking on the above links one by one, exploring each site carefully, and starting to work out how you are going to design your Profile and what you want your 'settings' to be.

You can also start looking for people you already know, deciding who you want to invite to join you from your address book and what Groups it would be advantageous for you to join, checking the 'membership list' for people it would be a good idea to contact and, of course, investigating the 'Jobs' section.

All four of the first sites on my above list have a 'Jobs' section. I've included an example of a newsletter I received from Xing below, so that you can see how it works on that particular site:

Here's the XING newsletter you requested, with the latest news from your network, new features and your personal statistics:

We're constantly improving XING jobs to make your job search even more effective. Besides job listing that appear automatically on your home page, you can also search for a job directly.

Now it's easier than ever, using our new "Get jobs by email" feature. You can have the latest jobs that match your search criteria sent to you as soon as they are posted, free of charge."

However, jobs also come in via advertisements from particular Groups, which is just one of the pluses of joining them.

Filling in an polishing Profiles takes time - you can expect to spend several days getting each one absolutely right and making contacts - but it's time well-spent for several reasons.

• You begin to get a better perspective on what makes a CV interesting and what encourages people to read it - or turns people off - if you continually work on it over a period as part of completing a series of on-line Profiles, and then asking friends or relatives to check out your Profiles.

• A personal profile/objective statement is an 'optional extra' on a CV - usually it's just a two or three sentence overview of skills, qualities, hopes, and plans. On-line Profiles actually ask for a personal profile/objective statement - and once you've completed four or more of them you'll really have thought about the subject and had time to come up with something short and interesting that will encourage potential employers to stick with your CV and read it all the way through.
  
  
• A photograph is also an 'optional extra on a CV - either scanned in by computer or stuck on - but in my view a photograph is less an optional extra than an absolute must. All on-line Profiles ask for a photograph as a matter of course. GET A GOOD ONE! Automatic photo-machines never show anyone at their best. Get a friend (or a professional photographer) to take a series of photographs and then show them around to friends and family. Go with the one that gets the majority vote.

• The address of the best of your Profiles - and you'll almost certainly find that one of them becomes a favourite and attracts more contacts than the others - should be included along with the rest of your personal details at the top of your CV. The mere presence of the address will say important things about you, your skills, and your attitude toward getting a job.

Once you've got your Profiles sorted out - start contacting people, joining Groups, and networking for all you are worth. Then you can hone and polish the CV you have been sending out to prospective employers...

Geoff