Edge CVs Resume Tips - how to write a perfect CV Resume

CV Writing Critique

CV Resume Presentation
Content
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Employers face risks when hiring students and new graduates with little or no work experience. When writing a resume or CV, applicants can face a daunting task in overcoming the hurdles and differentiating themselves from other job applicants

EdgeCVs offer a fresh style of writing and presentation to showcase YOUR talents and distinguish YOU from everyone else

To help you avoid some of the pitfalls, the following example of a Graduate CV resume is followed by a critique with recommended improvements

Example CV Critique

CV Resume

Home Address:

Gateshead Avenue
Hale Barns
Cheshire
WA15 0NG

Date of birth:
Home Phone:
Mobile Phone:
E-mail Address:

28/09/1981
01691) - - - - - -
(07862) - - - - - -
liz.anon@hotmail.com

Education:

THE MARCHES SCHOOL (1993-1998)

MORDA ROAD, OSWESTRY, SHROPSHIRE.

GCSE: Mathematics (B), English language (B), English literature (A), Science (A A), History (B), Geography (A), French (B), Food Technology (A), Sports science (A).

GNVQ: Using Information Technology Level 2

NVQ: Information Technology Level 2

LLANFYLLIN SIXTH FORM (1998-2000)

LLANFYLLIN, POWYS

Young Enterprise Qualification: Credit (equivalent to two GCSE's grade B)

A-Level: History (A), Business study (B), Sports Science (B)

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHUMBRIA AT NEWCASTLE 2000-PRESENT

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, TYNE AND WEAR

Degree: LL.B (Hons) Exempting the Bar Vocational Course 2:1

Relevant Work Experience (Summer 2002):

Mini-Pupillages:	10 Old Square, London Summer 02 28 St John Street, Manchester 23 Essex Street, London (Summer 02) 6 King's Bench Walk, London (Summer 02)
Vacation placements:	Mills & Reeve, Birmingham Summer 02 Masons, London (Summer 2002).

Employment (September 2004)

Post Graduate Assistant for Northumbria University (Present)

The job involves preparing and teaching Criminal and Contract seminars to first year university students, being a point of contact for the students and marking written work (coursework and exam papers).

Overseas Representative for Thomas Cook (June 2003 - September 2003, June 2004 - September 2004)

Duties included meeting and greeting customers at the airport, holding welcome meetings, selling and guiding excursions, liaising with suppliers (hoteliers, bars, restaurants etc.), dealing with customer queries and complaints, paperwork, handling money

Resident Co-ordinator at Camden Court, Newcastle (2002 - Present).

Duties include patrolling the building, answering phone calls, letting people in who have locked themselves out, responding to a variety of complaints, assisting the police and fire brigade when necessary and being the resident first aider.

Student mentor at King George's Secondary School in South Shields (2001-2002).

Duties included mentoring four, year eleven pupils for an hour a week each, helping with any problems they might have. Finding information for the mentee's, helping them with homework and encouraging them to look into further education.

Waitress at Newcastle United Football Ground, in the corporate suite (2000-Present).

Duties include setting up the tables and buffet stands, serving at the buffet stands, clearing tables, taking drink orders from the tables and then delivering the drinks to the tables.

Checkout supervisor for Somerfield (I997-2000).

Duties included supervising checkout operators and checkouts, dealing with customer complaints and queries (both in person and over the phone), cashing up the tills and locking up at the end of the night, also looking after the cash office on a Saturday and Sunday (which involved doing the banking etc).
Have also worked in the companies Epos, Personnel and Admin Departments. (Dealing with issues from wages to store deliveries).

Supplementary Skills:

MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Project, MS Outlook, Lotus Smart-suite, Lotus Notes, Windows 95, 98, 2000 and NT.

Hobbies:

Debating
Inter University Mooting and Moot judging
Member of University Swimming team
Member of University Badminton team
Kickboxing
Member of Oswestry Otters Swimming Club

Other achievements:

Middle Temple Representative for Northumbria University
Girls Captain of Northumbria's University Badminton Team 2000-2002
Organised and took part in the University of Northumbria's Rag Week and Fresher's Team, 2000 - 2003
Represented school and college in swimming and badminton
Member of Oswestry Otters Swimming Club since ace of 6
Welsh National finalist in 100m and 200m Backstroke and Butterfly 1996
Shropshire County Age Groups Champion in various strokes and distances 1996 - Present
Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award

Referees:

Michael Stockdale
School of Law
University of Northumbria
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST
0191 227 4990

Mr D Rees Hughes
Kwik Save
english Walls
Oswestry
Shropshire
SY11 2PA
01691 54236

Curriculum Vitae - Critique and Recommendations

CV Resume Presentation

The format could be streamlined to enable the reader to scroll easily through the CV Resume without encountering barriers

Liz could improve the presentation of her CV Resume by:

emboldening and subtly highlightiing only the best information
removing lines and boxes that create barriers and hamper eye flow
eliminating unnecessary wording that clutters the page and takes the focus away from her strengths, for example, the full address of where she has studied or worked is not necessary at this initial stage
keeping to one, search-engine and reader friendly typestyle - Verdana and Arial

Writing CV Resume Content

Competition is fierce for legal graduates. Liz could convey her enthusiasm to succeed in her chosen career by focusing the first page of her CV Resume entirely on her law degree, mini pupillages, legal placements, mooting and debating activities.

This can be achieved by:

halving the space taken up with her address
placing her degree result at the top of the page
repositioning general work experience to the second page
highlighting the variety of case law she was exposed to during the mini pupillages
expand on her legal placements to include each aspect of law she gained an insight into at Westminster Hollings. This would illustrate her knowledge of working in a legal environment and the relevant skills she gained; for example, she might have attended client conferences, summarised court proceedings, undertaken case research, prepared and archived files.

Lecturing on criminal and contract law at the University of Northumbria provides Liz with the perfect opportunity to illustrate much sought after key competencies:

this section of Liz´s CV Resume could convey, more explicitly, her planning, organising, communication and analytical thinking skills - together with any measurable results achieved.

The second page could outline more succinctly Liz's general work experience:

vary the language, commencing each sentence with a different word and wherever possible illustrating where she added value by using her initiative to improve performance, resolve problems or support colleagues etc.

It is good to see Liz has many hobbies that illustrate her competitiveness, fitness and team working; however, the person screening often hundreds of CVs and Resumes will not have time to read the same content twice, so duplication should be avoided - both when writing the CV resume or the covering letter

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