FOAK Utterly O.T - CVs and etcetera

Hi, I realise this is off topic but stuff along this line has been
discussed here occasionally, hope you don't mind and I hope someone is
bored enough to chuck their two bob's worth in :

I'm stumbling closer to my sojourn in the UK and have a couple of
questions re what's standard practise re: CV's / resumes.

- Have been told max 2 pages is the accepted norm, is this true (Oz is
usually 4 or 5) ?

- If the above is correct would anyone be willing to have a look at

http://au.geocities.com/v12daimler/summary-cv_1.0b.pdf

and comment on what they think should be reduced, expanded, changed,
deleted, whatever ?

Just realised after uploading that there's no contact details or
residency status, oops, will update with a "c" version shortly.

- one of the pro forma CVs on a website included a line for "hobbies and
interests" do employers over there REALLY give a monkey's what I do in
my spare time ? I certainly have never enquired when hiring people...

- My primary value is the fact that I have a foot in both the IT and the
finance/business camps and hence can fix off track projects because I
can understand both sides of the issues. How the hell do I communicate
that in so few words, or is that best attempted in a cover letter ? My
Aussie CV has a skillsets summary at the start where I try and peddle my
arse^H^H^H sorry "highlight my skillsets and value add" - how do you
guys try and put that out there ? ]

- Are there any job titles or phrases that need explanation ? ie do you
guys use the term "Program Manager" ? The Yanks use Project Director
IIANM (gets used here occasionally too).

- Lastly, what are the best websites for jobseekers in the IT/finance
sector of the market ?

Thanks for any assistance

 

http://au.geocities.com/v12daimler/summary-cv_1.0c.pdf

Better/Worse ?

JL

 

No, this is bollocks - especially for a technical CV. 4-5 pages is fine, as
long as it's all relevant stuff. Bear in mind, though, that some hirers may
only read the first couple of pages, so a summary of what you're about, and
your technical skills, on page 1, will be useful.

http://www.simonk.org/cv.pdf works for me

The chronology looks all fine, but I reckon you need a beginning-bit
summarising everything. You should take all your qualifications out of the
chronology too and stick them in a separate bit.

Not really, but I've always put it down as a couple of sentences at the end.
There's no harm in doing it - provided, of course, that it's not bullshit.

Sounds about right. As mentioned, a good first-page format might be a table
at the top with your name and contact details, then 3 or 4 paragraphs of
prose describing yourself and your main strengths, and then another table
listing your core skills and how long you've had them (e.g. Java/J2EE
development - 5 yearsl Project Management - 10 years; Prince 2 qualification)

http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/
http://www.gojobsite.co.uk/

should get you near-100% coverage.

There is a lot of activity in the financial services sector at the moment -
FFS, recruiters keep calling *me* about jobs in this sector, and I haven't
got a fucking clue ...

 

Depends on your age, the job and whether you're using an agency.

Given that you seem to be an old fart and have a few relevant jobs I'd
suggest you could get away with more than 2.

I'd put some personal details right at the start; DOB, marital status,
contact details etc. I'd also make a mention of your passport/visa
situation since it's not easy to bring Australians into the UK at short
notice unless you can demonstrate they have special skills.

I'd follow the personal details with the education bit

And then I'd add the list of jobs you've given. I would write more
about the current role and less about the Ericsson role (it was 4 years
ago... get over it...)

I like to see the "hobbies and interests" part but don't think it
greatly influences me.

In the personal details you could write a 'personal summary', or you
could have it as the first item in the CV. Many people do it and I've
employed people because of something I saw there. A CV is part of the
sales pitch you make for a job so should be steered towards the job in
question, if it's being scatter gun distributed then put the best spin
on yourself in there.

Program Manager makes sense here. Nothing stood out in the CV as 'odd'
to me.

Fucked if I know!

 

there certainly is, which is why if my current lot don't stump up a
decent payrise/bonus in February, I'll probably be moving on.

having worked in the sector for ~3 years, I can assure you that no
having a fucking clue doesn't appear to be an issue.

 

On radio 4 this morning it was mentioned that 1% of workers in 'the city'
were getting bonuses greater than 1,000,000 this year. We're madly
upgrading systems to keep up with the increase in trading volumes so times
must be good.

AOL

 

Thanks very much for taking the time to read and reply.

Excellent, I can do a better job with a few more words and thanks for
the link to yours - that's a great template to plagiarise (ahem, sorry,
research)

....snip whole heaps of really good input. Much appreciated.

Errm not got it, nobody in Oz really even cared up until about the last
year - how important is it considered to be there ? Should I be
spending the next couple of months madly studying for it ?

You bewdy !

JL

 

Guilty My youth flew out the window taking my memory and my
washboard abs, the bastard.

Thanks. I'm OK for visa (provided they don't change the rules before I
get approval, <nervously drums fingers and looks to the British
Consulate>) 4 years with the option for perm. residency at the end (with
some criteria req'd to be met). If they do change the rules I can squeak
into a highly skilled visa as well but that's only 1 year and you have
to keep renewing it (and if AGSM falls off the 50 MBA's list out the
door I go).

<chuckle> did it come across that way ? Oops. Was just trying to show
there were 3 distinctly seperate programmes of work in that role -
suggestions as to how to better deal with that appreciated (although now
I know I can go more than 2 pages I imagine having more detail in the
current role and prev. role will balance it.)

Righto then, in it goes. I guess "bikie scum", "trashing small rural
towns" and "rogering your daughter" would probably be a bad sales pitch
though

Thanks very much. Noted.

JL

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it - I've never seen it as a prerequisite
for a job, but then again I'm not really a project manager. I suppose if
you had the time to kill it might be another feather in your cap, so to
speak.

 

Visa rules change rapidly; I had to withdraw a job offer because of this
recently, the 'highly skilled' list seems to change and if your skills
are not on this list then the visa application process can take ages (or
at least so I've been told.)

Oh, no, that wouldn't do at all. It's "biker scum" over here.

 

reader.news.telstra.net>, JL
() says...

http://www.jobserve.com
http://www.gojobsite.co.uk
http://www.planetrecruit.com
http://www.cwjobs.co.uk

Jobserve will let you put in several CVs, which may be useful if
you can't decide which format to use!

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