h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My auntie works for a HR company, and she offered me a very valuable piece of advice... make sure your CV is printed on one piece of paper only. She told me why and I was shocked (my old CV was 3 pages long ). Companies are known to rip off the rear sheets of a CV and bin them... leaving only the front sheet of paper. Their reasoning, she stated, was that many companies employ junior members of staff to do the initial sifting of the applications, and these staff often have thousands of CV's to read through... which often takes a long time. If you can't say why you are the right person for the job is a succinct way... you obviously aren't suitable.

B.

It would depend on what job you're going after. As an engineer, I can say that a 1-page CV would not get you very far. By all means make the 1st page good enough that it catches attention and makes the reviewer want to read the rest. Thats what a good summary is about.

I personally use a skills-based CV and so I have my relevant skills (selling points) on the 1st page.

I can't see how you can summarise in - my case - 23 years worth of relevant work experience. The longer you've worked - especially in one field - the more relevant things you are going to have to include, else you might be selling yourself short.



Bassman

Having gone through a long period of my life going from job to job and unemployment scattered in between I inevitably ended up doing some Govt DOE training things. The best and most convincing advice i was given regarding CVs is ... they do NOT need to be longer than 1 side of 1 sheet of normal A4 paper. the guy running the course gave excellent backing to his argument. 1/ most CVs are scanned/browsed and a judgement is made within 30 seconds. Very rarely does anyone look beyond the 1st sheet 2/ Most CVs are then copied. So doing it double sided causes problems 3/ The CV is designed to get you an interview so does NOT need full information. If the employer is interested they will ask you in for interview and then more details will be given 4/ It focuses the job seeker on selling their skills rather than churning out a life story 5/ always use white paper as other colours can cause problems with photocopying/faxing. other colours stand out but gaining employment is usually about fitting in rather than personal expression

Here-here! I was also told to write on white or pale cream paper. Flashy coloured paper just makes employers think that the person will crave attention, and be dificult to control in the working environment... at least, that is what I'd think if I were reading through a few hundred CV's. I'd bin it without a second thought!

B

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B.

It depends on the job you're going for. A basic job requires a basic CV. As an engineer you need to sell your skills its not likely to fit on one side of A4 unless you use a fint smaller than 10pt.

2/3

That should be font not fint.
I've always used white paper but usually 100gsm as opposed to standard weight (85gsm).

unconvinced about this argument I'm afraid. I have been one of those juniors who sifts through CVs and made a point of looking carefully to see which are best and made the most impact. Two pages are the most acceptable but a third can be used for your references. However, academic CVs should be whatever length is necessary as you will need pages for all your published papers. A good covering letter backs up your CV and shows you can string sentences together. The sort of jobs I have always gone for though, really do need two sheets of paper. White, any weight (not bible paper obviously) will do as it only gets photocopied. Employers want to see contact details, qualifications (professional and academic), skills, and five years previous experience along with desciption of duties.

hello everyone i am a77yearold man retired and interest the universe my hobby is reading and computing

Good point about the covering letter. This is just as important as the CV. In fact any contact with the employer is important. I'm still not convinced that anyone needs more than 1 side of 1 A4 white paper. Trust me. I used to have a CV 2 pages long and thought it cannot be done. I was proved wrong. As an experiment try to fit your current CV onto 1 sheet 1 side. With rearranging of the layout and cutting and summararising it is possible.

Having been a sub contractor in the oil industy for some 14 years you will find it hard to put it all onto one page! but not impossible. After all your CV is just your way of obtaining an interview, where you will have the chance to explain full details!

When the oil game was at its busiest we never got jobs in the traditional way. It was more" word of mouth" when you were recommended by the first folk on the new project- The engineers,in all trades.
So it was possible, and indeed did happen, that they same squad of workers would just go from project to project.

This was a graet thing as it meant we all worked as a team from day one
Smudger.

One page will only get your basic details: Name, Address, qualifications and courses.
I got mine down to 3 pages by restricting myself to the last 10 years. I also added a photo.

My CV got me 5 interviews in as many weeks and my new job. So the one page advice didn't work for me.

As someone who has worn both the employers and employees hats I would say keep your CV as tight as possible; by all means list your qualifications, just don't go into great deatail about them. Your future employer "should" know what these qualifications mean (providing they are relevent to the job). Also you only need list the last five to ten years of work experience (which is a good thing for me as I was a bit of a drifter when I first left poly). It is also a good idea to tailor your CV to each application stressing the things that different employers want.

Waylander
No job too small
No fee too large

Thankfully Im not in the job chasing club at all these, as I am now disabled. The fact is that the days are now gone where experience counted for a lot more than qualifications!

That is a shame! to say the least, I saw it so often in my past where you had an incompetant person holding down a job, just for the sake of a piece of paper which said they were clever!

It now appears that these pieces of paper mean far more to employers than experience itself!!! How Sad!!
Smudger.

I Agree, It would appear that today you need a degree to get a job as a Lab Technician. I have had to train many graduate that haven't got the first clue about analytical chemistry. Some of them can't even do titrations!!!!

My daughter spent 4 years at uni. to get her degree in business management, got a job with a hotel chain as bar manager. Turns out that the bar staff were being paid more than she was???

I used to be a welding instructor in the oil construction business, nearly all of the so called clever students couldnt even burn their fingers, let alone a welding rod!
Most of my succesful trainees had a lot more common sense than bits of paper, and thats what got them through. Bear in mind, that in those days a good welder could earn more than a dcotor!
Smudger.

The last job I had as a bar manager we got a Uni graduate in as the new Food & Beverages manager (my boss) who I had to teach how to pull a pint and do the most basic of bar jobs.
The main reason your daughter was paid less than the staff was probably to do with her being salaried and the staff being paid by the hour.

Probably Waylander, She used to work behind the bar before she went to uni. and also when she got off for study time. She also worked in a hotel after she had been helping us out with our B&B.
Ive been in salaried jobs where they expected you to work hours on end just for the privilage??? No way! I was off back on the tools as a welder, earning 4 times as much!!
Smudger,

And let that be a lesson to all, "never get promoted beyond your ability to get over time pay"