With this in mind we thought it would be useful to pose a simple question:

How important is your CV?

The answer is, quite simply, extraordinarily important. Your CV is most likely the first contact point you have with a recruiter, hiring manager or the organisation, so it had better be impressive…

Errors

The Cpl Group recently conducted a survey finding that 89% of CV’s contain spelling errors. In our conversations with recruiters they have repeatedly stated that poor layout, grammar and spelling will cause them to lose interest in a candidate that might have otherwise potentially been successful. The CV with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes is at a significant disadvantage to the candidate with a well laid out and grammatically correct CV.

Content

One of the recurring issues we face at Career Consultants is candidates who are concerned about their skill set and how it applies for the job or field they want. More often than not the issue is not their skills or achievements; it is that these skills and achievements are not on the CV.

With any CV it is worth checking that your content accurately portrays your skills and experience to a potential employer. Your content should be efficient, economical and show every applicable reason why you’re the best person for the job.

Tailored

Each position is different (though some only marginally), and this should be taken into account with your CV. Having an excellent template is a good start, and will allow you to tailor your CV to the specific job. In this way you can emphasise your relevant skills and place less importance on irrelevant skills.

Your CV is typically your first point of contact with any organisation. The average time spent viewing a CV is approximately 30 seconds, so this presents a very narrow window for you to sell yourself. In order to get your CV to the top of that pile you need to ensure every part of it is correct, accurate and specific for the position at hand.

The post The Importance of a Great CV appeared first on Career Consultants.

The next step can be a big decision for graduates, to go in a different direction and try another program, or to wait until the next intake of graduates and reapply.

This is an extremely personal decision and will depend on your specific set of circumstances (everyone’s is different so weigh up your options) to take the right course. This article is intended as a short guide to starting whichever course you choose to take.

Find a new program

Graduate programs are run by a plethora of companies and across most major fields. While you may have missed your “ideal” program, you may well find another one that you would be very happy in. Remember also that you may find a better fit in a company that you had not previously anticipated. Try to keep your mind open as you search, for instance working for (say) a recruitment firm, may not mean being a recruiter, or working for an accountancy firm may not require an aptitude for numbers.

Waiting for the next intake

If you decide to wait for the next intake, however long that is, you can use the time as an opportunity to increase your skills and likelihood you will apply successfully. You may be provided with 3/6/12 months before the next intake, so the onus is on you to use that time wisely and ensure your CV and application is as good as it can be.

Internships

Internships can be a great way to fill out your CV and gain some new skills or hone some existing ones. Finding an internship in a similar field or a position that will provide useful skills can be a great use of your time.

Diploma Courses

Many courses are available now that take place over a drastically reduced schedule. Provided the courses fall within your budget they can be a very useful ways to take a crash course in a skill or area your college course might only have glanced over.

Waiting for the next intake can be a gamble, in that you have no guarantee that you will be successful, however if you have the qualifications necessary and spend a few months improving on those, your chances can be greatly improved. The key to using this time is to make a decision early on (try not to rush, but not to dawdle either) and follow through with a plan.

Whatever you choose…

Whether you choose to choose a different program, or wait for the next intake (or quite possibly a combination of the two) the key to your next stage is making the decision.

The most effective use of your time is to make a plan and stick to it. Either find another course of action or educate yourself in preparation for the next round. If you ensure you are constantly doing something positive for your career (even if it’s only a small step) you will be constantly increasing your chances of successful application.

The post Graduate Advice: Missing Application deadlines appeared first on Career Consultants.

So basically, yours had better be to the point.

Cramming your life’s experience into 2 sheets of A4 paper can seem like an incredibly difficult task, and siphoning out the unnecessary from the important is even harder. In my own experience I had initially tried to cram everything I possibly could to persuade, nay, force a hiring manager to pick up the phone.

The truth is that in today’s market 30 seconds to view a CV is more than you’re likely to get. The reality is that you are probably dealing with someone who has a few dozen CV’s to get through and not a lot of time to do it. If yours is lucky enough to get 20 seconds you can consider yourself extremely competitive in an increasingly difficult marketplace.

This may seem daunting however it’s an opportunity for you to gain an edge over other competing candidates.

Knowing that you have only 20 seconds (probably a quick scan over your 2-3 most recent roles) allows you to be brutal in cutting unnecessary terms. Most CV’s contain some form of clutter or focus on insignificant details that don’t sell what you can bring to the company to a prospective employer. Keep it focussed on this job, not you in general.

Remember that a CV is not a summary of your life, just your career. Any details which are not relevant to selling your experiences to an employer should be examined carefully and you should consider whether or not they should be there at all.

Using the right keywords can allow your CV to be picked up during searches, and a well organised CV can be the difference in you making a shortlist, or being passed over.

The post CV- 30 Seconds to Impress (actually it’s closer to 20) appeared first on Career Consultants.

The basics are quite simple, a professional network for establishing and maintaining contacts in a business context. Similar to other social media sites you “add” people, and if they approve the connection, you have access to their profile. If you don’t they may keep their profile visible anyway, or they may have a restricted viewing that is only open to some. Unlike Facebook the content is not your daily comings and goings, but rather a summary of you as a professional, and perhaps any relevant industry news or events you’d like to pass on (though this is not required).

Getting more complicated

This is where things begin to get a little more difficult, however. What should you put on your profile? How much information should you give? Who can see it? The questions become more difficult from there, who to connect with, should you know them beforehand?

Fortunately, the answers to these questions are easier than they appear, and with some simple pointers they are very quickly resolved.

Getting Started

Your LinkedIn profile is essentially a snapshot of your professional history and current occupation. It is not quite as detailed as your CV, however will convey similar information in terms of your career and a basic overview of your achievements.

The summary section will be a brief profile (who you are, some key qualities) and a brief list of your major skill sets. This is important for both describing yourself and SEO processes, which we’ll discuss a little later.

LinkedIn will provide examples at every stage on exactly how much information to give, how to phrase etc. Importantly you will need to use your own judgement in how much information to give and what exactly is/was relevant. Privacy and access are issues that you can alter yourself in your account settings, but a good rule of thumb is to leave out anything that you wouldn’t be happy for the general public to see.

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