Hello Everyone,

Just a bit of information really.

Yes, I am still reviewing CVs. If you've sent your CV in already I will get to it, don't resend. All emails get delivered to my blackberry so don't be worried thinking I may not have seen it.

BUT please I advise you [b]take the initiative [/b]and try to work on your CV using the illustrations I have given on this thread. That way, I will spend less time deleting things and spend more time giving advise on other ways of improving your CV.

I have received some CVs recently from people who actually did some work on their CV and needed me to still review. I will give theirs preference and look at them exclusively on Sunday the 29th. In the meantime I'm working from the bottom of my email.

Yes, I'm up at 3AM reviewing CVs.

Cheers

Hello once again everyone,

I'm not really happy to be posting this over and over again. I am constantly getting URGENT emails for reviews. Give me to the end of this week to clear my inbox. In the meantime, please refer to the illustrations if you have an application to submit urgently. The illustration is very detailed. The illustrations can be found if your scroll through this thread or follow the link http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-2/

I have a fulltime job besides doing CV reviews. I work from 8AM to 6PM and do reviews only evenings, very early mornings and weekends.

You'll make me feel really bad by sending me[b] 'Urgent I need you to review my CV so I can send my application tonight'[/b] when I obviously can't review it.

Let's help each other. Ok?   

Cheers

I am reposting this because I need you to do some work on your CV before sending it in. . .


CREATING A MORE EFFECTIVE CV - Part 2

Find attached pictures showing an illustration of how to achieve an effective CVs.

I have used a CV I received, making some changes for privacy reasons.

The first Image is the original CV that was received and the second is the reviewed CV. Can you notice any differences?

(There is a limit on the total size of image I can upload so I've had to really reduce the size of these images to fit in one post in. If you have a problem seeing it clearly, give me a shout and I'll put up the 2 CVs on separate posts)

CREATING A MORE EFFECTIVE CV - PART 2

Here are some pointers on the CV review illustration above (please refer to post with pictures of a CV).

If you have looked at the first post (photo) on CV illustrations, you'd have noticed that prior to the review, the CV was scanty as skills hadn't been detailed properly. Duties on work experience had been left out.

Now, the CV used for this current illustration is the exact opposite!

This original CV in this case was crammed up with TOO MUCH information. Infact, the owner of the CV used all the tricks in the book to make his CV fall into 2 pages (Perhaps to remain compliant with the socalled 2 Page CV rule, I'll try and do a post on this soon).

The message that came with this CV was "I was told no HR can read it because it's too comprehensive"


I'm beginning to see that the keyword with CVs is CLARITY

Now for a start, I removed unneccessary information - of which this CV had ALLOT.

For a start, the"Competences" Section - if you read one of my previous post, I talked about the most effective ways of conveying information about your skills to recruiters. I advised you to avoid using vague statements to describe your skills. Such as';
- Superb in results-oriented, self-motivated, decision-making, planning and organizing skills
- Understanding and approaching technical issues coupled with an enthusiasm for technical challenge
- Superb in adding value, pro-active, hard working, dynamic, critical thinking and problem solving skills
- Good in basic Mechanical Engineering services and good in making researches on critical / difficult issues
- Commitment to safe working practices desire for continuous learning, strength of character and stress tolerance

This CV had about 14 of such statements. I don't see any recruiter sitting down to read all these. Now in the middle of these 14 items, important information on IT Skills had been hidden;
-Superb in Corel Draw, PDMS and AutoCAD for design
- Knowledge of Microsoft suites such Ms Word, Ms Excel, Power Point and internet (I have highlighted the "internet" in red because I really don't see that as a skill a recruiter will look out for in a CV)

I moved these IT skills away to a new section "Computer / IT Skills" and deleted the remaining 12 items.

After the "Competencies" section, there was another section with another listing of skills in a rather ineffective manner. The "Qualities and Skills" Section.
This section listed about 12 items in the manner of:

-Ability to recognize problem in some engines and communicate ideas
- Ability to work with little, without direct supervision and work under pressure
- Ability to follow instructions accurately and ability to evaluate jobs periodically
- Ability to schedule tasks and events and ability to monitor project programmes
- Ability to carry out quality inspections and ability to oversee zero break-down of engines
- Ability to monitor the functioning of all engines and quick respond to engines breakdown

If you look at these items properly they appear to be the fall out of duties on a job. These skills are better reflected under your work experience section. When you list skills in this manner it looks like just tales which anyone can cut and paste BUT when you reflect these skills through your duties on a job, a recruiter can immediately picture your ability to do these things.
This section was deleted.

Moving on to the "Employment and Work Experience" Section, notice that duties have been listed. Some of the listed duties appeared irrelevant and were excluded from the reviewed CV.

I notice allot of people hide the "Personal Information" and "Education" Sections of their CVs at the bottom of the CV.

I really don't see any reason why personal information should be hidden at the bottom of the CV.
As for the "Education" Section, I've seen that practice more common among people with advanced career history who perhaps have a career path that is different from their Education.
At entry level (which the owner of this CV is at) I advise you keep your "Education" Section at the top of your CV.


And the final section is that of "Reference". I'm not a fan of detailing Reference on CVs mainly for the sake of confidentiality. It really is not good sending out someone's contact information all over the place. Recruiters will usually contact your Referee after some test or interview stages. They will ask of it when they need it. For the CVs I've reviewed so far I remove from some CVs and other times I don't. I advise you remove it from your CV unless a recruiter states that it should be included. The available on request signoff is good enough.

I highlighted the "Career Objective" Section in red because I needed the owner of the CV to work on it. I usually use red highlights on CVs to note things I need a CV owner to work on.

I advise you do some initial work on your CV before sending it in. I'm sure if you work with these two samples you should be able to achieve very good improvement on your CV.

Cheers

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday I replied several emails directing them to the illustrations I did (on creating effective CVs) and advised to do some initial work on CVs then resend to me for review. I must commend those that have already gotten back to me.

Today I've decided to do an additional guide on creating a CV.

Why do you need a CV?
Simply to show you abilities, skills and aspirations [/b]to a recruiter or potential employer. I have highlighted "aspiration" because it is also important to create your CV in a manner that shows a recruiter the direction of your career.  [b]It helps answer the question - "Why do you want this job?" and it says to a recruiter "I am suitable for this job".

Also, we all know a common interview question is "Where do you see your self in 5 years time?". I believe your CV is effective if it can answer this question; let your CV speak to recruiters. The easiest way to achieve this is to include your most recent and current trainings and professional qualifications. This is another reason why you should list items on your CV starting with the most recent/current.

You may need to adjust your CV from time to time before making certain applications. For instance, as I'm in the accounting profession, the CV I will submit for a position as an Internal Auditor will differ from what I will submit for a role as a Management Accountant. The aim is to ensure you portray the right/core skill and abilities for that particular application/position.


What should you include on your CV?
Luckily, there are NO fixed set of rules for CV content (my opinion). It is not science. You need to simply ensure that you effectively reveal, portray or "show off" your skills.

While doing this ensure your CV complies with the CLARITY characteristic. Having a CV that lacks clarity is equivalent to the act of pouring your drink into a leaking cup. It amounts to waste, little or no impact.

As I said earlier, the purpose of creating you CV is to show off your skills, interests and aspirations to a recruiter. You can achieve this by including the following information on your CV;

- - Your Name
- - Career Objective/Personal Profile (I'm not a fan of this section but it's popular)
- - Personal Information
- - Education and Qualifications (I personally don't like terms like "Education History" or "Educational  Qualifications" - there is something odd about that word "Educational". Also I don't like to see Education as a Historical thing hence my dislike for "Education History"
- - Professional Memberships and Certifications (can also be Professional Qualifications)
- - Work Experience (again, I am not a fan of "Work History" I prefer to see what I've done in the past as an "Experience" and not just "History"
- - Computer/IT Skills (I wish I could find a better phrase for the section listing IT competence. I don't like the phrase "Computer Skill"
- - Publications
- - Reference

Please don't get stuck on terminology for these sections. Simply, ensure that you use terms that are understandable.

I highlighted the word 'information' above for a reason which I will explain now. When you are creating a CV, it is important you do not get so attached to templates. When you focus on the use of templates, you'll end up including sections that are not relevant to you OWN CV.

I advise you focus on the information / content of your CV. Create your CV with an aim of portraying you OWN skills and abilities in the best possible manner.

Your CV must NOT contain all the sections I have listed above. Select the ones that are relevant to the information you wish to convey to a recruiter.

Don't restrict yourself to rules and templates.


Are there certain things that you should avoid while creating your CV?
Yes. Not exactly rules but they help with presentation of your CV.

1. Avoid the use of several contact numbers.
Yesterday I reviewed a CV with 4 (FOUR) contact numbers and 2 email addresses. There was an Airtel, MTN, Glo and Visaphone line AND 2 yahoo email addresses! It wasn't a good look.
I advise you simply list 1 (one) number and 1 (email address). It looks more professional, neater and helps when you track your applications.

2. Avoid including your passport photo on your CV (unless a recruiter asks) I don't see what exactly it adds to your CV. I usually get put off by recruitment ads that request for pictures. I'm not applying for a model gig. This point also goes with point 3 below.

3. Use your TRUE age or exclude listing your age on your CV altogether. Now, I was reviewing another CV yesterday and the owner had included a passport photograph and listed date of birth 1988 - perhaps it was a typo or I'm just not good at guessing ages, BUT the owner of this CV looked like he/she was born in 1975. I just couldn't get this out of my head and somehow I haven't finished that review. I'll assume he/she had changed date of birth for confidentiality, perhaps that will give me the patience to review it.
Please try not to appear dishonest in your applications. It may cause you to be disqualified. It is quite simple to spot irregularities on a CV.
I know the false age "official age" thing is quite common here and honestly I'm not prepared to go into that now. However, I encourage you to be honest.

4. You really don't need to list your "first school leaving certificate" on your CV. In my opinion, it doesn't add much (infact anything). Free up that space on your CV for more important things like your professional qualifications. I am yet to see a recruiter that has specifically asked for it.

5. If you can, please avoid listing the full addresses of the places of work listed under the "Work Experience" section. It actually clusters everything up on your CV. You can simply put the town and/or state.
Do: ABC Plc, Utako, Abuja
Don't: ABC Plc, Head office, No 12 market road, opposite MFN, Utako, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

6. Avoid using SEVERAL BOLD AND CAPITAL CHARACTERS ON YOUR CV. IT IS REALLY DISTRACTING AND NOT EASY ON THE EYE

7. Finally, for confidentiality purposes, please please please don't put the full contact details of your referees. I have seen all sorts of contacts during these 3 months of doing CV review. Please respect the confidentiality of your referee. Most of you use very "important people" as your referees; I don't think it is the best idea to send their contacts all over the place. Referencing commences much later during a recruitment exercise. I advise you to only state it when a recruiter requests.
Do: Reference
Available on Request


That said, I encourage you to do the following. . . .
1. Ensure your CV has a pattern
          - Even margins
          - Single font style through out the document
          - Even spacing between sections

2. List your duties under stated work experiences. Only use summaries when you have worked for several organisations and perhaps some of the experiences are now irrelevant to your current application.

3. List items starting with the most recent ones (however, you may do otherwise if work experience that is relevant to position applied for isn't most recent; you may choose to bring that work experience to the top) For instance, I had an accounting job while at university but worked as a customer service officer at a bank during NYSC. After service, I still maintained my accounting work experience at the top because I was applying for accounting job and not a customer service job after NYSC.

4. When you list your duties/responsibilities. Use short phrases and avoid blabbing. Keep it simple
Do: Monthly stock record update
Don't: Carrying out the stock record update of the organisation every month. This is to ensure that the company has enough stock to meet customer requirements. Also blah blah blah etc



Just to state that if I have used your CV as an illustration or used the content of your CV to explain an example, the intention is not to insult you. It is just to make an explanation clearer


Please work with the illustration, if you scroll through this thread, you'll see pictures of CVs I've reviewed, before and after. You can also find it here;

Writing a CV When You have Zero Work Experience - http://www.thekrine.com/blog/writing-a-cv-when-you-have-zero-work-experience/

Illustration: Creating a More Effective CV (Part 1) - http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-1/

Illustration: Creating a More Effective CV (Part 2) - http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-2/

Illustration: Creating a More Effective CV (Part 3) - http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-3/


I advise you to do some work on your CV before sending it in for review (Henceforth, if it is obvious that you have not done any work to improve the content of you CV, I will nicely reply you with a link to the illustration ).



Happy weekend

Hello Everyone,

This week, I featured an Environmental practitioner as the "Professional of The Week"It was a very nice interview, he talked about the profession as well as skills and professional certification such as NISP, NEBOSH, IEMA. Read on and be inspired.


Professional of The Week: An Environmental Engineer

This week, we're featuring an Environmental Engineer as the "Professional of The Week". It was yet another enlightening interview and I encourage every professional or budding professional out there to read on.

Name: Jima Okori
Location (state): Rivers State
Profession: Environmental Engineering

1. Why did you choose Environmental Engineering as your profession?
Well, my dream as a child was to be a pilot and as I grew it changed to Mechanical Engineering. However, while I was undergoing admission into university, complications during the process led me to Industrial Sciences.
After my Undergraduate degree, my interest in engineering was still very much alive and my dad, a Chemical Engineer by profession,  advised that Environmental Engineering would be best suited based on my chemistry background. So, I went for a Masters in Environmental Engineering Technology, specialising in Environmental Analysis and Assessment.

Continue to read all 8 questions here http://www.thekrine.com/blog/professional-of-the-week-an-environmental-engineer/


Cheers

Hello Everyone,

Happy weekend. Been a very busy week for me I've only read my emails without responding. I've done just 2 CV reviews this week (and I receive about 6-9 emails daily).

I advise you to keep using the illustrations for now. Scroll through this thread to read it or use the links;
http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-1/
and
http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-2/

I managed to do a post on Monday on the Professional of The Week feature where an Environmental Engineer was interviewed. Read it using this link;
http://www.thekrine.com/blog/professional-of-the-week-an-environmental-engineer/

Just early this morning I did another post on the Skill Development feature, Team Work Skill. Read it using this link;
http://www.thekrine.com/blog/skill-development-team-work/

Please work with the illustrations as I am mainly responding to CVs that have been sent after working with the illustration. That way, I can reach more CVs.
However, I may not be able to respond to further request for reviews after my first review of your CV because there are a lot of CVs I have to respond to.

All the best and happy Saturday

Cheers

Hello, sent cv 2u as u said U can help n check one or fews things on it, after 2weeks nothing from you, U promise 2do that when U re advertising here on nairaland, hope you are not up 2something, hope to hear from u, need 2get a reply on the cv I sent

ucever:

Hello, sent cv 2u as u said U can help n check one or fews things on it, after 2weeks nothing from you, U promise 2do that when U re advertising here on nairaland, hope you are not up 2something, hope to hear from u, need 2get a reply on the cv I sent

wrong choice of words.

You've been advised severally to edit your CV on your own using the illustrations on this page, if you cannot wait.

S/he has a regular 7am to 9pm job.

This is part time/volunteer work.

@Ucever

1. You are not the only one that has sent a CV to my me for review. Just today I have received 4

2. Reviewing CVs is not all I do. I work 8AM to 6PM monday to friday. Somehow I fit it into my schedule and provide backup notes and illustrations to help people do it themselves

3. The illustations are on this thread, perhaps you should use your initiative and help yourself (trust me, if I can figure out which CV in my inbox is yours, I'll make sure I DON'T review it).


This is the most polite I have been with response as naïve and disgusting as yours. DON'T push your luck! I'm still sitted in my office right now obviously not in a light mood!

Cheers

^ Please take it easy.

Maybe you should announce you've stopped receiving new CVs?

Till April maybe?

Wish i could help, but i cant.

Hi Yamakuza,

CVs can be sent. What I do is reply with a link to the illustration when I notice a lot of flaws on a CV. That has eased the load cos I spend fewer time working on one CV.

It's just odd that someone will suggest I might be doing something with his CV then go on to state he is still expecting me to review his CV.

Pls,does anyone know how to update beneficiary's info on chevron/agbami scholarship? Learnt d deadline is june[b][/b] 21.pls its urgent&important.

Hello Everyone,

I'm online to chat via mycvclinic@gmail.com  and  mycvclinic@yahoo.com and will be on from[b] now till 11:59PM[/b] 17th Feb.

I'm actually reviewing CVs at the moment but thought I could mix it with IM chat. If you have any questions, feel free to add me and drop me a line. I will start with a limit of 10mins per chat. If however I get a lot of responses, I will drop it down to 5mins per chat to accommodate more people.

Cheers

@mycvclinic has really done a great job at helping many with their CV's here.

I would have suggest that you recommend a book or an e-book to help a lot of people so that they can sit back and get properly tutored in crafting a solid CV.

Your CV is actually your advance party for the job you are looking for; it can make or mar you.

For those in the house who dont mind can have a look at attachment below for further help.

Hello everyone I have seen that many people are looking for help in regards to cleaning up their CV and to help ease the load people can send their cv to naijacareerist@gmail.com. I am an HR professional based in DC and also run a blog named naijacareerist.com which gives career tips. Send your resume with the job you are applying to and we will go from there.

Here is an ebook you can use to start http://www.careerleak.com/resumes/resume-ebook.html. Here is another good website with free webinars and ebooks http://www.gm4jh.com/

@mycv: long time, no hear!

@idera: thanks! Hope to read more from you!

@naijac: thanks! Any takers on so far?

Hi Yamakuza,

I'm here. I've reviewed 38 CVs today. (I put my head down on it today because I did not do any reviews last week as I was cut up on a project + Fastlink ran out).

Please keep working with the illustrations before sending in your CV cos it made things very fast for me today.

The illustrations are available on earlier posts of this thread or using the following links:
http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-1/
and
http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-2/

I still have 87 CVs inbox most of which are from January as I have focused on most recent CVs which have been worked on with the illustration. I still have some more CVs inbox from people that have used the illustration and I will get to it shortly. I've noticed my inbox grows large whenever I reply here, now worried what I will wake up to tomorrow.

Cheers

^ Welcome back!

[s]We were really looking forward to the Professional Of The Week segment for 2 mondays now.[/s]

^Professional of the Week is still ON. My bad, these professionals are hard to track down. I'm expecting response from a Chemical Engineer with DPR and the Country Manager of an African Airline.

I'll post one up by Monday. I promise.

Thanks. Muchos gracias!

No I have not seen any emails , thats fine I was just trying to help out the situation

JUST SENT IN MY CV for your review Thanks alot.

Professional of The Week: A Chemical Engineer


This week , we’re featuring a Chemical Engineer with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) as the Professional of The Week”. It was yet another enlightening interview and I encourage every professional or budding professional out there to read on.


1. Why did you choose Chemical Engineering as your profession?

I got interested in a Career in the Engineering field because I was science inclined as I child. Also, I enjoyed subjects like Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Physics. I would have taken medicine but I can’t stand the sight of blood.

While in Secondary School, SS2, I had a discussion with a senior and this helped me single out Chemical Engineering as my dream profession.

I choose Chemical Engineering because of its relevance and application in a lot of industries. You can work almost anywhere, Oil & Gas , Petrochemical, Pharmaceutical & Health, Agriculture etc

Read the full interview here http://www.thekrine.com/blog/professional-of-the-week-a-chemical-engineer/


Cheers

@ mycvclinic. Thanks for this write-up. It's an eye opener

My cvclinic, thanks for your expository teachings on the winning cv. I sent u mine since last week, but i hv nt heard from u.

Hi UdekeJ,

I advise you to use the illustration and work on your CV. I am very busy at the moment and will resume reviewing CVs on Friday. Please refer to the links if you need your CV immediately.

The illustration can be found using the following links:

Writing a CV When You have Zero Work Experience - http://www.thekrine.com/blog/writing-a-cv-when-you-have-zero-work-experience/

Illustration: Creating a More Effective CV (Part 1) - http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-1/

Illustration: Creating a More Effective CV (Part 2) - http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-2/

Illustration: Creating a More Effective CV (Part 3) - http://www.thekrine.com/blog/illustration-creating-a-more-effective-cv-part-3/


All the best

Please I have sent you my cv but didn't get any reply from you. My email is ojpatz@yahoo.com. Thanks

Hello Jayriel,

You only sent in your CV on the 18th. As I advised earlier, if u need ur CV immediately, work with the illustrations. Otherwise, exercise some patience till I get to it. I surely will.

Cheers