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Valerie Matthews-LaneCareer Development Team, Student

Development

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You will be able to:

Identify when & how to use a CV aspart of the recruitment & selectionprocess;

Evaluate what makes for an effectiveCV;

Identify & evidence skills that

employers look for; Critically evaluate your own CV &identify improvements required.

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An effective CV should:

Inform

Be targeted

Emphasise your key selling points &suitability for the job

Persuade an employer that you areworth interviewing

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Yourself

Job

The sector

Theemployer

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Personal Details Career Profile/Objective

Education & Qualifications

Work Experience &/or Voluntary Work

Skills

Prizes, Awards & major achievements

Positions of responsibility

Presentations & publications General Interests

References

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DOs & DONTs OF CV WRITINGUse when required as part of the selectionprocess & as part of your own portfoliodevelopment

If the application process asks for anapplication form , dont send a CV instead.

Highlight the career path you are pursuing &the skills you have developed that are relevant& tailored to the job

Dont list every skill, every job or everyexperience youve ever had. This can make itdifficult to read & appear unfocussed

Keep a generic CV & adapt it for each job.You should provide supporting evidence(practical examples) of any skills claimed

Dont send a generic CV for every job youapply for, it will almost certainly guaranteefailing to get you to interview

Try to keep your CV to 2 pages maximum. Itshouldnt take more that 1-2 minutes to scanread

Dont go overboard with details (it issuggested that the average time spent readinga CV is 30 seconds)

It should provide topics for discussion atinterview

Dont include complex detail - be clear,concise & to the point

It should aim to meet all of the essentialcriteria in the person specification for a job &at least some of the desirable

Dont lie on your CV at best you will lookfoolish, at worst it could lead to yourdismissal.

It should use action words to describe whatyou did and the skills used and explain anyunusual terms or acronyms

Dont sell your self short and use terminologyinappropriately

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Cognitive e.g.Collected, assessed, analysed, ordered (e.g. ranked),selected, applied judgement, evaluated data/evidence,

Self-managing e.g.Achieved, organised, managed, negotiated, budgeted,

developed, directed, marketed, evaluated, audited,Organising skills e.g.Administered, built, controlled, coordinated, established,managed, implemented, improved, planned, set goals,

Group skillsEncouraged, monitored, cooperated, collaborated,shared (e.g. responsibilities), evaluated others, dealt withe.g. conflict, explained, persuaded,

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Example 1 - Voluntary work

Event Organiser, X University , Shire 2005-6In this role I was required to delegate tasks to

other team members for a charity event and Ilearnt a lot from this event in terms of team

working.

(This is PASSIVE: this statement doesnt demonstrateteam working skills, it doesnt tell us much aboutwhat they ACTUALLY learnt)

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Example 2 Voluntary work

Event Organiser, X University, Shire 2005-6Led a team of 6 people as president of (society) toorganise an annual charity event for Barnardos. My

role included motivating and delegating tasks to theteam and ensuring the event ran within budget.From an initial budget of 1000, the event made aprofit of 3,000 for the charity.

(This is much more ACTIVE it tells the readerwhat they did, the number of people involved & the outcome)

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1. In groups review the Centrica Placement Details &the 2 CVs & decide which candidate you wouldchoose & why;

2. Agree how you will justify your decision & what

supporting evidence you might want to provide;3. Identify what feedback you will give to the

candidate you rejected on how they could improvetheir approach for the future

4. Appoint someone to feedback on behalf of yourgroup;

5. 20 minutes for the task.

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When recruiting 64% of directors said recentgraduates employability skills were moreimportant to their organisation as anemployer than the specific occupational,technical or academic knowledge/skillsassociated with the graduates degree.

IOD skills briefing December 2007 Graduates employabilityskills

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Self-management Teamwork Business & Customer

Awareness Problem solving Communication & Literacy Application of number Application of IT

Positive attitude Entrepreneurship/enterprise

Taken from Future fit: Preparing graduates for the world of work, CBI &Universities UK, March 2009

How many ofthese can you getfrom your degree?

How many willyou need todevelop throughother activities?

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CONTEXT Put the situation in context . Brieflydescribe the situation so that the examplecan be clearly understood avoidexplaining too much detail.

ACTION State what ACTION you actually took what was your contribution? Avoid we iftalking about a situation in a team context- they need to know what specificcontribution YOU made.

RESULT Describe the outcome what were thepositives/learning points/reflections onthe situation?

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Protocols Created a protocol forinvestigating the causes of Y currently inuse @ X;

Presentation Instrumental & Physical Optics,paper presented at national conference;

Research Constructed a questionnaire tomeasure ion feedback rates & quantum

efficiency. This is now being used to developa further pilot study in the department.

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Introduce your CV with a Personal Profile orCareer Objective Use a Key Skills Section Save prime spots for the hottest material

Separate related and unrelated employmentexperience

Combine relevant work experience &

voluntary work in a relevant experiencesection

Avoid negative statements e.g. although'

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Checklist for creating your OWN CVDo you like the overall way it looks?

Have you got the ordering of the sections right?

Have you used CAR method to cite evidence?

Have you used ACTION words to describe your skills &experience?

Is the language passive or active?

Do all you points have relevance & add value to your application?

Have you described achievements rather than just tasks?

Is you CV presented consistently & appropriately in terms of:Font? Margins?Type Setting? Bullet points?Formatting? Italics, Bold etc?

Headings?Is terminology explained where necessary?

Is it grammatically correct & spell checked?

Have you used good quality paper? White/cream A4?

Have you got other people to look at it what do they think?

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University of Leicester Careers Service

Well, this certainly screws up our plan toConquer the Universe.

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In pairs 1 minute to reflect on theworkshop & identify:

What worked wellBetter if.. I thing I will do as a result

Random feedback

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Website & Student Development Zone (2nd

Floor, David Wilson Library): www.le.ac.uk/careers/a-z/cvs Career Development Guide on CVs

Central Workshops on CV Development CV feedback:

1:1 appointments Telephone discussions

Careers Guidance For information on how to access services

visit www.le.ac.uk/careers/gettingadvice

http://www.le.ac.uk/careers/a-z/cvshttp://www.le.ac.uk/careers/gettingadvicehttp://www.le.ac.uk/careers/gettingadvicehttp://www.le.ac.uk/careers/gettingadvicehttp://www.le.ac.uk/careers/a-z/cvshttp://www.le.ac.uk/careers/a-z/cvshttp://www.le.ac.uk/careers/a-z/cvs