How to write a CV (advice by someone who has never done one)
Next year, I will have been at my firm for 30 years. The by-line for my blog is 'things that interest or amuse me' but if I could have a by-by-line, it would be 'but don't know much about'. That alas is true for maths, economics, and even chess….when I am compared with the top GMs. I stopped studying maths at A Level; have never studied economics, and haven't played classical chess properly for decades: but, h/t Internet, that doesn't stop me blogging about them.
And so to CVs. I have never written one. But my advice follows.
The only reason for reading on is that in my time I have seen hundreds of CVs. In recent years I have seen numerous ones for experienced people looking for jobs, whether in industry or in practice. Some are good, but most people present themselves poorly.
In brief, I recommend much of what is said in the following article.
In particular, most CVs I see could be vastly improved by having key messages, initial statements, headlines. The attached article begins with:
If you are a recent graduate, a 2-3 page CV is fine. It needs to be brief enough to read through quickly, but not so brief you cannot sell yourself in it. People believe human resources staff read a CV for ten seconds and then decide whether to interview the candidate or not. This is not true. They look at a CV for ten seconds and then decide whether or not to continue reading. If they do, they read for another 20 seconds, before deciding again whether to press on, until there is either enough interest to justify an interview or to toss you into the “no” pile.
I suspect that if CVs could simply have such key messages, then their improvement will pass the 80:20 rule. The rest doesn't matter too much.
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allanbeardsworth 