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Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

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Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#41
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you be willing to pay and what would you expect to get out of it ? I think a big problem is that the return varies a lot, some people have absolutely awful CVs and some people have great CVs. If you're charging a flat-rate for CV reviews then some people will obviously get far more value out of it than others. If you charge variable-rate that's likely to put off customers who want to know upfront how much…

It does sounds like there might be an opportunity though for a developer-focused CV review service? HNcvreview.com anyone? Maybe you could get away with a flat rate if you provided additional services besides the review. Maybe taking the CVs and turning them into a profile for them that's indexable by Google or creating a "reverse job application" like a couple people have been floating around lately here?

I'm not sure how well a CV review service would work alongside a reverse job application. I'm not so sure I'd want (possibly), old copies of my CV so readily available with suggested changes.

Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#42
post #26
post #9

I'm think my CV is pretty well polished, but I've never asked for professional feedback on it, so let me know what you think: http://www.puremango.co.uk/2009/08/php-cv/ I'm particularly interested in whether you think the order of sections (education->work->general->personal) works, and whether my copy sells. Thanks for the offer! PS: I'm not looking for work at the moment, so please prioritise my request lower than…

Generally you only put education first while you're still in education, after your first proper job you put that first.

Presumably if you're applying for jobs related to your education that aren't related to your first "proper" job then you'd mention your education first, no?

I'm guessing something along those lines led you to specify this as a generalisation.

Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#43
post #9

I'm think my CV is pretty well polished, but I've never asked for professional feedback on it, so let me know what you think: http://www.puremango.co.uk/2009/08/php-cv/ I'm particularly interested in whether you think the order of sections (education->work->general->personal) works, and whether my copy sells. Thanks for the offer! PS: I'm not looking for work at the moment, so please prioritise my request lower than…

Ahem. Delist swimming as one of your activities.

I would say 95% of every CV I get has swimming and/or reading listed. Even if it is a particular passion (which I suspect it is in this case) just don't mention it :)

(I like the swiss army knife mention though, a bit of "unique" is always good)

Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#44

Thanks very much for this. I've never had much luck with recruiters and my C.V so any feedback you have would be greatly appreciated. I've also decided to upload it here. http://www.alanhollis.com/Alan_Hollis.pdf Please note I'm not actively seeking employment at the moment but might as well take advantage of the opportunity to get some constructive criticism whilst it's here.

Thanks for the link.

I have had a look and there is plenty of advice I could give you. I'm facing a pile of almost 100 CV's now but I promise you that I will get round to it although it may take a few days if that's ok?

Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#45
post #44

Thanks very much for this. I've never had much luck with recruiters and my C.V so any feedback you have would be greatly appreciated. I've also decided to upload it here. http://www.alanhollis.com/Alan_Hollis.pdf Please note I'm not actively seeking employment at the moment but might as well take advantage of the opportunity to get some constructive criticism whilst it's here.

Thanks for the link. I have had a look and there is plenty of advice I could give you. I'm facing a pile of almost 100 CV's now but I promise you that I will get round to it although it may take a few days if that's ok?

It's fantastic thank you :) I must think of ways to pay back the community now.

Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#46
post #8

22 CV's received so far! Looks like I'm going to be kept busy. I will do my absolute best to respond to each and every one of you but you will need to be patient. Anyone else looking to send me a CV, please fire away but it would help if you could include info on what you would like me to focus on, eg. are you concerned about specific content, is it the layout or format that you feel is letting you down, etc. UPDATE:…

Here's adding to your workload - http://sidmitra.com/resume.pdf Let me know if i can every repay your effort with some of my skill sets.

My take:

Not overly convinced with listing the skills down the right hand side. It makes it a little hard to read. I generally recommend that people stick to "normal" layouts and list skills at the end.

Also; be more specific with the skills if you can. "Database design" can mean many things (this is particularly important if you go for, say, a DB design job :)).

Also; it is ok to write a short prose section under "interests" or something, which is where you can be a bit more creative and sell yourself.

Otherwise, pretty good :)

Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#47

Thanks very much for this. I've never had much luck with recruiters and my C.V so any feedback you have would be greatly appreciated. I've also decided to upload it here. http://www.alanhollis.com/Alan_Hollis.pdf Please note I'm not actively seeking employment at the moment but might as well take advantage of the opportunity to get some constructive criticism whilst it's here.

Your choice of technologies in your individual projects is not clear; this would be something I look for, since I evaluate a candidate eligibility in part through his personal technological preferences.

Thanks very much, never really thought that people would be interested in the "what and the why". I have a feeling I'll be making a lot of changes to my C.V tonight.

Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#48
post #22

Thanks for your offer! Currently I do not really have a CV anymore, I link to my linkedin or make a dump of my linkedin to doc/pdf. What do you think of this practice? Anyone else who has opinions on "moving the CV to linkedin"?

Whilst Linkedin is a vital tool, if one of my candidates sent me a link to their linkedin page when I ask for a copy of their CV I wouldn't bother helping them and I would tell them as much.

If you can't go to the effort of compiling a detailed CV for me to send to my clients then I can't be bothered going to the effort to try and get you an interview with people who pay me top dollar to find the strongest, hungriest applicants.

If I sent a linkedin page to an employer instead of a candidates CV I am almost certain they wouldn't even bother looking at it.

Re: Offer HN: I will review and critique your CV.

#49
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's adding to your workload - http://sidmitra.com/resume.pdf Let me know if i can every repay your effort with some of my skill sets.

My take: Not overly convinced with listing the skills down the right hand side. It makes it a little hard to read. I generally recommend that people stick to "normal" layouts and list skills at the end. Also; be more specific with the skills if you can. "Database design" can mean many things (this is particularly important if you go for, say, a DB design job :)). Also; it is ok to write a short prose section under "i…

I'll second pretty much everything ErrantX mentioned, specifically the skills comment, move them. I appreciate you are probably trying to keep it to one page but I promise you that this does not give you any advantage whatsoever.

As for specifics, list your day to day duties and responsibilities in a format that will stand out and be easy to read such as a list of bullet points under each brief.

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