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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.

#51

Post by snikolov »

Thanks a lot for doing this. Here is mine

http://snikolov.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/0/4/3904101/snikolov-...

if you or anyone else has time to take a look. My goal with the colors was to make it scan-able by highlighting where I worked as well as approximate position titles and letting gray-colored description stay in the background. But it might also be too harsh on the eyes.

Another concern is having too many things and not saying very much about any one of them. I am a student, and many companies seem to want to hire people who get things done for internships, rather than people with very specific skills. So I want my message to be "I've done things", rather than "I've done these very specific things that your job description lists." Is this misguided? Should I take certain parts of it out depending on where I am applying?

Thanks again.

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

#52

Post by KoZeN »

david_p wrote: post #50

Great offer ! Here is mine : http://cv.david.cx Also, I'm a French citizen seeking employment in the US (Orlando, Florida to be precise), do you have some special advice for what I should change in my CV in regard to this ?

I've only had a quick look but like everyone else, I will have a detailed look over the next few days.

Firstly, my market is London & the South East of England so advice on modifying your CV to suit the American market is probably best fielded by someone with more experience in that area.

Secondly, you have been working on your own company for over a year and you have surmised that experience in 45 words whereas you spent 6 months with INA and your description for your time there is almost 90 words. Simple things like that raise a concern in my mind about your current position and how relevant it may be to your career.

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

#53

Post by user24 »

ErrantX wrote: post #43
user24 wrote: 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)

really? damn and I thought it made me look sporty! I really do swim a lot though, 1/3 of a mile last night. Hoping to swim my mile within a year (only learned to swim properly 2 years ago).

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

#54

Post by KoZeN »

snikolov wrote: post #51

Thanks a lot for doing this. Here is mine http://snikolov.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/0/4/3904101/snikolov-... if you or anyone else has time to take a look. My goal with the colors was to make it scan-able by highlighting where I worked as well as approximate position titles and letting gray-colored description stay in the background. But it might also be too harsh on the eyes. Another concern is having too many things a…

Instant opinion: The colours are drastic. I appreciate your intention but the same affect can be achieved by using slightly larger fonts.

On a side note, I see you worked @ Numenta Inc. A colleague & I have been experimenting with various potential applications for NuPIC. When I have a more detailed look at the CV I'll throw in a few side questions that you might be able to assist with.

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

#55

Post by snikolov »

KoZeN wrote: post #54
snikolov wrote: post #51

Thanks a lot for doing this. Here is mine http://snikolov.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/0/4/3904101/snikolov-... if you or anyone else has time to take a look. My goal with the colors was to make it scan-able by highlighting where I worked as well as approximate position titles and letting gray-colored description stay in the background. But it might also be too harsh on the eyes. Another concern is having too many things a…

Instant opinion: The colours are drastic. I appreciate your intention but the same affect can be achieved by using slightly larger fonts. On a side note, I see you worked @ Numenta Inc. A colleague & I have been experimenting with various potential applications for NuPIC. When I have a more detailed look at the CV I'll throw in a few side questions that you might be able to assist with.

Thanks for the quick reply! I feared as much. I will try making everything gray/black.

re: Numenta -- certainly shoot me an email (snikolov@mit.edu) and I'll see what I can answer (if I am allowed to answer it :-)) If I can't, I can direct you to people who would be a lot more knowledgeable.

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

#56

Post by user24 »

KoZeN wrote: post #10
user24 wrote: 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…

I've just had a very quick look and my instant opinion would be to change how you clarify your responsibilites. Whilst the paragraph descriptions are well written my suggestion on your current role for example would be to keep the first paragraph in place and immediately after that I would bullet point a list of your primary responsibilities. Overall it is a decent CV but I'll have a proper look and send you the feed…

One thing I would like to ask about is how my employment history looks - returning to my previous position.

Chronologically (earlier first) it went like this:

Company 1 (1 year)

University (1 year)

Company 2 (3 months)

Company 1 again (nearly 1 year)

Does it raise questions that I left Company 2 after only 3 months, and that I went back to Company 1?

(not listing company names here so it doesn't get into their search results)

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

#57

Post by KoZeN »

user24 wrote: post #56
KoZeN wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've just had a very quick look and my instant opinion would be to change how you clarify your responsibilites. Whilst the paragraph descriptions are well written my suggestion on your current role for example would be to keep the first paragraph in place and immediately after that I would bullet point a list of your primary responsibilities. Overall it is a decent CV but I'll have a proper look and send you the feed…

One thing I would like to ask about is how my employment history looks - returning to my previous position. Chronologically (earlier first) it went like this: Company 1 (1 year) University (1 year) Company 2 (3 months) Company 1 again (nearly 1 year) Does it raise questions that I left Company 2 after only 3 months, and that I went back to Company 1? (not listing company names here so it doesn't get into their search…

Does it raise questions that I left Company 2 after only 3 months, and that I went back to Company 1?

It does and you will be questioned on this.

The fact is, if you have a reasonable, logical, verifiable reason for returning then it won't be an issue.

If the company 2 role was a contract position I would highlight that on the CV.

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

#58

Post by KoZeN »

KoZeN wrote: 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:…

112 CV's & counting.

I've given very brief responses to some of you but I am determined to get through all of them in detail.

Remember, all I am offering is my informed opinion and if you disagree with my advice, don't take it personally!

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

#59

Post by sanswork »

KoZeN wrote: post #20
sanswork wrote: post #18

This is great and I think I can help as well from a slightly different view point(not to steal any thunder!). I'm head of development for a search related company and as part of my role review all incoming CV's(with advice from one of my senior devs) as well as handle the most of the interviews. If you'd like two perspectives(Recruiter who will work to get you an interview and HoD who will ultimately hire you) feel f…

Great offer sanswork! It would be interesting to see how your feedback would differ to mine on certain CV's. I definitely think that you will get flooded with CV's though!

Well I've definitely gotten hit. For everyone that has sent a CV through I'm going to spend a few hours going through them in more detail tomorrow night(AU time, already 2am here) before I send replies though I have hit them all quickly and made first impression notes already.

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

#60

Post by ig1 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #42
ig1 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes. Actually the general rule is put whatever's going to sell you most first. If your education is more relevant than your current job then I agree that you should put that first.
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