My name is Caroline Frostick and I am the Managing Director of the Red Group. We are a recruitment and telemarketing company incorporating Red Recruit and Red Leads. We have been serving the freight industry since 2002.
I received a CV today from a graduate for a graduate trainee position that we are advertising. The response for the vacancy has been exceptionally high. Professional, ethical employees who listen are at the core of our business model so it is imperative that we appoint the right person.
The CV that I received was a masterpiece, in how NOT to write a CV! I counted 15 spelling mistakes alone. The initial personal statement was “I wish to pursue a career in admin” but the position is a sales role! I was amused at the text speak in the body of the CV and furthermore it was badly laid out and difficult to follow. I also wondered who would reply to foxyboxylady@xyz.com without a raised eyebrow. Therefore, I emailed my views back to the sender and offered to proof read their next attempt, which would hopefully include my suggestions. I like to help where I can!
So why is a well written CV so important?
In the freight industry, one thing is certain; no one has time to wade through a mountain of CV’s. This means you have to get your message over quickly, precisely and accurately. Your CV represents you; it reflects your work and should be perfect. With many people out of work you have to stand out and you have to stand out for the right reasons. Imagine you had a 100 CV’s to sort through; your first task would be to filter out all the badly presented CV’s. So the ones with mistakes, that have no relevance to the vacancy, that are badly laid out or difficult to understand will all be put on the ‘no’ pile. Don’t let it be yours.
The purpose of a CV is to open doors for you to obtain an interview, it is not your life story. With that in mind think of the layout. Look on the internet for templates or create one yourself. Have your name, address (or just the town that you live in) and all your contact details at the top and even at the bottom too! Do not include national insurance numbers or bank details, and yes believe me people really do. Write a brief outline of your expertise/experience, the skills that you excel at, and your achievements in each role. I advise people to tailor their CV with the end in mind. i.e. If you want a job in sales then emphasise all your experience in that particular area and say why you would stand out in that type of role. Your CV should be no more than 2 pages long and at the most 3. The longest CV I had was 23 pages long………really. Get friends and family to read your CV and see if they can spot any mistakes. Double check everything and save the CV with an appropriate title i.e. not CV version55, this may give away the fact that you have been busy editing your CV on more than a few occasions! Instead make the title your name, this will mean that the recipient can find your details immediately in their email system. If you have a risqué email address then create another one for job hunting only. Remember, don’t give the recipient a reason to relegate your CV to the ‘no’ pile.
With all that done, you will now be ready to target companies and recruiters with your fantastic new CV.
If you don’t get a response initially you may need to go back to your CV and do a re-write. This may be frustrating but this is your future career and you need to invest time and effort into it.
If you are still not receiving a positive response to your CV then email me a copy and I will give you completely free expert advice.
caroline.frostick@redrecruit.com
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