Public Servant Lifestyle

Don't know where to start on updating your CV? Find out what you need to know from the experts.

Given the recent growth of the career-coaching industry and the entry of new career counsellors from nearly every field, there's a lot of poor and ill-informed job-search advice out there. The following are 10 pointers to things you’re likely to hear from your career adviser..You don't need an objective on your CV

1. You don't need an objective on your CV

A survey of 100 recruitment managers found that an objective is first among the six major items most look for on resumes. Your objective can be broad or narrow and should include a statement summarising why you're qualified for a job. For example: ‘Position in accounting management where I can apply six years experience.’ The reader will learn your goal and why you should be considered. Your objective becomes a ‘mini CV.’

2. The hardest question: 'Tell me about yourself'

It should be the easiest. Try this: Write a career summary on a paper and rehearse an opening statement of about two minutes. This thumbnail statement should include your job history, major strengths and several career achievements. Even if you aren't asked this question in an interview, answer it anyway. One way to lead into it is to say: "Before I get into too much detail, I'd like to give you a brief summary of my career. Would that be all right with you?"

What better impression could you make in the first critical minutes of an interview when many decisions are made?

3. Limit your CV to one page

If you've had three or more jobs, it may be impossible to include enough detail on a page to satisfy the curiosity of an employer. The top half of the first page is sometimes called the ‘hot zone,’ and should grab a reader's interest. If an employer sees something he or she likes, one page or two won't make any difference.

4. Chronological and functional

This statement is true but isn't the whole truth. The majority of CVs use a chronological format. Employers want to know the when and where of accomplishments; it gives them reassurance in considering a candidate.

If you have career gaps, a better choice might be a broadcast letter. Also known as a marketing letter or a narrative CV, it contains the same information. However, you can start describing your accomplishments at any point in your career. You don't need to include precise dates or include a resume; the letter stands alone. You may be asked to follow up with a CV, but by then the broadcast letter has done its job.

5. Post-office-box advertisement

Many companies use post-office-box ads to avoid the inevitable phone calls and questions from candidates. If you contact a post-office branch, the manager or other employee will tell you the name of the company using it.

6. Use standard business-size envelopes for a CV

Since many firms use scanners to store CVs electronically, a fold might cause a scanner to miss or garble a line of text. Use a full-size envelope and don't fold your CV. Scanners don't always copy italics or underlining, so avoid them also.

7. Staple your cover letter to your CV

If your documents are being scanned, human-resources employees will have to remove them and you may run the risk of one throwing out your document instead of taking the trouble.

8. ‘We offer a lifetime career service, so our total fee is £X,XXX’

If a firm won't itemise its fee, run, don't walk, to the exit. Some unscrupulous career-marketing firms use the word ‘unbundling’ to describe itemising, and they hate it. Some will try to cut you loose after five or six visits by not returning your phone calls and telling you to ‘work harder.’ The consultant may not be paid after your first four or five visits and has no incentive to continue working with you.

9. 95% of our clients get jobs within 90 days

These figures may be inflated or estimated through guesswork.

10. ‘We have access to the hidden job market’

This statement suggests that employers frequently call career-consulting firms to inform them of jobs that aren't available through the usual sources. It isn't true. However, you have personal access to the hidden job market through people you know and the people they know, etc. If you know 100 people and they know 100 people, you have 10,000 contacts.

Extend that to the next level and you have access to a million people, more than you can reach in a lifetime. This practice is known as networking, and a good career counsellor will tell you it's the best job-search method bar none.

11. Good Hunting!

More information available in Job Centre