c.v (hobbies)

[Riggy]

^^ depends on what job your applying for baxy

a doorman for a gay club maybee ?

[meritlover]

its not about what hobbies you have. if they are your only 2 then you cannot lie to bulk-up a CV.
what is important however, is that you think about the hobbies in relation to job application and how you can expand on them further in an interview. for instance weight lifting: "well it requires a great deal of commitment. i get up early everyday to travel to the gym and get a lot of satisfaction out of it"
and vehicle restoration requires a lot of dexterity, problem solving skills, commitment both in time and finance, and a a lot of attention to details.

[Jack]

Hobbies are fine IMO as long as you're not using up space that could be put to better use.

^ exactly that, a prospective employer will just think you're bulking it out.

Remember, a CV should only be ONE piece of paper. If you can't fill that one piece with your employment history, education, experience, etc then you're in trouble. I've seen my fair share of CVs in the past and tbh the crap ones were the ones that had hobbies and all that niff naff on.

A CV should be "this is me, this is what I know, this is what I've done, this is who I know".

[Andy]

I always have trouble writing a cv,ive never needed to do one before,Im better at going in and talking about it rather that writing.I feel i can represent myself better,i would no doubt forget something off the cv or set it out in a way that would balls up my chances.Imo cv's are a waste of time.

[meritlover]

.Imo cv's are a waste of time.

and just how do you expect to get an interview out of 1000's of applicants that HAVE bothered to fill in a simple page outlining the basics of their career history?
do you think employers pick names out of a hat for an interview? or go "oh look heres a name that we know nothing about.bless him, lets give him an interview because he must be good at representing himself"

no

[Andy]

Proper application forms are much better,as they ask relevant questions about the job,for example a cv could have your last 4 jobs on,of which 3 could be completely irrelevant to the position you are applying for,yes it does show working history.Anyone can write a good description of how good they are at something,being able to actually do it is another story.Just because someone can write a better cv doesnt mean they are necessarily better for the job

[Jack]

cv's are a waste of time.

Not from an employers point of view. As it allows them to sift out the retards before they waste both their time and the interviewee's time later. Pre-formatted application forms are the kinda thing that Boots and WHsmiths give to 15 year olds to fill out for part time jobs because they can't write decent CVs and need to be spoon fed questions.

CVs are the easiest thing ever, as all you're doing is writing what you already know. Save the creative works of fiction for the covering letter and interview.

A CV should have:

Personal Info
Name, address, contact details (email, phone) etc. Leave out sexual orientation and all that gubbins out due to equality and diversity regulations. Some people say to leave off your DOB, again down to equality and diversity (the idea being, if you don't tell them, they don't know and ergo you can't sue them for it if you don't get hired) but I tend to put it on anyway.
Tip: gayhat email addresses like ilovenovas2005xxx@spunkymail.com do not look good on a cv. Sign up to a free email service such as hotmail or gmail (preferably NOT one called spunkymail or somesuch gayness) and set your name as the email address.

Education
List your schools/colleges/universities in order of attendence (recent first), with the years you attended. List the qualifications you gained there. If you dropped out, just don't list any qualifications, but if you spent a year dropping out of 10 universities, just list the one you spent the most time at OR the one you gained your qualifications at. If you're currently working towards a qualification, put it in here either at the top as the most recent, or at the bottom as an additional "also currently working towards:" spot.
Tip: GCSE's might not seem much to you, but list them as it shows you've at least had a grasp of basic education. If your grades are rubbish, list them anyway as it shows you've at least stuck the course out instead of dropping out (unless you get an "ungraded (U)" or "near miss (N)" grade, in which case leave it out).

Work History
Starting with your most recent, list dates of employment, where you worked, company name and address, a one liner job title or role, full time/part time, then a few lines to describe your duties, responsibilities etc - this is important as it gives the employer an insight into what you've actually done as part of your job ("managing director" may sound impressive, but if all you did was sit around on your backside playing solitaire all day then thats not going to help you). If you were a trainee, say so.
Tip: Some employers ask for salary details, some people say to leave it off. Its up to you. I put a rough guide on mine, unless the job was part time in which case I just say part time, various hours.

Professional memberships/licenses
This is the part where you list things that don't fit into the above categories, so any work-related exams or qualifications you completed, or anything you've achieved off your own back (so long as its a recognised qualification). Driving license fits in here; if its clean say so, if you have additional categories, say so.
Tip: Membership of various car clubs may well work in here, so long as it shows responsibility, but ffs don't say "I'm a member of chavchavkroozers.com". If you think the organization may reflect badly, then just give a generic description (e.g. "car club").

Referees
This is a bit of a questionable section, as some people say you should add it so the employer has the details to hand if they offer you a job; others say you should leave it off as they'll ask for them if they need them. You should include two referees - the first will be someone who knows you outside of work and can reflect on you in a personal light. However, this should be a person of responsibility, so if you know any professional people (be it uncles, aunts, family friends etc) thats the ones to choose. The second will be your current or most recent employer, so line manager, boss etc. Don't worry about the interviewers contacting the referees and surprising your boss that you're thinking of leaving, they're legally only allowed to contact them should the offer you a job.
Tip: If you don't want to add referees to a CV, a good idea is to just add a References section with a one liner of "References available on request". This also leaves you more room for your work/education history.

Things to bear in mind:
1. Feel free to expand the truth a little, but don't lie.
2. Don't include flakey things like hobbies/interests etc. Leave that for the covering letter and interview.
3. Don't worry about if you've have lots of jobs - a long and varied employment history is better than one with massive gaps.
4. Keep it to ONE piece of paper, double sided if required.
5. Think about the layout, make it easy to read yet clear and concise - a page rule between each section may help. Basic font, verdana or arial, that kinda thing. No faffy colours or page borders, if you MUST do something put a very basic border round the edge.


[edit] And some pointers from Jim:

Couple of things I'll add from my own experience:

Where possible, always send a paper C.V. Employers seem to prefer to have something to hold and read (leave it out you pervs!)

Employers receive a lot of C.V's and most of the time will skim over them. If you can make your C.V. look different and stand out from the crowd (hence posting one) you will have more chance of being called for an interview which is where they will find out what you are really like.

[Jack]

Just because someone can write a better cv doesnt mean they are necessarily better for the job

True, but as said in the above post, a CV is simply a list of what you've done. if you can't do that right, then are you really suitable for any job?

[Andy]

I take back what i said
You do have a point about it.Thanks Jack

[turbojolt]

this is getting stupid people are asking for c.v's for labouring jobs wtf do they want a degree to push a freaking broom about