Dawn Barclay

Helping you align all that you do with your core values

Moxie Work and Career

Your CV Is Being Binned, Here’s Why…

Why Your CV Is Going In The Bin is a free report and is part of the the Living Moxie Toolkit (free). You can sign up for the toolkit using the box on the right or read the page below and use the box at the bottom. If you want to know what’s in the rest of the toolkit, please click here. Dawn xxx


Now then, let’s get on with ways to improve your CV

Writing a CV is obvious. It’s so simple, so glaring. You know it, but do you do it?

You know why you have CV, you probably know a lot about the definite ‘do’s and don’t’, but some peeps even ignore those.

Your cv has one job — sell.

You do this by selling you not by telling you.

People waste months, squandering their time over tiny details that aren’t going to make a hoot of a difference anyway – where if they just focused on the sell, I bet the process would be easier.

Here’s 7 Ways You Can Improve Your CV Now

1. Skip the Foreplay

What do you have in there that is just a warm up, especially at your personal profile or statement.

Read your CV from your readers perspective, not yours.

At each point ask yourself, ‘so what, who cares, what’s in it for them’  — take ten minutes and think of the reasons why each point  will benefit them, not you.

If you can’t answer it, or it’s not good enough, get it out.

If it starts ‘reliable and hardworking’, or any other CV cliché, come on, seriously? After all your experience, knowledge, qualifications, that’s the most important part.

I bet it’s not.

The first line of your CV has a purpose, to get the next line read, then the next, then the next all the way to the last point.

Yes, people skim CV’s. Highlight in bold two or three of the absolute golden nuggets.

Struggle with sentence structure? Then write smaller sentences.

If you have used a comma, replace it with a full stop. Make the process easy on the eye for the reader. Help them out.

2. Start With Your Strongest Benefit

Will the person reading, instantly (or within 10 seconds) know they will be better of if they meet/hire you?

Or have you hidden your biggest assets? Are they in there somewhere but lost half way down the page.

e.g. Applying for a managerial position?

You could begin your profile with ‘Manager, with 12 years leadership experience…’ not ‘Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills’.

Specific, concrete, to the point. Answer instantly what they are seeking.

Answer the advert, job description or person specification.

3. Yuckie Font Type & Cramming

No comic sans — that is all. No. Never.

The rule (norm or general consensus) is no more than 2 pages. However, that doesn’t mean you squish and squash everything in because you have too much to say!

Cramming does nothing to help the reader. Create plenty white space.

Why? It’s easier to read.

If you are sending your CV via email or recruitment websites and it’s going to be read from a screen, you need to consider this even more.

Light comes from behind and if it’s crammed, with hardly any or no white space it’s very hard to read.

4. Be Respectful of Da Bullet!

Yes, add bullets.

But a list of 20 bullets ‘kinda defeats the purpose of having bullets, no?

  • Bullets are little mini important statements
  • Bullets allow your reader to move easily down the page
  • Bullets aren’t paragraphs, paragraphs are paragraphs!
  • Bullets are lists, we skim bullets, focus at bullet 1, 3, and 7. Make them important.
  • Bullets can also be used to highlight to mark important points
  • Bullets! The key is in the name, quick information
  • Bullets in a CV allow for better digestion of key information

Go through your CV ask yourself if each bullet sells you. Have you repeated yourself in any bullet?

Have you got the most important in 1, 3, 7th place?

Have you more than 7?

Rewrite and delete the fluff.

5. The Layout

Choose the right layout for you, not because it’s a pretty ‘free template’, either chronological, functional or combined.

What’s the difference?

A chronological CV is a good layout to use to showcase your experience and career for a progressive role.

Let’s assume your entire career has been in retail, you started as a Sales Assistant and now are a Manager, maybe not all roles were with the same company, but you can clearly layout your route from where you started to where you are now.

Using a chronological layout: (if applying for a position within the same field) the reader will no doubt recognise the route you have taken.

In your personal statement, clearly state what you are wishing to achieve next in your career, why the experience you have to date will bring added value to the position that is available. Layout positions worked, bullet key experience, qualifications, and your achievements.

A functional CV is great for showcasing your skills and expertise rather than the chronology of your employment so far.

Choose a functional CV if you have gaps in employment or if you have worked for many organisations & employers.

Perhaps your career involves short term contracts, a variety of part time work or you’ve been freelancing, a functional CV will showcase you the best.

Using a functional layout: use the personal statement to showcase achievements.

Choose 4/5 of your key skills to highlight, remembering to keep bullet points to the point. Include voluntary and nonpaid work if it relevant to the position.

6. Sell Don’t Tell

Think of the last big weekly shop that you did. (Go with me here, it’ll make sense, I promise.)

How did you end up with the items you paid for?

Let’s assume ginger nuts were bought. Did buy on how the ingredients were sourced, that the packaging is suitable for recycling or that the butter used was from a cow running free in a field. (You may have, in which case substitute gingernuts for something else!)

Or did you buy them because you remember that you like to dip a ginger nut in a cuppa, watching your favourite TV program, which was coming on that night, you could see yourself all comfy, relaxed enjoying the experience, which is funny as there is a picture on the package with someone doing the same thing!

Sell the benefits.

Heard the saying…

Tell me I forget. Show me I remember. Involve me I understand

An example:

Tell: Worked as a HR assistant with responsibility for administration and training event planning.

Sell: As an HR assistant, 3 years experience working with Senior Managers. Co-ordinated and organised the smooth running of 40+ in house training events per year for all staff. Supported managers in the organising of interview days. Solely responsible for job fair recruitment and used past marketing experience to produce recruitment materials. Proficient in Microsoft Office packages and Adobe Photoshop.

7. Don’t Lose Steam

Your personal profile is the sizzle.

The grabber of attention.

The remainder is the juicy steak.

Remember your reader, they have a pile of CV’s to get through. They will probably have read the same information over and over, in CV’s that have been put together by people who think that their entire CV is going to be read.

Try it, read the same chapter of a book 200 times!

Get their attention, read points 1 and 2. And then keep going.

Don’t lose steam because it’s the last page.

Use plenty verbs. Create pictures in their head.

And never disappoint.

If you give them sizzle via your Personal Profile, proving you have for the role much more than what they were looking for, don’t you dare disappoint them.

Have you ever waited ages for a meal and it was rotten? Same thing applies. Keep the quality the whole way through.

Sorry, but the date, title and where and then the line ‘worked at the (insert where) doing (insert title)’ is a lack of steam.

Choose a functional CV if you struggle or find you are repeating yourself.

Getting to hobbies and interests and putting in any old thing, is a lack of steam.

Making up dates and times is a lack of steam (and lying!)

Lastly, don’t hold back.

Ever.

Your CV is a selling activity, recruiters are expecting to be sold the best you.

Make yourself marketable.

If you struggle finding good things to say about you, it’s an esteem issue, this will help.

Struggle on the structure. Short. Snappy. Sentences.

Fancy/Need/Want a Free CV Critique?

Update: this opportunity has ended (6th Nov) however…

I’ve just added a 33 page, ‘quicketie’ read, tips, tricks and ‘please do this instead’ report called Why Your CV Ends Up In The Bin

It includes chapters on:

  • The Don’ts: What You Must Never Ever Do
  • How to Write Your Personal Profile (the part that makes people squirm in their pants)
  • A Section on Cover Letters (don’t overlook the cover letter)
  • Shattering Myths, why CV’s aren’t hard and it’s all in your head
  • The CV Stink Test! Part fun, part serious!
  • What Your CV Must Do, Always, No Excuse
  • And touching on the new ways of job search

You can get the report by using the big box below (it’s part of the Living Moxie Toolkit) or you can read more here.

What Are Core Values? (+ Workbook)

We careesy-coachy-helpery-trainery-people types talk a lot about being or sitting in alignment with your values: knowing who you are, and living authentically.

A lot, lotta, lotta, lot. Mega amounts.

But there’s good reason.

See, they play a great big whooping part in every area of your life, career, business, family, relationships — the whole picture.

Lots of people can state what’s of importance to them, and what they value but not always know their core values.

There’s a difference?

Yes.

Explain.

Okay.

Well, some people weigh up all their values as being of equal value, with no priority.

Example: The happiness of a child (yours even) being given the same value or weight as being able to eat my favourite cake when I want, is not the same.

Let me show you what I mean with a game:

All you need to do is agree or disagree.

Think about them for a few seconds first.

Can you sit on the fence?

Nope. It’s my game. So play fair.

Ready?

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

  • It’s okay to go to bed without having brushed your teeth.
  • Same sex marriages should be legal in every country worldwide.
  • It’s totally acceptable to pick your nose in a public place.
  • Life should mean life in a prison sentence.
  • An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.
  • Eye contact must be made at all times.
  • Money doesn’t buy happiness.
  • All politicians are liars.
  • All religions cause wars.
  • It’s survival of the fittest.

Whether you agreed or disagreed will depend entirely on your value system.

Our values are a little bit like an internal navigation system. Guiding and leading.

They are a system in perfect working order: (I didn’t say effective because sometimes they aren’t), working even now as you read this they’re the central HQ of how you choose and what you decide, how you behave &  how you act.

Core values underpin how you live your life.

They assist you to answer, ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What do I stand for?’

They are unspoken rules and regulations, terms and conditions by which you have agreed to and ultimately live by.

Whether or not you consciously consult or are aware of them isn’t important, they are the captain of what you do, what you believe as the truth.

Some will serve you, others will hinder you.

Some will be glued and fixed rigid, unmovable, others more fluid.

Some were handed down to you, others you learned along the way.

Some will have changed over time, others will have grown stronger.

You may find when they are being challenged by others, you’ll defend them.

Sometimes, you’ll be swayed by the values held by others and amend your own, or refuse and deepen yours even further.

You’ll look around (sometimes unconsciously) to seek evidence that your values are the right ones.

Where do they come from?

Oh, we could be here for a-g-e-s.

A start…you’ll have been shaped by your upbringing: where you were raised, how you were raised, what you experienced. Some are social, some are political, others are cultural. You may hold values that are swamped in history: values held by your ancestors, that have been handed to you down through generations.

Seriously?

Yep.

They will have been gathered via your beliefs and norms, you will have learned your values from what was acceptable and non-acceptable in your schools, playground, and workplaces.

You have been conforming and forming your values for years.

You will have placed a value base on almost every area of your life.

Is there a difference between values and core values?

They are deeper.

Much deeper.

Finding them, or identifying them isn’t too hard. Look for what triggers a very strong emotion in you (anger, love, hate, jealousy) there will probably be a link to a core value wrapped up there (the workbook will help).

Here’s an example of how deep our core values go:

For the best part of ten years, I wrote and delivered a 6-week program for individuals wishing to enter the role of Support Worker (supporting other people who required support).

For this role, the person had to have strong core values surrounding equality, inclusion, person-centred working, respect, dignity, diversity, empathy…just for starters.

Asked at the interview, ‘Why do you want to work as a Support Worker?’

80% of the time the answer was to help people.

80% of the time that usually wasn’t enough.

Why?

Core Values

Having answered that question I would then ask questions about the actual role such as:

How would you support someone with high support needs, who uses a wheelchair and wants to go rock climbing?

How would you support someone taking a bath?

Core value-laden questions.

When an individual would reply to the wheelchair question something along the lines of ‘well, they wouldn’t be able to’ or ‘I’d try and find something else for them to do’ or ‘tell them they couldn’t maybe take them to a local park instead‘.

Those answers gave so much away about their core values: about freedom, choice, opportunities, and equality. The values just weren’t there.

The bath question, if someone replied ‘test the water’ or ‘would I have to do that?‘ again, a clear indication of the persons’ core values. No mention of dignity, respect, the right to privacy.

Can you see the difference?

See, you can pretend for a while, but ultimately your core values will be exposed.

What about your life, career, business?

I believe knowing your core values helps you make better decisions, better choices.

They are your guide, your map, and compass.

  • If one of your core values is authenticity, how would you feel working in an environment where everyone wears masks, back stabs, gossips, and comments?
  • If another was family time, how would you feel if you worked in an environment where it was expected you would work late, put in extra hours, work overtime?
  • How about if one of your core values was to be treated with respect and dignity, and yet your boss was a tyrant a belittler, an aggressive monster, or your partner ignored you on a regular basis?

They do matter.

To live a life 24/7 where you aren’t ‘in alignment’ with your core values is challenging.

  • Perhaps one of your values is independence and freedom, how do you feel when someone makes decisions (even when it’s well meant) about your life without your consent?
  • Maybe one of your core values is honesty and integrity, what happens when you find someone has been lying to you?

Coach yourself

Discover your core values. Know them, learn from them, embrace the ones that serve you, move away from the ones that do not serve. They will show you why you behave and act in certain ways. They will have you manage conflict and see other people more clearly. They will shine a light on what really matters to you. They will explain to you why you feel what you feel. 

If you want to read more and purchase the Core Values Workbook click here.

Genuinely, Are You Authentic?

“The authentic self is the soul made visable” Sarah Ban Breathnach

Do you remember cabbage patch kids? They gave me the creeps!

What about one those annoying little Furbys?

Are you the proud owner of a Steiff Teddy bear?

And if you do have the  The Real McKoy (that’s Scottish-ness for the genuine article) version lurking in your attic, you’ll also have their Certificate of Authentication.

That’s the proof that they aren’t fake: rip offs, a sorry second on the real version, cloned alternatives, probably sold from the back of lorry.

But dodgy looking dollies, and annoying freaky furballs aside…

What Does Authenticity Mean to You?

Is it any of these?

  • ‘Be yourself’
  • ‘Be true to who you are’
  • ‘Sit in alignment with what you believe’
  • ”Be honest’
  • ‘Stand out’
  • ‘Own your own voice’

Authenticity has become a big word recently, especially in business.

Authentic simple means not fake.

Genuine.

Congruent: who you say you are, is what you are, what you are on the outside, is who you are on the inside.

To be true to who you are, not a copycat, or second rate version of someone else.

And I think, although the word is well said, the behaviour of the word isn’t, and I’m guilty as charged!

But I’ll get to that in a minute.

Why Is Authenticity Hard-ish?

I believe, it’s not because we can’t do it, but because it feels incredibly vulnerable and my second opinion is the word has been mucked about with too much.

It can be scary, frightening even, to ‘just be yourself!’

In business, to ‘just be yourself’ people may turn away not liking what they see. Deep down we may not want to share those inner and hidden parts of us that are reserved for the people that know us well. Hence it being vulnerable.

We may choose to hide behind websites, smart words, blogs and logos.

In my personal life, authenticity is a core value, and it is in business as well, but for some reason the early years of self employment it was a real struggle.

And if you can relate, that doesn’t sit well, does it?

You see if I had stuck with the core value, all would have been well. Sadly, I confused it all.

A few examples:

  • Updating my personal profile on facebook, easy. My business page, ages.
  • Using ‘we’ on a website, when it’s just me. Why? To appear and seem bigger?
  • Personal profile picture: airbrushed and professional looking for business and the real me on Facebook personal page.
  • Playing it ‘safe’ so as not to risk offending anybody.
  • Watching how others did ‘stuff’ and trying (and failing miserably) to replicate it in my business.
  • Lurking! Not taking part, just watching from the sidelines.

I did deliver what I said and promised, it’s the ‘soul made visable‘ part I’ve tussled with.

Faker You’re Spotted

When I was little my folks used to (I think) shop regularly at the ‘Fallen Off The Back of The Lorry’ department store!

This isn’t a sob story, just fact.

I knew no different, not until they broke. Or they were removed from me because of the lethal parts popping out. They only lasted so long before they fell to pieces. Although they were good copies, they still never looked or behaved the same as the ones that were original.

Does he need an introduction?

I’m not saying here that you must buy the best of stuff for your children (or risk a trip in a police car). This is just a metaphor. In fact, I only ever remember one toy from childhood, Mr Potato Head, he rocked and he was a cheap as chips, sorry!

Anyway, the metaphor.

We can only ‘be’ and ‘act’ in accordance to our own beliefs. We can’t maintain what we aren’t.

People begin to mistrust. People are smart, really smart. Can spot a faker a mile away. They shut down, shut you out, turn you off.

Is it not better to be turned off for being yourself, rather than turned off for what you aren’t?

I’d say yes. And it wasn’t until that penny dropped did authenticity in my business become easier. But this isn’t just for business it applies to all areas of life.

7 Ways to Earn Your Own Certificate of Authenticity

1. Go Back to Roots: Write down who you are and what you truly believe in. What are your core values? What will you tolerate and not tolerate? What’s your negotiables and non-negotiables? What will you do if they are crossed?

2. Where Have You Veered? It’s okay if you have, you can undo.What are you currently doing that ‘does not sit well with you’? Why are you doing it? What results are you hoping to achieve? Can you get the same result by being you?

3. The Real You. What do you stand for? What are the parts of you that you keep hidden? You don’t need to share it all, but with what you are hiding if anything, what’s your reason?

4. Why? Why do you think you have mistrusted your own self? What are you afraid that others may find out you? What do you fear might happen if you took the plunge?

5. Commitment. Promise yourself that no matter the challenge, the fear, the possible outcome that you will only ever be true to yourself. What does that mean? Stop copying (model is acceptable) others.

Easy to say, hard to acknowledge is the saying ‘the most intimate relationship we will ever have is the one with ourselves’. Commit to getting intimate. That means, loving all of you. Getting cosy with the good and not so good. What your struggling with, so are others!

6. Congruence. You are what you say you are. Accept that not everyone will ‘like’ what they see about you, it really doesn’t matter. Life truly isn’t a popularity contest.

7. Make a Promise. To yourself, nobody else. That you’ll never be the second rate version of someone else. That you’ll never try and copy another because you think there way (or them) is more valuable.

Final Thoughts

Authenticity is easy.

It’s our brains and fears that muck it up. Plus perhaps expecations from others. People will come and go, some will get you, some won’t. And it’s okay. You can’t appeal to everyone. But you can appeal to yourself.

Or, refuse to be authentic, sell youself up from the back of the lorry! Someone will buy you, but when they realise that they have bought into a fake I can pretty much guarantee they won’t purchase a second time.

Back to my original question…

Genuinely, are you authentic?

Life, I’d Like to Change It But

What? But what?

  • You’ve a wedding coming up?
  • You’re waiting until pay day?
  • Your youngest is starting dance classes next month?
  • Too much on the TV?
  • Getting your holidays over with first?
  • You’re just ‘too’ tired?
  • Haven’t got any money?
  • You’re just not ready?
  • Time isn’t right?

Can I ask you something?

What’s it going to take?

‘But it’s so hard’ you cry.

Yeah, it can be. Who said a change was a breeze?

The key is to embrace it, fall into it, let it happen, full on, come and get me change.

I’m not asking you how you’re going to do it (yet), I’m asking you what do you need to let go off, in order for you to realise that you’re worthy of the change.

You can’t learn to swim by not getting wet. You can’t learn to drive by not getting behind the wheel of a car. You can’t learn to get over a fear of dogs, sitting with a cat. You can’t learn to embrace change, without making changes. You can’t change your life, without doing things differently.

Scared? So is everyone else…

It’s not uncommon for people to turn their backs on the truth of how they are actually feeling or current circumstances because they don’t know or don’t want to face the ugly reality that they are so unhappy.

There are some that will ‘fill’ the voids with ‘stuff’ that will ensure that they never have to put themselves in a place where they have to think about their life, or where they feel fear. Fine. Do you want that? Really?

But.

What?

  1. But you don’t know where to start? Start here.
  2. But you haven’t got anyone in your life who can support your journey? Go here (external link)
  3. But you just don’t know what you should be doing? Here, please.

Nobody is going to change your life, in the way you want it, apart from you. Sure things change, but are you willing to let change happen around you, which you could’ve had some control over?

Command your life. Take authority for it. Be responsible for you. Own yourself. Stand up.

Sounds easy written down.

Sure does.

Is that another reason not to try though?

And, if you’ve let others and circumstances control your life so far, you may find it takes a little time to start living a life with you in the driving seat.

Is a little time to settle in, better than no time?

You can’t control external events, but you can control how you feel about them, we both know that.

Is this way of life abrasive? If you want my answer, then no, it isn’t.

Change isn’t about screwing everything and everyone else around you, it’s merely stepping forward and saying, ‘I’m in, I’m here, I’m ready and willing to play’.

If you want to ‘wait’ for the ‘right time’ and allow other events take their place, that’s fine. Cool. The change will happen anyway, I just wonder though if you’ll be on the right side of it?

Try this exercise:

Think of a current area of your life that needs to be changed. Just one.

On a piece of paper, write down in the middle the current situation.

Then just jot down words in response to the following questions.

  • How do you feel about it? (15 words plus)
  • What’s great about the situation? (there will be something!)
  • What’s bad about the situation?
  • How does the situation affect other areas of your life?
  • If the situation were changed, what would be there for it’s replacement?
  • What resources do you have (or can tap into) to make the change happen?
  • Is the change worth it? What will you be trading?
  • What will be different as a result of the change?

 

CV Writing Tips Lesson 1

  • Do you put off writing your CV?
  • Have you copied someone else’s because it was much better than yours?
  • Downloaded a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ template from internet and still stumped?

Are you proud of your CV or does it make you cringe?

That last question is actually the litmus test question — if it makes you cringe, chances are it will send shivers up potential hirers also.

Introduction

Depending on what age you are, you may have had the luxury of 1/2 an hour before leaving school in the company of the ‘guidance’ teacher (who hadn’t written a CV in 30 years) showing you how to ‘put one together’.

Or perhaps you were like me, and got out left before that day arrived.

I left school 25 years ago. However, just at the turn of this year I answered an email from a lovely gentleman who was looking for advice for their son, he said ‘they had half an hour with a careers advisor at school but that was all’, geez, I wonder if it was the same dude that was there in 1986/87!

Ditch the Emotional Attachment

I understand that selling yourself isn’t natural to many of us. which I’ve written about before, however, it’s the one time when blowing your own horn is expected. Employers and agencies are begging that you do it more.

Your CV and application forms are no place to hold back your best.

No one else can sell you as well as you can.

I would also recommend you never lust after and fall in love with your CV, some peeps are so attached to their written work of art and think it’s fantastic because it’s 8 pages (too) long and just looks great, all because they have really gone to town and back with Microsoft Word.

Adding borders, fancy swirl things and different colours to make it stand out will do that, but perhaps not in the positive way you imagine!

Bag a ‘Decent’ Email Address

If you’ve an email address that goes something like ‘hotlips@’, or ‘bigboy@’, or ‘upthe…@’, or you’re using your current employee email, change it. The first examples are tacky, unprofessional, and really say way too much about you even if you have hot lips and are a big boy, or both!

Better still use yourname@…try gmail or yahoo.

Personal Information:

Don’t include marital status, age, date of birth, the number of children you have, and Primary School. It’s against the law for an employer to ask you the first four, and they don’t really care about your primary school.

And you don’t need to type ‘CURRICULUM VITAE’ right across the top.

Excessive Pages:

This one is always up for debate, how many pages should a CV be? The standard is no more than two. Is your CV concise, relevant, and straight to the point? Brevity, if you can say it 1 word, instead of ten. Say it.

Think of your reader. Who wants to read twelve pages of all about you?

And if you are applying for a position that finds you pulling in experience from 15/20 years ago, I recommend the cover letter as your way of explaining why you have written that far back.

When it says ‘send a cv or apply online briefly describe your duties’ it means briefly.

Ditch The Comic Sans and Playing Around With Fonts Etc:

Keep it simple; your CV is not a creative experiment – unless you know the hiring employer is looking for creatives, and it’s expected.

I have seen CVs with eight different colours and clip art!

No snazzy fonts: Arial, Veranda, Tahoma or Palatino Linotype are easiest to read.

No different sizes, i.e. using size 8 to cram more in. Annoying huh? Size 12 or 14 at most.

Standard is Arial, Size 12/14 and black font or dark grey.

Unprofessional Formatting:

If you are going to use tabs make sure they line up. Think of your reader; plenty of white space and simplicity are best.

Spelling Errors:

I’m not the world’s greatest speller, so I am with you here if that’s you. However, your CV is not a place for errors; they stand ouet a mile.

Have at least three people read it, not for the content, but for spelling. And spell checks, as you know, don’t pick up every word out of context like this word hear/here or their and there, your and you’re. I don’t even see my own.

Read your CV backwards; start at the bottom and towards the top. Your brain will not be making sense of the words so it’s easier to spot mistooks.

Use Tables

Tables are very useful when writing a CV. If you spend forever trying to get everything all uniformed and in a straight line, use a table. That’s what they’re there for. (Just remember to hide the gridlines once done.)

Mailing In Too Small An Envelope:

If you print your CV on A4 paper, send it in an A4 envelope instead of cramming it into a tiny one three sizes too small. I kid you not.

Read The Advert (online and offline):

Never apply to the heading alone to be quick.

Most CVs get binned (especially online) because recruitment agencies and employers know when the CV and quick blurb has not been targeted properly. How do they know? Many online CV applications are digitally scanned for key words.

Thinking Of The CV As A Legally Binding Document:

A CV is not a legally binding document unless you sign it. Application forms are as they require a signature. However, there is no place for…

About Little White Lies:

Why bother?

If you have to create stories and magical myths and legends to cover the actual truth, then it does not say much about your integrity or honesty.

Out of all the employers I have worked with (as a go-between for clients) I have never heard any say, white lies are fine, all have said ‘be honest’.

I recommend you don’t do it and seek some professional advice if you need to. You are worth more than lies. Speak to a career coach? An employability worker?

You can lie on paper however I wonder if you would be as good at it face-to-face? Also as soon as you start getting paid and you have lied on your CV and get caught, it moves from being a non-legal document to fraud and deception, I’m just saying!

For example:

Adding qualifications that you don’t have.

Adding places where you didn’t even work.

Adding months to job dates when you didn’t work there.

Telling lies is not the same as tweaking to meet the job specification.

Lying about salary details, these come on your reference.

Schools, Colleges attended don’t add up.

Awarding yourself better exam results.

References:

Not needed unless asked for. Even then, submit separately.

Action To Do Today

Let me help you over the next few posts with your personal profile.

Call six people you’re close too, they can be family, friends or connections. Ask them to give you 10 individual words to describe you. Ask them to take it seriously! Keep them handy until the next post.

The above are very simple points, do you have any recommendations? If something is burning a hole in your brain, please share, you can do that in the comments below, don’t hold back — what you may think is ‘common knowledge’ may not be to another.