Medically Discharged from the Army and trying to write a CV , AHHHHHHH

[fergie]

Well I was recently Medically Discharged from Army.I have done a lot of things during my army career but writeing a CV is not one of them. Well I have had a few weeks off and have now decided that I need to write a CV and get my self out there.I have lots to do in the next few months. find some where to live, find a job are the two main ones. To be honest don't know why I posted this guess I just needed to vent it a little or up my post count lol

Edited February 16, 2011 by fergie

[Salop Matt]

What have you done re-settlement wise ?

[fergie]

nothing yet just done me CTW

[berties]

there should have been a lesson on how to create a cv on your resettlement course,have a trawl through the web try different styles of cvs for different jobs,putting your strenghs towards different sectures of work,there is work out there but you need to want it

good luck with your search

[fergie]

there should have been a lesson on how to create a cv on your resettlement course,have a trawl through the web try different styles of cvs for different jobs,putting your strenghs towards different sectures of work,there is work out there but you need to want it

good luck with your search

 

Yes there was but to be honest the instructor/teacher was not that great I am in the process of searching the net and writing my 1st draft CV

[Grandalf]

Make contact with Kent County Office - Royal British Legion. (Or the one local to where you are living now). The Legion has all sorts of schemes, couses, and, most importantly of all, contacts with other organisations that could assist you. Forget the Legion image of old blokes in berets selling poppies (important though that side of it is) we assist ex or serving military men and women in any way that we possibly can. Get on the phone or Google RBL Kent.

[MM]

What about this?

 

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11235

[Billy.]

Here's a good template for you

 

Curriculum Vitae of First name Surname (Arial 14, bold, centralised)

 

Personal Profile (Section Headings always Arial 10 and bold)

 

Address: Near to client or leave off

Availability: Immediate (or less than 1 month) or leave off

Other: Only if the info sells the candidate

 

Content always Arial 10 and justified to both edges.

 

Summary

 

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Education / Professional Qualifications

 

These should feature early on your killer 1st page unless poor or irrelevant to post applied for in which case they go at the end.

 

Employment History

 

Dates of Employment

Name of Client

Job Title

 

•Leave a gap and then bullet point each sentence so it is easily read at a glance by busy recruiting managers who might otherwise baulk at interrogating a whole block of text.

•Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

•Morbi pretium interdum lacus, eget fermentum velit porta sit amet.

•Donec aliquet sodales massa, nec aliquam lacus commodo a.

•Sed nibh sem, vehicula sit amet tempor in, laoreet semper mi.

•Cras tincidunt neque eget mi venenatis eleifend.

•Aliquam vitae nulla eu arcu ullamcorper viverra.

•Maecenas in leo quam.

 

Dates of Employment

Name of Client

Job Title

•Leave a gap and then bullet point each sentence so it is easily read at a glance by busy recruiting managers who might otherwise baulk at interrogating a whole block of text.

•Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

•Morbi pretium interdum lacus, eget fermentum velit porta sit amet.

•Donec aliquet sodales massa, nec aliquam lacus commodo a ed nibh sem, vehicula sit amet tempor in, laoreet semper mi cs tincidunt neque eget mi venenatis eleifend liquam vitae nulla eu arcu ullamcorper viverra.

•Maecenas in leo quam.

•Morbi pretium interdum lacus, eget fermentum velit porta sit amet.

 

Interests and Activities

 

List what you like to do, but avoid things like “Playing with my model train set” - It might sound good to you, but an employer wants someone who's interesting and exciting

 

This is a template we work to - it helps keep your CV simple, but to the point. Nothing worse than trying to negotiate a load of boxes, or checklists with asterixes pointing out if you have 'Average' 'Good' or 'Excellent' skills in certain areas.

 

The above will more than likely not come out that well on this board, so I've included the sizing guide and where to position the text etc.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Oh and feel free to PM me and send your CV over. I can spend a few minutes moving stuff around if you like - It is my job

[Canis]

Fergie,

 

Have you decided the sort of work you want to do ? do you have transferable skills/ Qualifications from your service time ?

 

Billy's Template is a reasonable starting point but everyone need to present the info about themselves in a manner that maximises their good points and their suitability for the sort of work they are after.

 

It also can be sensible to have different versions of your CV to go after slightly different jobs. For example i have a friend who is a trained comercial pilot who is also an aeronautical engineer- he has two versions of his CV, one that paints a picture of him as a pilot with technical knowledge the other as a an aeronautical engineer hwo also has his pilots licence.

[Billy.]

 

It also can be sensible to have different versions of your CV to go after slightly different jobs. For example i have a friend who is a trained comercial pilot who is also an aeronautical engineer- he has two versions of his CV, one that paints a picture of him as a pilot with technical knowledge the other as a an aeronautical engineer hwo also has his pilots licence.

 

Quite right. I wouldn't reccomend the above CV for a CTO or the like, but it's a good template just to get your skills down on paper in a reasonable order. You cant then go about changing and enhancing it as per your requirements.

 

Get your CV listed on the job boards; Jobsite, Jobserv, Monster, Planet Recruit and Reed. These are the big names and believe me, every single recruiter who has an account has automatic searches which run on a daily basis (5am to be precise) which checks for new candidates with specific skills - so do keep your CV keyword heavy: Outlook, Word, Excel, Macros, Windows, Mac, XP, Cisco, Networking are all good keywords to have, if you have ever touched on any of these, get them mentioned. At worst, your CV will not be what the recruiter is looking for, but there might be something else you wrote which catches their eye.

[Dr W]

Most important is get the spelling and grammar correct.

 

You may not think it but I have seen cv's binned without consideration because they contained errors.

 

It makes people think that if you can't be bothered to get your cv right then you're probably lazy and not worth employing.

[Bluebarrels]

Did you not get given a book on how to layout, write a cv on your ctw? and you usually have to write a cv and take it back to your ressetlement centre,and they go through it with you

 

Where did you do your ctw? BB

[Thunderbird]

Most people's CVs are **** because writing your own is quite hard. I was partly involved with the DWP 'Jobsearch Support for Newly Unemployed Professionals' last year and it was amazing how many CVs I saw which really did not sell the person at all, and were extremely boring. Think of the CV as a sales tool to get you an interview. Recruiters are literally inundated with CVs and many take no more than a few seconds to skim the first page then bin it. If they don't think 'hey I want to meet this guy' in those few seconds you can forget it. Recruiters are also notoriously bad at (well, good at) generalising and pigeon-holing people so make sure you link your military achievements with something that will chime in the world of the person reading the CV.

 

The 'front page' or initial impact of your CV is one that perhaps needs the most attention, in terms of getting clear in the mind of the reader 'what you are?' Horrible phrase but then as we know recruitment is a horrible process.

 

Ideally there should be a 'Personal Profile' statement of a short paragraph of what you feel is the best / most relevant summary, then follow that with a bulleted 'Career Achievements' section at the top. I suggest you try and think of half a dozen or so of these and you can add 4-5 of them depending on what the role is. Use something like:

 

What I did - why I did it - whom did it benefit (did it save money, lives? Did it make a team perform better? etc

 

Each previous job description should be summarised as an initial paragraph then bullet points, but use the first and last bullet points on each job for the 'reasons for getting' and 'reason for leaving' respectively. Obviously if your entire career so far is army this is fairly straightforward.

 

Make sure all the dates 'marry up' and eliminate all elements of potential concern or guesswork on the part of the reader. It is entirely up to you about date of birth but I think it might as well go on, otherwise all people will do is try and work it out anyway. Laws against age discrimination are a ******* joke.

 

Using this model you will hopefully create the best type of CV, borrowing something from both the Chronological camp and the Functional camp.

 

I'm tired. Good luck.

[bakerboy]

Here's a good template for you

 

 

 

This is a template we work to - it helps keep your CV simple, but to the point. Nothing worse than trying to negotiate a load of boxes, or checklists with asterixes pointing out if you have 'Average' 'Good' or 'Excellent' skills in certain areas.

 

The above will more than likely not come out that well on this board, so I've included the sizing guide and where to position the text etc.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Oh and feel free to PM me and send your CV over. I can spend a few minutes moving stuff around if you like - It is my job

Fantastic Offer, Pigeon Watch at it's very best yet again.

[Gareth W]

What ever skills you have try and write them so a non military person knows what you are talking about. I.E. no military mumbo jumbo.

 

Try and keep it to 2 sides of A4 and just highlight experience.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Gareth W

[swiss.tony]

hope you find work soon fella

[bentbarrel]

When i was leaving i paid a company to write mine. Im sure it was called CV writer or something.

[fergie]

Thank you for the help lads, I hope i find work soon too

[paulf]

Lots of good advice already, I can't add anything else other than to wish you good luck.

[Chris Bb]

Fergie, all the best in your search.

 

Oh and feel free to PM me and send your CV over. I can spend a few minutes moving stuff around if you like - It is my job

As ever, Billy's one of the best.

 

Laws against age discrimination are a ******* joke.

This probably won't apply to you but I've just discovered, the hard way, that this is very true.

 

Pigeon Watch at it's very best yet again.

It most certainly is.

[reddan]

Most important is get the spelling and grammar correct.

 

You may not think it but I have seen cv's binned without consideration because they contained errors.

 

It makes people think that if you can't be bothered to get your cv right then you're probably lazy and not worth employing.

Very true I have seen some very good peoples CV binned for this reason, alway get a couple of people to read it because after re-reading it over and over you become blind to the mistakes.

 

The 'front page' or initial impact of your CV is one that perhaps needs the most attention, in terms of getting clear in the mind of the reader 'what you are?' Horrible phrase but then as we know recruitment is a horrible process.

 

Ideally there should be a 'Personal Profile' statement of a short paragraph of what you feel is the best / most relevant summary, then follow that with a bulleted 'Career Achievements' section at the top. I suggest you try and think of half a dozen or so of these and you can add 4-5 of them depending on what the role is. Use something like:

 

What I did - why I did it - whom did it benefit (did it save money, lives? Did it make a team perform better? etc

 

Each previous job description should be summarised as an initial paragraph then bullet points, but use the first and last bullet points on each job for the 'reasons for getting' and 'reason for leaving' respectively. Obviously if your entire career so far is army this is fairly straightforward.

 

Make sure all the dates 'marry up' and eliminate all elements of potential concern or guesswork on the part of the reader.

 

Good advice, if your been in work for a fair while i would say work history before education. Experiance is the key to most interviews

When i was leaving i paid a company to write mine. Im sure it was called CV writer or something.

They are OK but be careful to check it through I had one done and it had errors in it. I hate to say it but writing a CV takes a lot of time and can't be rushed. Most recent jobs I have gone for only interview 5 or less people and with lots appplying you need a good cv. Think of getting an interview as most of the battle.

 

If you want to send it to me I will have a look. Target the CV to the job as well.

 

Dan

Edited February 16, 2011 by reddan

[Bagsy]

Fergie, what sort of work are you after?

[AVB]

I must have read a million CV's in my career (well perhaps not that many but a lot). Billy's format is fine. Keep the detail short but make sure it sells you. The first page has to be enough. I never go onto the second page unless I am interviewing. If the first page doesn't do the job then it gets binned. Another good point is to tailor the cv per application. You are not lying but you are highlighting your strengths for the particular job.

 

Oh and Don't be tempted to put your picture on it. Unless you are a stunning blond woman with big ****.

 

Good luck.

[Billy.]

Another good point is to tailor the cv per application. You are not lying but you are highlighting your strengths for the particular job.

 

Oh and Don't be tempted to put your picture on it. Unless you are a stunning blond woman with big ****.

 

 

I don't put a candidate forward to a job if they haven't adjusted their CV for the vacancy. If they can't be bothered to update it accordingly, it shows me they aren't that bothered about the vacancy - A great way to spot someone who is just fishing for anything.

 

I don't think there's ever been a time I've seen a photo on and thought "That needs to stay on there" 99% of the time it's a source of humour around the office, especially as I deal with IT bods who put some pretty geeky photos on their CV

 

Good advice AVB

[Gunny]

One thing I found useful was to first write a full detailed career history for my own reference only and use it to refresh my memory when writing a C.V. for a job application. It includes secondary school and achievements, military service through to current position and has built up over the years to include qualifications, formal or otherwise; training courses (organisation, dates, subject etc) and the usual things about company / organisation and post held. The more detail the better because you just pick the relevant parts to target an application. Obviously having just left the service some of this will not apply but is useful for the future.

 

As mentioned by billy, a c.v should be written specifically for each application so I built several versions of C.V. which I tweaked yhe most appropriate for each job application.

 

My "reference" C.V. has everything included and most of it will never be needed (well at my age the fact that I gained school colours for athletics is rather redundant) but it is a useful aide memoir for dates and places and relevant info.

 

Can't think of anything else to add except best of luck.