CV Help - Web design job

[ctid]

Hi

I'm after a bit of help with my cv. Basically, my mum's friend knows the director of a software development company, and she said she would give him my cv when she sees him next week. I've just finished college and am going to uni in september to study computer science, and a job like this would give me good experience.

What should I put in my CV? I've got quite a bit of experience of creating sites using XHTML, CSS and PHP, and doing the design work in Photoshop. I don't know how to put it down on paper though.

Thanks for any help

[dave87]

Past sites designed is always a good start.

Otherwise put into a concise paragraph the bits you are good at/interest you, then an employer knows where your strengths lay...

[ctid]

My cv at the moment just has my work history and education details on. What sort of stuff should I write. I'm useless at this

[Whiternoise]

Have you done a personal statement?

That's probably an easy enough way to add in the stuff you enjoy/are good at in a way that a CV can't.

[TheAnimus]

Skills.

Break down your skills into bullet points, only ones pertinant to the roll your applying for thou.

IE:
ASP.Net (C#)
ADO.Net
Sql Server 2005, Oracle, Sybase
JavaScript (AJAX)
Java Applets.
XSLT
WebServices (SOAP)

Then on your previous employment, make sure you mention how you used them, simple!

[ctid]

I'm only 18, so my previous employment has been shop work, and nothing related

I have created a few sites for businesses though, working freelance. How could I include that in there?

[Whiternoise]

State the name of the business, purpose of the website and a link?

[tiggerai]

Key skills and key achievements on the first page with a short profile at the top with what you're looking for.

[jimbouk]

For something like webdesign your CV should be second to your porfolio. I have a 1 page and a 2 page cv, depending or how much guff I put in the covering letter.

Stick the freelance stuff in 'Previous Employment' and list all your wonderful IT skills. Bulk it out with contact details, education history and 'other interests' (to show you have a life outside work/school).

There must be a website with templates for this sort of thing...

[Saracen]

My advice is to treat the CV as an advert for yourself. You want to tell the bloke enough to get him interested, but not too much. If it's too long, it won't get read, so keep it salient.

It's probably best to confirm the obvious details (name, address, contact details, etc). At your age, the work experience can't be too detailed, because there hasn't been that much of it. But even it's it's shop work, you can make the best of it ... e.g. you enjoy the challenge working with the public, relating to people, etc.

You also want to try to find a positive reason for changing career .... e.g. while doing the shop work, you've been building the necessary basic skills in IT, and are now ready for a bigger challenge, etc.

Also, I'd suggest a bit of personal detail, but DON'T overdo it, and be very careful if you claim anything you can't back up. It might seem a good idea to claim something interesting (such as scuba diving, or theatre-going, or guitar-playing), but if you do and you find that the bloke interviewing you shares an interest, it can become quickly obvious that you were lying.

Ideally, you want to present enough background to make it clear you're a person with interests and a personality, but not so much that the interviewer thinks you'll be so busy with all your hobbies/sports etc that you'll be knackered at work.

Remember, the CV is an advert. You're baiting the hook, in order to get interviewed. Once you get the interview, that's where the hard work starts, and the CV becomes close to irrelevant at that point, other than as a starting point for conversations.


Oh, and re: education. Give the high points, and major exam passes, but don't go into elaborate detail of every last class and exam.

[jimbouk]

Well here's a template from my CV:
http://people.bath.ac.uk/ma3mc/CV_template.doc

Saracen makes some good points about level of details. If it helps think about them as prompt points for your interview - either with them asking questions about them or you using them to answer their hand-wavy questions.

[tiggerai]

Let us know how you get on!