CV help pl0x

[TAKTAK]

Hey guys, yet another post requesting help with my CV...

I'm about to apply to a few jobs to keep me going through uni, but my CV was dire...

So i've tried to spruce it up a bit, it still needs more doing but I'd like a bit of external input please


== - is omitted data

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Address

• Home
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==
==
==
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• Term-Time (== - ==)
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Coventry
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Personal Information

• Undergraduate student at Coventry University
• Date of Birth: ==
• Full clean UK Driving Licence

Education

• 2010- Coventry University
BEng Computer hardware and software engineering
• 2007-2009 ==
3 A-levels in: Physics, Electronics and Computing
2 AS-levels in: Extended Project and General Studies
• 2002-2007 ==
10 GCSE’s (A-C) in: Maths, English language, English literature, Science (Dual award), Engineering (Dual Award), ICT, RE (short course) and French

Work Experience

• == – Storeman/Driver
Main duties undertaken include:
Dealing with customers as they walk onto the premises in a fast and efficient manner.
Checking stock and raising the need for replenishment when required.
Providing support for the office staff with computer related issues.
Picking and packing orders in a secure manner to ensure that orders reach their delivery destination in-one-piece.
Driving company vans/cars/pickups in order to deliver orders to customers, including navigating cities and rural locations as-well as delivering to site.

• Newspaper Delivery
Delivering to customers and collecting, handling and counting money. Dealing with customer holiday cancellation’s in a quiet and discreet manner for security reasons.


• Building work
Removal of brick walls and concrete floors using hydraulic breakers and 110v drills.
Assisting with plaster boarding ceilings and walls.
Mixing of mortar.
Removal of internal wooden walls and flooring.
Assisting bricklayers, plasterers and electricians.

Hobbies

• Computers – Building/Overclocking/Watercooling
• Computer/Console Gaming - With friends and attending associated events
• Mechanical devices – Dismantling/Repairing/Servicing mechanical devices to ensure smooth operation
• Electronic devices – Dismantling/Repairing electronic systems to further my knowledge, such as adding a touchscreen to a netbook and replacing the laser unit on an Xbox 360
• Socialising- Paintballing/Cinema/Relaxing with friends

Notable Achievements

• F1 in schools Challenge 2006 - Won the innovation prize for design in the regional finals. After winning the Schools heats for speed.
• Competed and won 1st place for under 16 male doubles in the == County Bowling Championships, also won 2nd place for under 16 male doubles and also 3rd place in under 16 male singles on a previous occasion.

References

• Available on request

What do i need to add/remove/expand on?

Thanks

[Andeh13]

Undergraduate at Cov uni, what sort of course is it? My engineering course was Beng, Meng, HONS etc. It might help distinguish it from a a part time/evening or college course. Might also be worth stating any modules you are undertaking or if it is accredited by any external bodies?

Can you expand on the F1 Notable achievement, maybe a single line on what the task was/what it undertook? Was it something technical/relevant to whatever industry your sending the CV off to?

Just my thoughts though, otherwise it looks good!

edit: The hobbies might be worth looking into again? I am not sure how employers see Socialising or Computer gaming (other Hexus members might be able to advise). Do you do any team based sports, or have any hobbies which require perseverance or dedication with equipment or membership fees, skiing, hockey, tennis, golf etc .

[jim]

Gut reactions on first run through:

Dealing with customer holiday cancellation’s in a quiet and discreet manner, for security reasons.

Rogue apostophe, and it took me about 3 or 4 reads through to figure out what you meant. Could be worded better maybe? I'm not convinced it's selling you in any particular way either. Is there anything else you could say about it that would promote a particular skill of yours? Tough, I know - I haven't got any ideas at present.

You've got your storeman/driver stuff as well there, nothing particularly impressive at present. IIRC you were talking a few months ago about how you were virtually running the entire outfit? Instead of telling them about "duties", I'd be telling them about your achievements.

For instance, "Dealing with customers as they walk onto the premises in a fast and efficient manner" - anyone reading could probably guess that it was part of your job, so it's not really shouting at them about your abilities. I would be focussing on your ability at balancing both sides of the job, how you tackled a particular problem, how you took on extra responsibilities.

For instance, rather than:

2007-8
IT Department of Corporation Plc
Responsibilities
-Responsible for upkeep of IT systems
-Dealt with queries in friendly manner
-Organising spare components

I would go for something like this:

2007-8
IT Department of Corporation Plc
Achievements
-Compiled first thorough inventory of company IT assets
-Personally covered both support and system maintenance roles during 6-month transitional period
-Suggested and later implemented shift towards "support ticket" system

It all depends what you've done, but given what you've said about your role before I reckon you could probably sell yourself with something more like the second one. What you've personally done (perhaps over and above the call of duty) could sound a lot better than just running over the basic tasks (which anybody in that position would've done).

I reckon a lot of it could be cut down as well. If you repeat yourself a lot, or give them information that doesn't really bother them, you risk them getting bored.

For instasnce, maybe just say 10 A-C GCSEs inc English, Maths and Science? Whether you did RE or not, and whether it was a short course or not, probably doesn't register for a recruiter/manager.

And this is seriously not my area of expertise, but surely these three could be combined into one, or at least two:

Removal of brick walls using hydraulic breakers and 110v drills.
Removal of concrete floor using hydraulic breakers and 110v drills.
Use of 110v power tools.

Same goes for some of the other stuff - the fewer points, the better, in most cases.

Also, on hobbies maybe you could expand a little. You've got gaming, which regrettably is seen as a "loner" type hobby, then you've got socialising written on its own, with no expansion. It might look a bit as though you put it in, but it's not actually true. Maybe adding multiplayer/tournaments to the gaming thing might help, make it clear that it's a sociable thing. Then expand on socialising, so it sounds a bit more genuine. Are you and your mates down the theatre every Friday night?

Then mechanical devices - I reckon that sounds quite interesting, but there's nothing there. It could mean you made a car out of lego when you were 6. If there's something clever you've done that you could tell them about, I'd put 6 or 7 words in there to say what. It will make you sound more interesting, and make what you've written more believable. Someone might even pick up on it in an interview, and if you can talk about something you made/modded a couple of years ago, it'll be 2 or 3 minutes that you can talk freely and sound passionate, instead of answering yet more tough questions.

So yeah, a few rough thoughts. Will have another look later, now I've blurted out all of my initial reactions!

[TAKTAK]

You've got your storeman/driver stuff as well there, nothing particularly impressive at present. IIRC you were talking a few months ago about how you were virtually running the entire outfit? Instead of telling them about "duties", I'd be telling them about your achievements.

For instance, "Dealing with customers as they walk onto the premises in a fast and efficient manner" - anyone reading could probably guess that it was part of your job, so it's not really shouting at them about your abilities. I would be focussing on your ability at balancing both sides of the job, how you tackled a particular problem, how you took on extra responsibilities.

The trouble i have is backing everything up.

For example, on a regular basis i'll spot someone driving through the gate, so i'll go into the stores, pick the order up, go into the office and get the paperwork, then hand them their order before they've even stepped out of their vehicle...

But i can't back that up beyond hunting down the customers in question...

Another, we had a leak in one of the containers so i moved the stock off the shelf, found a sheet of aluminium, marked out the outline i required aswell as cutouts for cabling and steel supports, leaving enough excess material to act as a counterweight. Walked over to the engineering company in the yard and got one of the guys to cut it out for me.
Then put that in place to extend the shelf a little bit to hold a large bucket under the hole to catch the water, then put the stock back on the shelf.

Then on friday, when things had dried out, i was up on the roof spraying the hole with bitumen then laying a couple of tarpaulin's ontop, then some aluminium sheets ontop of those. Then to finish it off i asked the engineering company that's in the yard if they had any silicon sealant i could borrow, and sealed the edges of the aluminium sheets to stop water seeping in the edges.

But how do i put something like that on my CV, sure I can back it up (as i grabbed one of the directors to help me move the aluminium sheets on the roof and then there's the guys that cut it out, and lent me the sealant) but how would i go about it?

For instasnce, maybe just say 10 A-C GCSEs inc English, Maths and Science? Whether you did RE or not, and whether it was a short course or not, probably doesn't register for a recruiter/manager.

I've left everything in but re-ordered it, how does it look now?

And this is seriously not my area of expertise, but surely these three could be combined into one, or at least two:

Reduced

Same goes for some of the other stuff - the fewer points, the better, in most cases.

Also, on hobbies maybe you could expand a little. You've got gaming, which regrettably is seen as a "loner" type hobby, then you've got socialising written on its own, with no expansion. It might look a bit as though you put it in, but it's not actually true. Maybe adding multiplayer/tournaments to the gaming thing might help, make it clear that it's a sociable thing. Then expand on socialising, so it sounds a bit more genuine. Are you and your mates down the theatre every Friday night?

Then mechanical devices - I reckon that sounds quite interesting, but there's nothing there. It could mean you made a car out of lego when you were 6. If there's something clever you've done that you could tell them about, I'd put 6 or 7 words in there to say what. It will make you sound more interesting, and make what you've written more believable. Someone might even pick up on it in an interview, and if you can talk about something you made/modded a couple of years ago, it'll be 2 or 3 minutes that you can talk freely and sound passionate, instead of answering yet more tough questions.

So yeah, a few rough thoughts. Will have another look later, now I've blurted out all of my initial reactions!

How does that section look now?


Thankyou very much Jim and Andehh it is very much appreciated

[Salazaar]

Remember to axe all the personally identifiable stuff (except your name) if you're planning to upload your CV to an job sites or for agencies. They'll take that info anyway but you don't want it just floating round the internet at random.

[jim]

The trouble i have is backing everything up.

For example, on a regular basis i'll spot someone driving through the gate, so i'll go into the stores, pick the order up, go into the office and get the paperwork, then hand them their order before they've even stepped out of their vehicle...

But i can't back that up beyond hunting down the customers in question...

Another, we had a leak in one of the containers so i moved the stock off the shelf, found a sheet of aluminium, marked out the outline i required aswell as cutouts for cabling and steel supports, leaving enough excess material to act as a counterweight. Walked over to the engineering company in the yard and got one of the guys to cut it out for me.
Then put that in place to extend the shelf a little bit to hold a large bucket under the hole to catch the water, then put the stock back on the shelf.

Then on friday, when things had dried out, i was up on the roof spraying the hole with bitumen then laying a couple of tarpaulin's ontop, then some aluminium sheets ontop of those. Then to finish it off i asked the engineering company that's in the yard if they had any silicon sealant i could borrow, and sealed the edges of the aluminium sheets to stop water seeping in the edges.

But how do i put something like that on my CV, sure I can back it up (as i grabbed one of the directors to help me move the aluminium sheets on the roof and then there's the guys that cut it out, and lent me the sealant) but how would i go about it?

Don't worry about backing things up - it's not an issue. I went to some really tough interviews about a year ago, and they were asking about all sorts of things I'd done. At no point did they ask for references or proof to verify that I'd done them, instead they just asked questions.

So for instance:

Interviewer: When have you come up against heavy resistance in a team-based environment?
Me: Well, I did the D of E expedition last year, and I wanted to take a really challenging route, up hills and through rugged terrain. My team just wanted to take the easiest route possible, so it took me a long time to convince them.

Then the interviewer occasionally interjected with questions like these:

Why did you want to take the tough route?
Who was the hardest person to convince?
Sorry, what was their name?
What did you say to [insert name] specifically?
What did she say back to you?
Did your decision benefit the team? Why?

So proof wasn't really that big a deal. But had it been a complete fabrication, I would've really struggled, and they would've spotted in an instant. "Her name was Sar... Sophie." If they're any good at their jobs, they'll quiz you on stuff when you come in for an interview, and you'll show yourself up pretty rapidly if it's all made up.

Looking at what you've said:

For example, on a regular basis i'll spot someone driving through the gate, so i'll go into the stores, pick the order up, go into the office and get the paperwork, then hand them their order before they've even stepped out of their vehicle...

I would probably describe that as something like "Cut customers' typical waiting times", then if you're asked about it in an interview you can start explaining about how when you started, employees just used to wait until they were asked, and then provided help. You noticed that it was making customers wait a lot longer than necessary, so decided to keep an eye out for people approaching and if you recognised them, dealt with their business before they even arrived, ensuring that regular customers received a high-level of customer service that would hopefully ensure their repeat custom... so on so forth.

If you said "Cut customers' typicaly waiting times by half", then yeah you'd probably need proof, because you're implying that some statistical analysis was done, but if you're just making a general statement I don't think you do. If you can explain clearly in an interview how you did it, and how it benefitted the company, then I think they'll be happy with that.

Even they doubt that you actually did it for some reason, you're showing that you're intelligent enough to come up with a different approach, and explain how it works, which they'll appreciate.

Another, we had a leak in one of the containers...

Again, similar thing. Perhaps something like "Reacted rapidly to various problems, minimising company losses"

They will almost certainly pick up on it, and ask you what kind of problems there were. So you start telling them about how you informed your superior, and suggested that you fix it. Then you asked that person for some aluminium, ensured that your normal position was covered for by the relevant person, then you did this, did that. Oh, and there's also the time that you had a major IT systems failure, and you volunteered to have a look and managed to pinpoint the faulty ethernet cable and replaced it, saving the company the expense of having to call in their specialist IT firm.

Given how you can describe everything in detail, and if they ask "Wasn't your boss surprised that you could fix the IT issues?" you can respond instantly with a "Yes, he jokingly said they should cancel the IT contract" or a "No, I'd helped out a few times with problems before". As long as it's all true, you can answer any question like that really easily and they'll have no reason to doubt that it really happened.

I've left everything in but re-ordered it, how does it look now?

Reduced

How does that section look now?

All a definite improvement imo.

----

As you're no doubt aware, I don't know for sure about all of this stuff, I'm certainly not a recruiter or anything.

I just did a lot of work on my CV when I was trying to get some jobs in London about 12 months back - read a lot on the subject, spoke to a lot of people, and sent my CV to a lot of people, so I'm just going off that and my gut instinct. Not an expert opinion by any means, but hopefully it all helps!