Posts Tagged ‘CV Services’
27
Jul/10
With reports claiming there are now 70 graduates for every available position, a focus on how your CV and life experiences can single you out from the crowd is essential. Gap year applications have shot up this year, and employers appreciate that gap year students can add knowledge and skills to their repertoire that can be valuable in the workplace.
Gap Year Skills
Individuals who choose to take a gap year - for travel, work or a charity, should make use of this time to think about how their experiences can translate to essential skills and abilities to benefit their career. Here are just some of the gap year attributes you can showcase to potential employers:
- Fundraising – Showing that you were able to raise a percentage (or all) of the cost of your gap year by working, fundraising or applying for a grant shows determination.
- Staying Power – The ability to see a project through from start to finish.
- Enthusiasm – A can-do attitude and the spirit to take on the unknown.
- Making a Difference – Working and assisting charity and fundraising projects across the world is a fantastic personal accomplishment.
- Actively Volunteering – Choosing to help others, putting yourself forward and signing up for a beneficial project shows great character.
- Working as a Team – Gap years are often organised in groups, and especially if you are working on a project, you will have to use group skills to achieve your goals and get on with others from all walks of life.
- Overcoming Challenges – Whether you are travelling, working or volunteering, you will undoubtedly face obstacles, difficulties and hard times during your gap year. Showing how you overcame these (and what you learned) can be a great subject to bring up in interviews.
- Communication – Succeeding with interpersonal skills and problems of language shows problem solving and adaptability.
Employers wish to see proof that you have made the most of a gap year – even if you spent it working in your hometown, rather than volunteering in a third-world country – you should be able to show that you have grown as a person and expanded your life experiences. This can be on your CV, in a cover letter, a Video CV, your Personal Career Website or face to face in an interview.
A gap year can show responsibility, drive, ambition and commitment, and if you managed to fit in some related work experience along the way then all the better. By recognising the areas in which you have learned and articulate them in your CV or interview, then you will stand out from the crowd.
Interviews and applications often ask for examples of challenges you’ve faced, difficulties you’ve overcome and times when you’ve had to use your initiative. Gap year experiences can be great examples of teamwork, organisation, ingenuity, enthusiasm and passion. They can also help answer those tricky “what are your strengths/weaknesses?” questions, as your personality is sure to have been tested at least once while on a gap year.
Most importantly, a gap year should not just be a year off – for graduates particularly, a gap year should be considered to help improve employability, and for seizing opportunities. Any and every work and life experience is valuable, so long as you translate it into a tangible skill that is beneficial in your career. Accendo can help you word your experiences in a cover letter or CV to best show these attributes and gain the most from your gap year.
Tags: cover letters, CV Services, CV Writing, gap years, graduate gap years, Job hunting
Posted in CV Tips, career counselling, cover letters | 1 Comment »
27
May/10
Leaving university and entering the job hunting world is a daunting proposition today. With more budget cuts and redundancies on the cards, competition for work is increasing, and the value of a degree has become questionable since graduates are struggling to find work in the field in which they studied.
More and more students are applying for postgraduate degrees to avoid the recession’s scarce job market. Postgraduate study has reached record levels in elite universities such as Oxford, as candidates strive to raise their level of qualification. Does this mean that an undergraduate degree is worthless in the current climate?
Now more than ever, the importance of an outstanding CV and interview skills are paramount. According to a study by the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information, only 49% of British students believed their degree prepared them for future work. This suggests that the “soft skills” of communication, networking and working under pressure are what graduates are relying on.
So why are they struggling to gain employment? An employer has to sift through sometimes hundreds of applicants for any one job. If your CV shows your abilities, experience and drive clearly and succinctly, and suggests a flair for innovation, it is more likely to be noticed. Recent developments in social media and networking have brought the Video Enhanced CV to the forefront of candidate showcasing. Most CVs are sent via email these days, allowing you to take advantage of internet technology. By including a link to a professional Career Management Website, your prospective employer can view an essential first impression of you, before you even meet. Eye contact, a smile, enthusiasm and energy are integral parts of appealing to recruiters. In a rehearsed and polished Video CV, you can give them all the information they need to know with just one click of a button.
Visit AccendoCV for all aspects of Career Management, including CV writing and editing, Cover Letters, Interview Skills and to create your own Video Enhanced CV.
Tags: Accendo CV, career counselling, career management, CV Services, CV Writing, Professional CV writing, Video CV, website cv
Posted in CV Articles, CV Help, CV Tips, CV Writing, News | No Comments »
25
May/10
A recent poll of 500 graduates has revealed that 60% of students who have made use of their university careers advisory service complain that it has failed them. Graduates are leaving university unprepared for employment and more than a third interviewed were forced to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance in the last year due to difficulty in finding a job.
In the survey by recruitment website totaljobs.com, results show that upon completion of their degree, one in ten students are assuming they will earn more than £35,000 from their first job, rather than the average £25,000. The stark reality of official figures is that nearly 150,000 graduates are re-entering university to pursue further studies rather than to attempt finding work. Of those 500 polled, two thirds were taking work simply to pay the bills. Only 6% managed to find a graduate job.
Graduate sales director at totaljobs.com, Mike Fetters, said: “Having invested heavily in securing a decent degree, it is not unreasonable for graduates to feel they deserve a job that matches their career expectations.
Unfortunately, competition for professional roles has never been fiercer.”
These “shocking” figures reinforce the importance of full preparation for job-seeking, including a well written, professional CV, cover letter and sound interview skills. In the current competitive market, securing a job and building a career in their area of study is becoming increasingly more difficult for graduates, and finding a way to stand out from the crowd to showcase their aptitude and talent could make the difference. The rise in candidates submitting video CVs is a reflection of our media-driven age, and can be winningly impressive to employers.
Accendo CV can help prepare you for job hunting and the workplace from career counselling, CV writing and interview skills, to a slick website or video CV to wow potential recruiters.
Tags: Accendo CV, career counselling, CV Services, CV Writing, graduate employment, interview skills, Job hunting, Professional CV writing, unemployment, Video CV, website cv
Posted in CV Articles, News | No Comments »
25
May/10
Deep cuts in public spending are heavily affecting education budgets, resulting in a lack of funding for the next generation to attend university and a cut in university places.
Following a 16.5% rise in demand for university places, the previous Labour government had promised funding for 20,000 extra places on degree courses – a number which has been slashed by half by the new coalition government, due to budget cuts in The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, under which university funding falls. The 3.9% cut comes to a grand total of £836m, “dash[ing] the hopes of thousands of people” hoping to attend university in the future, according to The Lecturers’ Union.
General Secretary of The University and College Union, Sally Hunt, was quoted to say: “Our competitor countries are increasing the number of graduates to compete in a high-skill knowledge economy. We are denying thousands a place at university and increasing the burden on our benefits system.”
This news has also sparked discussion of universities to consider private funding by selling bonds. Mainly considered by elite universities like Oxford, the scheme would hope to target “major investors” and even alumni wanting to support their university. US universities such as Harvard and Princeton have been issuing bonds to fund themselves for many years now, and it was revealed in January this year that Cambridge University plans to raise up to £400m by issuing its first bond.
The recent announcement to cut Child Trust Fund donations from £250 to £50 may also have repercussions on the next generation’s hopes to attend university. Children born after 1st August 2010 will not be eligible for the tax-free savings grant, which was put in place to help parents save to assist their children financially once they are 18, for example to help with university fees.
It has never been more important, therefore, to be able to show employers that you are the ideal candidate for a job, honing interview skills, providing them with an excellent CV which clearly shows your skills and strengths, and to innovate in your job hunting skills, perhaps by recording a video CV which can be emailed, uploaded onto video sharing sites and job boards.
Accendo CV can assist with all aspects of career development, helping candidates find and secure the job they are after in the current fiercely competitive marketplace. Visit Accendo.com to find out how we can help you beat the budget cuts and find the career you are looking for.
Tags: Accendo CV, budget cuts, coalition government, CTF cuts, CV Services, CV Writing, education, professional CV writing services, university places, Video CV, website cv
Posted in CV Articles, News | No Comments »
24
Nov/09
Common sense is needed in quantity for each and every aspect of a resume. It’s a way of thinking you need as you approach the task of CV writing. Start with the title of the word document. The most common name for a CV seen by professional recruiters is “My CV.doc”, and others that are common are John’s CV.doc, My CV UK.doc, and John’s CV Accountancy.doc. Pause, and apply common sense. The reason we are giving a CV a title is to help it be found, filed and retrieved by people who may wish to hire us. By using a title like “John Smith CV Dec 09.doc” we help the recruiter file and retrieve.
CVs should be written as word documents. The reason here is that the channels to your target job market may include Recruitment Agents, who will want to put their header onto your CV and forward it with a discussion to their client (the employer). A CV saved as a pdf or in Microsoft Works will make this task more difficult, and we are inadvertently hindering the recruiter we want to help us.
The size of your CV should be two pages, to accommodate the recruiter’s supposed time pressure. He/she will have a large number of CVs to read and we need to make ours attractive and accessible, which means large documents are not helpful. There are a few tricks that we can pull to enlarge the CV without implying to the reader that he/she has to read four pages. However CV writing services will advise to keep the document size small to ensure easy email transmission.
Studies of recruiters have shown that when they begin to read CVs they state that they are seeking to identify the best and most appropriate candidate for the role they seek to fill. Analysis however shows that they will adopt multiple processes simultaneously and these include identifying reasons to exclude CVs to arrive at a shortlist. This exclusion technique is strongly influenced by spelling errors, clumsy grammar, layout, use of colour, structure, etc. The message for us here is to use spell and grammar check, ensure the CV design and layout are good (not radical) and say what we mean by a) saying it, b) providing evidence for it and c) quantifying it. Writing a CV is demanding and the devil is in the detail.
Tags: Common Sense for CVs, CV Services, CVs
Posted in CV Tips | No Comments »
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