News Article

Feature: The Guardian
Publish date: August 2006

Contact Accendo CV

Ruth’s CV is typical of the CVs produced by many students, a charming combination of youthful exuberance, self belief and optimism. In our conversation with Ruth a number of issues were identified. We would not wish to dampen her enthusiasm in anyway but we feel that Ruth should sell herself more and the areas that we would seek to obtain further information were we creating a CV would be –

• Explain why Biogeoscience and the environment are her chosen career path i.e. what has made her choose this specific line of interest. It must get her passion for this subject across clearly
• More detail about her research project emphasising the kind of attributes she possesses and how they make her attractive to an employer in this sector
• It would be useful to emphasise any connection between her jobs to date and her chosen career path e.g. did she sell green ideas to her then employers?
• Her scuba competence is an asset and in the right job could be pivotal
• Duke of Edinburgh award – more emphasis, more detail
• Travel e.g. Malaysia – did she choose these destinations because of her chosen career and the opportunity to observe and learn? Expand
• Not enough of real relevance is said about the voluntary work with the RSPB and NDVMCA that supports her attractiveness to an employer.
• A word of caution – the environmental field is full of very committed passionate people who would want to understand Ruth’s commitment very clearly from her CV.
• Ruth needs to identify the recruitment channels that she will use – adverts, direct approach, indirect approaches, agencies, etc. Her target is precise so ‘rifle shot’ tactics will need to be employed, and so she must identify as many targets as is possible, even those which are still being formulated e.g. a consultancy who has made a bid for work will probably need to strengthen their team. Who else has bid?

The overall layout is good and Ruth should pay more attention to ensure data is presented accurately/conventionally e.g. a playful e-mail address can suggest humour or other attribute but finding a job is a serious business. We would move the voluntary work ahead of the work experience as it is relevant to Ruth’s goal, and tone the latter down to demonstrate a strong work ethic.