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:: Career News |
Get
Results with Your C.V.:
UK Recruiters and Companies Share Top Tips for Creating a Great Resume
By Richard
Chiumento
During summer 2001, Chiumento and Effective Resources, a London-based human
resources consulting firm, conducted a survey of 580 recruitment consultancies
and 302 top companies in the U.K. The question at the heart of the survey
is one that plagues every job seeker: What's the secret to a great CV?
Although opinions among recruiters and companies were somewhat varied, a
strong consensus emerged about what can make—or break—a great
CV. If you're thinking about working in the U.K., check out the survey results
below, and see how your resume measures up.
Length
The majority of recruiters (60 percent) and companies (70 percent) prefer
a two-page CV over a one- or three-page resume. Thirty-six percent of recruiters
and 28 percent of companies favor a three-page CV.
The popularity of the two-page CV has increased in the last decade, according
to the results of a similar Chiumento survey conducted in 1992. One-page
CVs are less popular now than they were ten years ago; in the 2001 survey,
a mere 2.6 percent of recruiters and 1.67 percent of companies prefer them
over two-to-three page CVs, compared to 9 percent in 1992.
Format
Over 90 percent of all respondents favor a reverse chronological format
(most recent employment to least recent). Few favor a "skills only" CV,
which some respondents fear candidates use to disguise a patchy employment
history.
Content and Layout
This year, participants were given the opportunity to respond at length
on the most important components of a CV. Respondents were asked to rate
29 items on a scale of high, medium or low importance. According to companies,
the top ten most important components of a CV are (from highest rank to
lowest): work experience; qualifications; achievements; the candidate's
contact information; personal background information; accountabilities;
number of staff; budget responsibility; reasons for leaving; and most recent
salary information.
Respondents stressed that candidates choosing to list a "hobbies and interests"
section on their CV should keep it brief and relevant. One respondent gave
an example of the kind of irrelevancies that can crop up: wife's employment,
children's first names, and pony club ribbons.
Cover Letters—Handwritten or Typed?
Thirty-three percent of companies and 41 percent of recruiters prefer cover
letters to be typed. Both groups have high scores for "no preference"—
about 45 percent, although recruiters and companies stress that handwritten
letters must be neat and legible.
Electronic CVs
Electronic CV scanning or input enables candidates' data to be stored in
a retrievable format. Few companies (9 percent) are considering installing
automatic CV screening software, and only 2 percent already have such systems
in place. By contrast, 73 recruiters (12.5 percent) use CV screening software,
and 75 anticipate installing it within the next six months.
Lay-Offs
An overwhelming majority (87 percent) of respondents feels that it makes
no difference if a candidate is currently unemployed due to lay offs, or
declared redundancy. A small percentage (3.8 percent) indicates that being
laid off could even improve a candidate's application, due to their immediate
availability. However, respondents stressed that candidates should be honest
about their lay-off history, rather than trying to disguise or omit it from
their CVs.
Paper Color
Twenty percent of recruiters and 33 percent of companies express no preference
in paper color, but both groups strongly prefer (73 percent and 57 percent
respectively) white to cream, light blue, or other colors.
Submitting your CV
Seventy percent of the respondents suggest that CVs should be sent to the
personnel or HR department; 18 percent prefer that it be sent to the function
head. Twenty-five responses (8.3 percent) suggest that candidates send CVs
to both the personnel department and either the function head or the function
director.
About Richard Chiumento
Richard Chiumento is the founder of the multi-disciplinary human resources
consultancy based in London, England. He specializes in strategy and organizational
effectiveness, learning and development, outplacement and career management,
and interim and strategic resourcing.
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