Hi guys,

Just to let the senders of the 13 emails I have inbox (received from Tuesday to date) that I'll be reviewing your CVs over the weekend.

Thanks for your patience.

Cheers

Hi guys,

I've responded to all the CVs as promised.

The Career Objective section appears to be a major spoiler on most CVs. Please scroll through this thread and read up about Career Objectives.

Again, the issue of career path - please read through again and decide on your career path. You'd be doing yourself a great favour by having a focus.

Also feel free to send in your CV for further review after making necessary changes. A sender sent his CV to me 2 more times after the first review. I wish he could allow us upload his reviewed CV here; such huge improvement.

Who is sending the next CV?

Cheers

I just shot you an email. Please give my CV the professional touch you promised. Thank you

@mycvclinic thanks 4d gud job u r doing here. Pls i cant find ur email so i can send my own CV too,i try checking ur profile but is not there. Thanks, hoping to hear frm u

^ Mycvclinic at gmail dot com.

Read Post #1.

Hi everyone,

I've got 16 emails inbox. It's not my style to allow things pile up but there are these two ACCA papers I've got next week (P2 and P3 - Business Analysis on Monday and Corporate Reporting on Tuesday). Been off work since Monday but I'll be cheating myself if I spent that extra time online instead of studying.

Soon as they're out of the way, you'll probably get tired of hearing from me.

I can squeeze out the time to do it now but it will be really rushed and won't equate to a very effective CV which is our target here. I spend on the average 30minutes on a CV.

So, I'll start reviewing your CVs from Tuesday evening and for the 16 CV's I have inbox at the moment, you'll get your CVs on Wednesday before 6PM.

I beg your patience and understanding.

Cheers

Hello everyone,

I've reviewed all CVs I had inbox (at the time of writing this message). Please check your email.

I wasn't able to work on 3 CVs because of the formats they were sent in. Kindly send your CV in  Ms Word format.

Again, the issue of Career Objective and career path seems to be a major challenge with most CVs. I will do a further post on career path which will be up here on Thursday.


Cheers

^ Thanks!

How was ur exam(s)?

@mycvclinic,
Thanks a million for your great work here. I am satisfied with the professional touch i saw in my CV, most especially the issues of career objective and the inclusion of unnecessary details like state of origin, local government and the rest.
I noticed the essence of schooling abroad in your write-up. Thanks

Hi Dt03,

Thanks! Glad I could be of help.

All the best

Dt03:

@mycvclinic,
Thanks a million for your great work here. I am satisfied with the professional touch i saw in my CV, most especially the issues of career objective and the inclusion of unnecessary details like state of origin, local government and the rest.
I noticed the essence of schooling abroad in your write-up. Thanks

OP

Good job.

i just sent mine. Review it ooooo

Hello everyone,

So far, I have reviewed 49 CVs and I currently have 26 inbox.

I've already gone through about 13 of the 26 CVs I currently have inbox; I just need time to write the notes to accompany the changes I've suggested or made on the CVs (If I've reviewed your CV I'm sure you received it with an email explaining the changes etc etc etc.)

The purpose of this post is to say ----> I'm closing for the year. I will resume reviewing CVs from the 16th of January 2012. 

However if you want your CV reviewed this year, you have from now till 6PM tomorrow (Thursday the 21st of Dec) to send it in.

Cheers

i sent a cv to your mail box for review. any questions needed for the review could be forwarded to my mailbox as i need to send it urgently. thanks

And thanks for your commitment and help. May God reward you His own way. Your tips have been eye-opening

Just sent my CV to your inbox. Let me know,,,

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year!

I stated in my last post that I will not be reviewing CVs until the 16th of this month.

However, I currently have 89 CVs inbox waiting for review received from the 22nd of December to date. Hence, I've decided to resume review now (today) instead of next week as planned.

I also have emails from some senders of CVs I've already reviewed; may I please beg the patience of the senders of these emails. I tend to give priority to CVs that I've not touched at all. I'll still get back to your enquiries soon.

Once again, please send your CVs as attachments in MS Word document format. Please don't paste your CV on the body of an email. There isn't much I can do with a CV in such a format.

Finally, may I also use this opportunity to say a very BIG thank you to you for allowing me do this and thanks for your kind words.

I pray you have a very blessed 2012.

Cheers

Hello Everyone,

I really need to hear from the house about Career Path.

Doing CV reviews, I have received emails with messages as follows (I have simply done a cut and paste of these messages and haven't changed anything);

‘My career path is banking industry and telecommunications’
'I am looking for a job in the telecoms or oil and gas sector'
'I am looking for a job in a bank'
'I am looking out for any multi national organisation or oil & gas etc'
'I intend working in the Construction  industry'
'I'm looking for job in an oil and gas coy'
'I will do any kind of job'
'I’m interested in d telecoms industry'

Whenever I come across messages of this nature, I immediately wonder if perhaps most of us are unable to get jobs because we have not figured out exactly "what I want to do".

If you look closely at those message excerpts listed above, you will notice one thing in common - these individuals have stated the 'Where I want to work' and not 'What I want to do'.

"What I want to do" relates to your profession (Solicitor, Accountant, Journalist, Architect, Engineer, Marketer etc). By identifying what you want to do, you have essentially identified the most important component of your Career Path.

In other words, Career path is mainly about what you do (or want to do) and NOT where you work (or want to work).

I believe it is more productive to focus on what you want to do rather than focusing on where you want to work. Focusing on what you want to do will enable you cave out a focused career. Also, this enables you to develop the core skills and professional qualification/certification/training that is required for a Career in your chosen field. By so doing, you have succeeded in laying the foundation that is necessary for you to achieve progression in your chosen profession.

On the other hand by focusing on where you want to work, you stand the risk of accepting jobs that take you away from your career path and away from your area of interest and competence.

If you tell me 'I want a job in a bank' I will immediately wonder, what is it you want to do in a bank. Banks can hire people from different professions such as IT, Finance and even Law.

However if you said, I am interested in developing a career in IT or I want a career in Finance etc, my next enquiry will be to check your skills and competences in your area of interest eg. what professional qualifications do you have, how many years of work experience do you have in this field etc

You can see there is a huge difference between these approaches. When you focus on what you want to do, your options become clearer. You'll find yourself applying for jobs based on your abilities and most importantly, you'll notice and take up opportunities to improve yourself in order to achieve a very balanced career with well rooted foundations (which leads to progression).

Always remember that recruiters give jobs to those with the necessary skill and competence to carry out the job and NOT to those with merely an interest in working in such a place.

Do you know your Career Path?

Welcome back and Happy New Year.

You really want to hear from us? You have explained the problem so well, the solution is immediately obvious.

I'm just curious as to the percentage of people making that mistake. 90% of the submissions?

Hiya,

I really want to hear the opinion on this. It is so common that I am beginning to wonder why we focus on where we want to work.

I recall reviewing a CV that fell into this category. Luckily, I only read the body of the email after I had finished reviewing the CV and was about replying. The content of the CV was fantastic - new graduate, professional qualifications in view and a degree plus industrial training in the same field. However the person stated 'I want a job in a bank or in telecoms' and I instantly wondered what the attraction (or perhaps distraction) was.

I won't say 90%, perhaps somewhere around 60- 70%. I consider this really really high. Just a handful of the remaining 40% are clear on career path as some CVs tend to come without any message altogether (which I don't mind either).

yamakuza:

Welcome back and Happy New Year.

You really want to hear from us? You have explained the problem so well, the solution is immediately obvious.

I'm just curious as to the percentage of people making that mistake. 90% of the submissions?

So, lets get started,

Send your current CV to mycvclinic@gmail.com and also include the type of job or industry you look to work in.

I assume those excerpts where in the body of the email and were intended to "guide you" in aligning their CVs for various industries?

They wrongly assumed that the CV targeting MNCs would look different from that targeting lecturing jobs, for instance?

I assume their career path is known to them or otherwise articulated somewhere on the CV,  under the Career Objective perhaps?

Most didnt have that part or needed it rewritten?

One other thing is that the present labour market doesnt really favor a rigid career path/choice. Most people want to be flexible enough to take just any job and then make a career out of it, if possible.

Considering that they will submit that same CV to hundreds of companies for different job roles, perhaps they consider being specific about job functions too limiting?

I'll keep quiet for now and let people say their mind on this other thread:

www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-843342.0.html

I also just got drawn back to that initial post of mine as I went back to it few minutes ago to do copy some texts to create a blog.

The aim of "the type of job or [b]industry [/b]you look to work in" was more of one aligning to career path and not in the way it has come across in these emails when compared to the CV content.

I've considered the aspect of the job/labour market and actually deleted it from my the post on career path cos it was like answering my question and I won't want to reveal more on my opinion of this "broad career path" idea just yet till I get some responses.

Fingers crossed, I'll get a response from some of the senders of these emails and also perhaps others out there to see their take on career path and see If they had included these excerpts based on my post.

CREATING A MORE EFFECTIVE CV

Find attached pictures showing an illustration of how to achieve an effective CVs.

I have used a CV I received, making some changes for privacy reasons.

The first Image is the original CV that was received and the second is the reviewed CV. Can you notice any differences?

CREATING A MORE EFFECTIVE CV

Here are some pointers on the CV review illustration above (please refer to post with pictures of a CV).

The first flaw of this CV had to do with clarity. Notice how texts are not aligned properly. For example, at the section 'Personal Information' notice how items seem to jump around. There is an obvious lack of order in that section.

Now looking at the reviewed CV, you will notice that a proper order and alignment of texts has been achieved. As I said in a previous post, clarity boosts understandability and this CV has really shown that that.

Clarity also has an effect on the choice of sections and content of your CV.

Notice that the Email and GSM items were moved away from the header of the CV to a location where it can be easily viewed under 'Personal Information'. Please always ensure your contact information is written clearly and visibly.
Avoid squeezing allot of information at the header of your CV. It works against clarity most times. You will be acting unkind to yourself if a recruiter is unable to contact you because you have not made your contact information visible enough. I usually prefer listing my contact address in the 'Personal Information' section too.

Notice I have removed the item 'Certificate of National Youth Service' from the 'Education and Qualification' section. This item doesn't add any value to your CV. If however you really must include information stating that you have completed your NYSC, you can do so by including a line under 'Personal Information' section as follows;
NYSC Certificate:        Yes (although I really do not see the need)

Also, Instead of lumping the CIPM membership into this section, I have given this qualification more visibility by creating a separate section for Professional Qualification'. You may also name this section 'Professional Membership and Qualification'.

Moving down to the next section 'Work Experience' - notice that the only information contained in the CV was the employment duration, jobtitle and name of employer.
This is the most important section of your CV because it provides the best opportunity for you to portray the use of your skills to a recruiter.
Do you know that possession of a good mix of skills is likely to convince a recruiter to overlook the fact that you may not have met some other requirements of a job advert (eg age or degree classification)?
Please portray your skills in an effective manner - list your duties and responsibilities.

If you notice the reviewed CV has a new section - 'Skills'. After I sent the CV back to the owner, he/she went a step further and added that section to the CV. He/she was interested in a career in HR and included teamwork and communications skills on his CV, drawing from his experience in extracurricular activities. Impressive.

Also, going back to the work experience section, notice that although the positions were not HR roles, he/she managed to list responsibilities in a manner that highlighted the core skills required for a career in the HR.
Please do a research on the core skills for your chosen career and ensure that your CV highlights these skills.

Notice that he/she did not do the [b]usual [/b]listing of skills but he backed it up with those activities (evidence).
As I stated in a previous post, anyone can list skills as follows:
Excellent Communicator
Effective customer relationship and service quality.
Ability to integrate quickly into a new team.
Willingness to learn new skills and to adopt new progressive ideas.
Good negotiation and interpersonal relationship skills.
This is a VERY ineffective method of portraying your skills, always back it up with activities.

Finally, notice that I relocated the section 'Computer Education' from the first page of the CV. Now, I may have considered leaving that section on the front page if he/she had a career path in IT. Hence, I moved this section away to page 2 under the heading courses and training. Looking at this CV again, it really should have been named Computer/IT skills instead.
I usually use the heading 'Courses and Training' only for trainings that are [b]relevant [/b]to a career path.

I advise you use the changes highlighted on this CV and see if you can make improvements to your CV.

Hello Everyone,

So a few days ago, I noticed a couple of emails (41) held up in the SPAM folder of my email. I've had to reply these emails with an apology for not getting to their CVs on time because I DON'T normally read my spam box.

However, I looked at some of the email addresses for the mails that got trapped in the SPAM box and could not help but assume that perhaps, these emails were treated as junk because of the nature of the email address. Most (not all) of them were in the form of: yemibigboiz@xyz.com, fiercebabe01@xyz.com, chinew_@xyz.com (there is an underscore "_" on this email but the hyperlink won't let you see it)

Could your Email Address add to the reasons why you don't get replies from recruiters? Ever wondered if perhaps your email didn't actually get through to their inbox OR they replied you but you didn't receive it because they sent the mail to the wrong address? (I'm not trying to stir up worry in anyone).

I know multinational companies recruit using online forms but what of those cases where you send your application by email or even visit recruitment consultants?

(For this write up, lets assume my name is Apple Head)

When I got my first email addresses I tailored it to look just like those of my siblings.  I wanted it to sound 'cool'. My 2 email addresses were apple4real@xyz.co.uk and realapple4life@xyz.co.uk. 

Sadly, I thought this was 'cool'. Fastforward a few years, I was now at University, 100L and in the heat of IM and all that, it just seemed laborious trying to get people to understand my email address. I changed email ads to adapt to a style I had come across. The address was in the form lady_name@xyz.com (there is an underscore "_" on this email but the hyperlink won't let you see it). I decided to adapt my new address to this and started using miss_apple@xyz.com (there is an underscore "_" on this email but the hyperlink won't let you see it). However, when I started filling forms, I noticed how hard it was sometimes to recognise the "_" part of the email address. Some people that were not familiar with the underscore character "_" thought it meant there was a gap, some used a "-" instead and all sorts while others excluded it all together.

I recall being called by a recruitment agency for an interview at their office and after filling the form the lady struggled to understand my email address as she reviewed my form. I explained to her that it was an underscore "_" . As I walked out of that office, I prayed she or whoever was going to be responsible for emailing me about the outcome of my interview will remember that my email address had an underscore.

Obviously as I got home without even taking off my shoes, I sat by my laptop and created a whole new email address in the format firstnamesurname@xyz.com.

Now even though I have a very weird name, anyone that has a difficulty with my email address can easily cross check it using my personal information where I have details of my fullname.

Anyway that was my simple opinion on email until I bumped into several articles talking about email address and the image they project.


I came across the following article. Read the full thing at http://www.jumpstartyourjobsearch.com/email.html

Does your e-mail address project the right image?
Your e-mail should not be silly or playful, but professional. Do not use cute or "personal" e-mail addresses like queenmother@abc.com, JohnsonFamily@123.com, harleyhunk@abc.com, cat-luvR@)xyz.com, and so on.

Is your e-mail address short and intuitive?
Avoid e-mail addresses with long strings of numbers and letters. Try to select an e-mail address that's easy to remember and get the shortest e-mail address you can find.

Does your e-mail address include digits like L, I, 0, or O?
The digit 0 looks like the letter O and a non-capitalized L (l) looks like a capitalized i (I). Avoid using these letters and digits.

Does your e-mail address include underscores?
Underscores are not visible if the text is underlined
Is your job search confidential?
Protect your identity. Don't let your e-mail address give you away

Read more about this at http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobsearchtips/a/jobsearchtool.htm
also see http://www.savvysugar.com/Job-Search-Tip-Get-Sensible-Email-Address-3052970 and try to read the comments on the last link.

I need an IT expert to help me and perhaps those interested to check if the following are myths or facts:
I have always had the following opinions about spam boxes:
- they also trap emails originating from email addresses with "funny" or "cool" texts
- if your email address has been blacklisted by several people, your mails will by default be delivered to the SPAM folder. (I have this thing I do where I blacklist email addresses that constantly send me chain emails and those annoying FWD: messages as I dislike receiving unnecessary mails. ) Now imagine if several people have blacklisted you. Most email providers such as yahoo have maintain a database of emails reported as spam, so imagine what may have happened to your Email address. The same one you use to submit applications.


oh and one final thing, how do you asses your replies from recruiters if you receive 60 new mails in your inbox everyday? - 30 notifications from facebook, 10 from twitter etc. I had a dedicated email address for my job searches and I used my miss_apple@xyz.com for facebook, twitter and all other social networks.

Again I'm asking, Could your Email Address add to the reasons why you don't get replies from recruiters? Ever wondered if perhaps your email didn't actually get through to their inbox OR they replied you but you didn't receive it because they sent the mail to the wrong address? (I'm not trying to stir up worry in anyone).


Cheers

CREATING A MORE EFFECTIVE CV - Part 2

Find attached pictures showing an illustration of how to achieve an effective CVs.

I have used a CV I received, making some changes for privacy reasons.

The first Image is the original CV that was received and the second is the reviewed CV. Can you notice any differences?

(There is a limit on the total size of image I can upload so I've had to really reduce the size of these images to fit in one post in. If you have a problem seeing it clearly, give me a shout and I'll put up the 2 CVs on separate posts)

CREATING A MORE EFFECTIVE CV - PART 2

Here are some pointers on the CV review illustration above (please refer to post with pictures of a CV).

If you have looked at the first post (photo) on CV illustrations, you'd have noticed that prior to the review, the CV was scanty as skills hadn't been detailed properly. Duties on work experience had been left out.

Now, the CV used for this current illustration is the exact opposite!

This original CV in this case was crammed up with TOO MUCH information. Infact, the owner of the CV used all the tricks in the book to make his CV fall into 2 pages (Perhaps to remain compliant with the socalled 2 Page CV rule, I'll try and do a post on this soon).

Infact the message that came with this CV was "I was told no HR can read it because it's too comprehensive"

I ended up with a headache yesterday night after working on this particular CV, no jokes. I went on to shut down my computer and watch tele.

I'm beginning to see that the keyword with CVs is CLARITY

Now for a start, I removed unneccessary information - of which this CV had ALLOT.

For a start, the[b]"Competences"[/b] Section - if you read one of my previous post, I talked about the most effective ways of conveying information about your skills to recruiters. I advised you to avoid using vague statements to describe your skills. Such as';
- Superb in results-oriented, self-motivated, decision-making, planning and organizing skills
- Understanding and approaching technical issues coupled with an enthusiasm for technical challenge
- Superb in adding value, pro-active, hard working, dynamic, critical thinking and problem solving skills
- Good in basic Mechanical Engineering services and good in making researches on critical / difficult issues
- Commitment to safe working practices desire for continuous learning, strength of character and stress tolerance

This CV had about 14 of such statements. I don't see any recruiter sitting down to read all these. Now in the middle of these 14 items, important information on IT Skills had been hidden;
-Superb in Corel Draw, PDMS and AutoCAD for design
- Knowledge of Microsoft suites such Ms Word, Ms Excel, Power Point and internet (I have highlighted the "internet" in red because I really don't see that as a skill a recruiter will look out for in a CV)

I moved these IT skills away to a new section "Computer / IT Skills" and deleted the remaining 12 items.

After the "Competencies" section, there was another section with another listing of skills in a rather ineffective manner. The "Qualities and Skills" Section.
This section listed about 12 items in the manner of:

-Ability to recognize problem in some engines and communicate ideas
- Ability to work with little, without direct supervision and work under pressure
- Ability to follow instructions accurately and ability to evaluate jobs periodically
- Ability to schedule tasks and events and ability to monitor project programmes
- Ability to carry out quality inspections and ability to oversee zero break-down of engines
- Ability to monitor the functioning of all engines and quick respond to engines breakdown

If you look at these items properly they appear to be the fall out of duties on a job. These skills are better reflected under your work experience section. When you list skills in this manner it looks like just tales which anyone can cut and paste BUT when you reflect these skills through your duties on a job, a recruiter can immediately picture your ability to do these things.
This section was deleted.

Moving on to the "Employment and Work Experience" Section, notice that duties have been listed. Some of the listed duties appeared irrelevant and were excluded from the reviewed CV.

I notice allot of people hide the "Personal Information" and "Education" Sections of their CVs at the bottom of the CV.

I really don't see any reason why personal information should be hidden at the bottom of the CV.
As for the "Education" Section, I've seen that practice more common among people with advanced career history who perhaps have a career path that is different from their Education.
At entry level (which the owner of this CV is at) I advise you keep your "Education" Section at the top of your CV.


And the final section is that of "Reference". I'm not a fan of detailing Reference on CVs mainly for the sake of confidentiality. It really is not good sending out someone's contact information all over the place. Recruiters will usually contact your Referee after some test or interview stages. They will ask of it when they need it. For the CVs I've reviewed so far I remove from some CVs and other times I don't. I advise you remove it from your CV unless a recruiter states that it should be included. The available on request signoff is good enough.

I highlighted the[b] "Career Objective"[/b] Section in red because I needed the owner of the CV to work on it. I usually use red highlights on CVs to note things I need a CV owner to work on.

I advise you do some initial work on your CV before sending it in. I'm sure if you work with these two samples you should be able to achieve very good improvement on your CV.

Cheers

(please ignore any grammatical errors, it's a long reply on Saturday morning)

@mycvclinic.
Hey, wanna say a very big “thank you“ for your effort at helping out in this regard. I am amazed at how dedicated you are at doing it. I imagine how much time and energy you must be putting into it daily. I have learnt a lot from your reviews, and would probably just effect the necessary changes on mine without having to send it. Even though I hold a masters degree(Geophysics), I must admit that giving my cv an international appeal has been quite a task.Thanks again for your effort, and God bless.

@Raxxye

Thank you. I decided to upload these illustrations to enable those interested in achieving a more effective CV to learn how to so. Thanks for doing just that.

All the best

Hi everyone,

I've just glanced through some of the CVs I received yesterday and I can tell the owners of those CVs haven't effected any changes on their CVs using these notes.

Please may I ask that before you send in your CV, you at least use these notes to do abit of work on your CV. I'm trying to clear the backlog and it will really help if CVs I receive show that some work have been put in to achieve the effectiveness. Once the backlog is cleared I can continue review as usual.

Also, I am reviewing from the oldest to the newest so it may take a while for me to get to yours if you're only just sending it now. The best way to jump the queue in this case is to use these notes.



Happy Sunday

Hi, mycvclinc.
Please i have a cv in your box that is awaiting review.