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Help on CV preparation for UK Job

 
Greenhorn
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Hello all,

while reading a lot of threads discussing the CV preparation subject i read some oppinions saying that you have to prepare your CV based on the country that you are trying to get a job into.

I'm thinking of structuring my CV like this:

- Personal Information (contact details etc)
- Programming Skills (what i know to do, e.g. Java, Php etc)
- Previous Work Experience
- Previous Projects (apart from my work experience)
- University Degrees

Anything else i should include or i should pay attention to, especially for the UK Job Market? Also, I don't know if it matters, but I'm not English.

Any help (even to re-arrange the structure) is more than welcome.

Thank you very much for your time.
 
Rancher
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George:

There is a very helpful book called 'Acing the IT Resume', which I found to be very useful when I reworked my resume. I highly recommend it. Amazon.co.uk doesn't seem to have it, but Amazon.com does.

John.
 
George Goubak
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John de Michele wrote:George:

There is a very helpful book called 'Acing the IT Resume', which I found to be very useful when I reworked my resume. I highly recommend it. Amazon.co.uk doesn't seem to have it, but Amazon.com does.

John.



Thanks for your answer.

I only found a book called 'ACE the IT Resume'. One in amazon.com and one in play.com. Is this the one that you're talking about?

I haven't ordered before from amazon.com. Does anyone knows aproximately in how many days an order is delivered to the UK?
 
John de Michele
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George:

That's the one. I don't know what the Amazon.com to the UK time is, but I have done the reverse, and the order came pretty quickly.

John.
 
Author
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I would tend to have a summary of accomplishments/achievements in the first page.


-- When I write my CV, I would assume that my first page is the one going to be read and rest of the pages are going to be scanned.

-- I would also customize my first page to the position I am applying for. I would look at the job spec and put myself in the employer's position to write my first page.

-- In the skills summary also, it is better to include th skills that are relevant to the position, role, etc. Anu other non-relevant but useful skillls can go towards the back under something like "other skills".


Note: These are genral comments. Not specific to UK.
 
Marshal
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George Goubak wrote:I haven't ordered before from amazon.com. Does anyone knows aproximately in how many days an order is delivered to the UK?

If they actually deliver to UK, about a week.
 
George Goubak
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Campbell Ritchie wrote:

George Goubak wrote:I haven't ordered before from amazon.com. Does anyone knows aproximately in how many days an order is delivered to the UK?

If they actually deliver to UK, about a week.



They probably do, but i found it in other UK bookstores too so i can buy it from here

arulk pillai wrote:I would tend to have a summary of accomplishments/achievements in the first page.



Thanks for your comments. About the summary of achievements, you mean something in a paragraph form like a statement?
 
Campbell Ritchie
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George Goubak wrote:

Campbell Ritchie wrote: . . . If they actually deliver to UK, about a week.



They probably do, but i found it in other UK bookstores too so i can buy it from here

Good. It is surprising that you can go onto amazon.com and go to "marketplace" and find lots of sellers who won't deliver outside North America.
 
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George Goubak wrote:while reading a lot of threads discussing the CV preparation subject i read some oppinions saying that you have to prepare your CV based on the country that you are trying to get a job into.



It's not even a matter of the country that you're trying to get a job in as much as the company and the position you're hiring for. You don't have a single resume. You send out a different resume for every job you apply for. You can have a single base resume from which you derive, but every resume should be tailored to the position you're pursuing.

There is no right or wrong way to order a resume. It depends on what the company and the position will find important. You show your educational credentials at the bottom, but what if you're applying for a job in academia? Or perhaps a public library? They might well place more value on your educational background, and so that should be at the top.

You have "previous projects" at the bottom, whatever those may be, but if they are aligned exactly with what the company is looking for, then by all means put that at the top, or mention them in your professional summary.

You should always start your resume with a professional summary of who you are. Nobody is going to read your entire resume unless you give them a reason to, so make that top 4-5 bullet points just below the contact information grab the reader and compel him to read the rest.

And while we're on the subject of books, I'd like to suggest my "Land The Tech Job You Love" from Pragmatic Bookshelf. There are two chapters on resume creation where I expand on the ideas above. It's available in paper or electronic form direct from the publisher, and it's also available on Amazon, both here in the States and in the UK. The Amazon.com page has a short video from me about job hunting as well.
 
arulk pillai
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Thanks for your comments. About the summary of achievements, you mean something in a paragraph form like a statement?



I use bullet points. Easier to read.
 
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