Lynn Williams, careers expert and author of Readymade CVs and The Ultimate Interview Book answers your questions about how to put together a job-winning CV
Would you say consulting and professional services firms like PWC and Deloitte would prefer a chronological CV as opposed to a skills based one?Martyn O’Brien, Sheffield
Some prefer one thing, some another. There’s no reason why you can’t give them both in one CV. Put a Key Skills or Key Achievements section at the top of your CV, below a Personal Profile, to highlight your major points, then follow on with a chronological career history.
Example:
Personal Profile
Office administrator and PA with experience of all aspects of office work including managing up to five staff. Reliable, methodical, good at handling a variety of tasks efficiently, with a strong aptitude for organization and administration.
Key Skills
· Windows XP
· Word; Outlook Express; Excel; Access; PowerPoint;
· Executive office administration - Diary scheduling - Executive-level correspondence - Time-sensitive assignments - Advanced computer applications
Career History
2001 to present
ABC Plc
Executive Assistant Reported directly to senior management; worked independently on a daily basis, and managed comprehensive day-to-day office operations
· Set up agendas and minuted all departmental meetings up to, and including, board level
· Trained staff in office procedures
· Co-ordinated department work schedules
· Maintained computer systems and confidential records
· Created databases, word processing and reports
1997 to 2001
DEF Ltd
Office Manager …
And so on.
I have three A grades at A level and 2 E grades. When writing my CV I always omit the two Es. Is this wrong? Andreas Kokkinos, Larnaca, Cyprus
It’s difficult to say without knowing more about your current situation. If you’ve just left school and are looking for your first job, all your qualifications are important as the employer has little else on which to judge you. Include your E-grade A-levels – after all, you studied the subjects and know something about them even if you didn’t do that well in the exam. You could omit the actual grade if you wanted.
Example:
A-levels: English; French; History – grade A; Economics; German
GCSEs: 7 including Maths, French and English
If you have a degree, or are studying towards one, this becomes your most important qualification – see the examples in questions three and 10, below. Once you start work, your work experience increasingly becomes more important than your A-levels. Keep them on your CV as an indication of your potential, but, ideally, you should aim to get relevant work-related training and qualifications that will supersede them.
Example:
Qualifications:
NVQ level 3 Office Practice
A-levels: English; French; History: Economics: German
GCSEs: 7 including Maths and English
I'm an accounting and finance student from UWE in Bristol and in September I'll be starting to apply for graduate jobs. My A-level grades aren't that great, but I've worked really hard over the last couple of years and am on course for a 2:1, maybe a first. How can I concentrate my CV on this so that employeers will see the improvement that I've made on my studies? I have taken a sandwich year, and so also have over a year in relevant experience Josephine Cade, Manchester
Your degree course and your work experience take precedence over your A-levels. Highlight these on the first page of your CV and down-play your A-levels. Give full details of the skills and experience gained during your sandwich year, and details of the subjects covered in your course so that employers can judge the range of your theoretical knowledge as well as your actual experience. Mention your expected result in your covering letter along with the fact that you have relevant work experience – see the answer to question five below.
Example:
Career Objective
A highly motivated college leaver with relevant employment experience and a recently completed BTEC National Diploma in Computing, looking for a position that provides the opportunity to continue to build further experience in this area.
Work Experience
2004-2005 (sandwich year)
ABC Systems IT Assistant
· Updated and maintained marketing database
· Used a range of software to convert raw data into charts and graphs for reports
· Assisted with production of reports and analyses, including data research and compiling statistics
· Achieved maximum performance rating during appraisal
Education and Training
2002 - present
Surrey College BTEC National Diploma in Computing Specialising in: Networking and ICT Support
The course covered all aspects of computing, including:
· Computer Systems
· Communications Technology
· Computational Methods
· Software Development
· Programming Practice
· Network Design and Administration
1995 - 2002
Priory Park School
A levels: Maths; Computing; Physics; Economics
GCSE: Seven including Maths and IT
I am a final year LPC. I am applying for a training contract at the moment. In my previous career, I have been a midwife and NHS manager. I am trying to put together my CV for my application. How do I explain all this to give myself the best chance of getting a training contract? ML Lim, London
What skills have being a midwife and NHS manager given you that will be of use in your new career? Put them in a Key Skills section at the top of your CV (see question 1). Pick out the skills, qualities and achievements along with the responsibilities and duties that are most relevant to the new job and emphasise these in your CV and in your covering letter. Make yourself as good a fit as possible and show how you will be able to transfer your skills from one role to the other.
How long should a covering letter be? I have a feeling I may ramble on too long, but I don't want to miss anything out that might be integral to "selling myself" Caroline Beashel, Bournemouth
The most important thing to get across in your covering letter is your suitability for the job. Study job ads and job descriptions for the sort of work you want to do and include your relevant skills, qualifications and experience, using the letter to highlight the key points in your CV.
Example:
Dear Ms Smith (always write to a named person)
I will be completing a BSc Degree in Chemistry this year and I am writing to enquire if you would have a suitable vacancy for a newly qualified industrial chemist. My undergraduate courses included both organic and inorganic chemistry, and I also completed supplementary courses in mathematics and computing.
My work experience includes a summer placement with ABC Ltd, assisting in the alkali-wash trials for the treatment of petroleum waste. I very much enjoyed working in an industrial laboratory and found the experience both interesting and rewarding. During my placement there, I discovered I had an aptitude for detailed and accurate work. I also learned how to work as part of a team and to communicate effectively at all levels.
I include further details about my responsibilities and duties at ABC, along with the topics covered on my degree course, in my enclosed CV.
Should you not be recruiting currently, I would appreciate your keeping my name on file for future reference. I would, in any case, be very interested in a brief meeting with you to discuss possible career prospects in your field.
Yours sincerely
How important is the University you've studied at to potential employers? Louise Wallace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
What’s more important is the range and depth of the topics you’ve studied, and any work experience you have. See the answers to other questions for ways to get these across in your CV and covering letter.
I have quite a lot of work experience but most of it is low paid bar work and shelf-stacking – nothing to do with getting into journalism, which is what I want to do. Do I need to mention these jobs on my CV and if so where do I put them and how do I make them sound useful for my chosen career?Dan Behan, Bristol
See question four, above. Briefly, make your experience relevant. Think hard about what you’ve learned in these jobs that will make you a better employee – self-discipline, taking responsibility, following instructions, getting on with others, and so on – and, even more importantly, what will make you a better journalist – interpersonal skills, seeing a wide range of life, being a good listener, thinking on your feet, etc.
Apart from that, can you turn your experience into actual articles that demonstrate you can find the story in hum-drum reality? What do shelf-stackers see behind the scenes; do people really tell bar tenders things they wouldn’t anyone else?
I’ve heard that you should put a “personal statement” on your CV, just a few lines to sell yourself. But isn’t this supposed to be what a covering letter is for? Jacqui Whewell, Ipswich
Put a Personal Statement or Personal Profile in your CV as well; your letter may not be kept and if you put your CV onto an on-line bank, there won’t be a letter anyway. Alternatively, call it a Career Objective and include the sort of position you are looking for – useful when writing speculative letters rather than answering job-ads (see question 3, above). Either way, use it to summarise the rest of your CV – what you are, what you do, your key skills and experience, your personal qualities.
Example:
Biological Sciences graduate with laboratory and administrative experience in an industrial environment and an understanding of the requirements of a commercial organisation. Used to adapting to high pressure and tight deadlines while remaining both accurate and good-humoured.
What should come at the top of a CV – my degree, A levels and so on, or my work experience? And should I put my name address and personal details before both of these? Ben Fanshawe, Bradford
See the examples given in answer to the questions above. Briefly, put your name, address and contact details at the top, followed by a Personal Profile that summarises your key strengths. Next, put the most important information about you. If your main selling-point is your degree, put details of that, the courses you’ve done, the topics covered, and so on, followed by any work experience, giving your duties and responsibilities.
Example:
Education and Training
2003 - Present
BSc Business and Finance
Final year modules:
· Financial planning and control
· Business statistics
· Business Information Technology
· Administration systems
· Business environment
· Human resources
· Policies and procedures
1996 - 2003
Priory Park School
A levels: Maths; Computing; Physics; Economics
GCSE: Seven including Maths and IT
Work Experience
2003 – Present
ABC Ltd Cashier and Sales Assistant
Responsibilities:
· Customer service
· Handled large amounts of money
· Alcohol and tobacco legislation
If your most attractive feature is your highly-relevant work experience, put that first instead, followed by the information about your degree – see question three above. Any other information comes after all this, including your date of birth, hobbies and interests.
Showing posts with label PPD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PPD. Show all posts
Wax - Southern California (A Film By Spike Jonze)
This is the infamous music video by Spike Jonze... What a filmaker!!! Story so simple but its so effective and it looks visually incredible.
Heaven
'Heaven' was used in the acclaimed skate film Fully Flared directed by Spike Jonze and Ty Evans. The collaboration inspired the directors to take footage and re-edit a sequence of shots that shows the Lakai skateboarding team demonstrating their considerable skills as they navigate through and around various exploding obstacles. With 'Heaven' as the musical backdrop, the resulting marriage of sound to picture is quite extraordinary.
Explicit Ills!
This is Mark Webbers new film it looks incredible. I think that not only the story but the visual style looks really good. I hope to try and produce some films of this standard in the future.
Clever Business Card
This is an incredibly clever business card put together by Melvin, a self proclaimed "hacker, entrepreneur, and all around mischief maker." The picks can be easily removed from the card and are actually functional as lock picks. Kind of puts my business card to shame. And by business card, I mean the used napkins I keep in my pocket with my name written on them. I'm a professional!
USB Business Card
Here is a very interesting concept, the M++CARD is a Business card which includes memory storage on the rear side of the card. The back of the card is laminated so as to hold a memory card (like Sony M2 Card). Two slits on the card make it possible to snap on a USB adopter, through which this card can be accessed. As per your needs, related data can be stored on this card. Thus, M++CARD can become truly business card, company info card, website card, product info card, portfolio card and so on.
Work Placements
Unpaid placements should be for no longer than 4 weeks and you can expect the employer to provide training, dedicated supervison, flexible hours and to cover your travel expenses. Please remember this is your opportunity to gain experience, to choose the duties you are happy to undertake and that you shouldn't feel pressurised to undertake any duties you feel unhappy about.
Paid Placements if you are asked to commit to a placement of more than 4 weeks, or find that the employer requires you to work specified hours or requires you to undertake specific duties, then you can expect the employer to pay you for your time at at least the National Minimum Wage of £5.73 per hour.
Applications most employers will ask you to send a CV with your application. It also a really good idea to include a covering letter explaining why you are applying for the work placement and what you hope to gain from the experience. Creative Careers would also encourage you to treat your work placement application just like you would a job application - be professional, be punctual, contact the company if you need to cancel or are running late for appointments etc. Making a good impression at work placement will only increase your chance of future employment!
If you would like to more detailed advice on work experience please download our Work Experience handout
Advice and Support
Employers offering work experience placements are also expected to comply with UK equal opportunities, employment and health and safety and legislation. Most issues or problems you encounter in your work placement can be resolved through simple discussion with the company involved, but there may occasions when you feel the need for expert advice and support. Creative Careers have prepared a listing of some of the main organisations have can help and support you. Click here to download a copy Employment advice sheet for students and graduates If you not sure of the best organisation to approach please telephone Creative Careers on 0207 514 6150.
Also see Fashion Business Resource Studio http://www.fbrstudio.org.uk/ and FashionAIM http://www.fashionaim.org/ for work placement opportunities
Paid Placements if you are asked to commit to a placement of more than 4 weeks, or find that the employer requires you to work specified hours or requires you to undertake specific duties, then you can expect the employer to pay you for your time at at least the National Minimum Wage of £5.73 per hour.
Applications most employers will ask you to send a CV with your application. It also a really good idea to include a covering letter explaining why you are applying for the work placement and what you hope to gain from the experience. Creative Careers would also encourage you to treat your work placement application just like you would a job application - be professional, be punctual, contact the company if you need to cancel or are running late for appointments etc. Making a good impression at work placement will only increase your chance of future employment!
If you would like to more detailed advice on work experience please download our Work Experience handout
Advice and Support
Employers offering work experience placements are also expected to comply with UK equal opportunities, employment and health and safety and legislation. Most issues or problems you encounter in your work placement can be resolved through simple discussion with the company involved, but there may occasions when you feel the need for expert advice and support. Creative Careers have prepared a listing of some of the main organisations have can help and support you. Click here to download a copy Employment advice sheet for students and graduates If you not sure of the best organisation to approach please telephone Creative Careers on 0207 514 6150.
Also see Fashion Business Resource Studio http://www.fbrstudio.org.uk/ and FashionAIM http://www.fashionaim.org/ for work placement opportunities
Edinburgh Film Festival
Born alongside Edinburgh’s International Festival in 1947, EIFF was one of the world’s first international film festivals, and helped to define the type of event that has since become so pivotal to film culture in nations all over the world. EIFF has developed into a crucial business hub for the UK and international film industry, a key attraction for Edinburgh, and one of the world’s best -loved audience festivals. With an emphasis upon new talent, discovery and innovation, EIFF’s vibrant programme of films and events combines a commitment to audience edification and pleasure with a strong ongoing stake in the development the UK and Scottish film industries.
EIFF’s early remit was to bring the burgeoning documentary movement to a wider public audience. Its first champions included John Grierson, the founder of the British documentary movement, and Norman McLaren, animation pioneer, and early audiences thronged to see films by Roberto Rossellini, Humphrey Jennings and Robert Flaherty. As the Festival’s reputation and ambitions grew over the 1950s, the programme expanded to incorporate international fiction films, and visitors included Alexander Mackendrick, . In the 1960s a pivotal retrospective element was introduced, and helped to define that now standard element in film festival programming; early subjects included John Huston, Sam Fuller, Douglas Sirk and a young Martin Scorsese.
In the 70s and 80s, the Festival consolidated its reputation as a pioneering force for UK audiences, screening films from the New German Cinema, the new wave of American Independents, homages to the masters of Japanese Cinema, and pioneering studies of black and feminist filmmakers. Festival audiences were able to witness masterpieces from across the whole spectrum of film culture, from the UK premiere of Spielberg's ET: The Extraterrestrial, to Abel Gance's silent classic Napoleon complete with a full orchestral score. New talents were nurtured, including Bill Forsyth, Stephen Soderbergh and Stephen Frears, whose TV film My Beautiful Laundrette scored cinematic distribution after its EIFF bow.
More recently, EIFF has continued and progressed its project of foregrounding discovery whilst welcoming the best and brightest established film talent. The Trailblazers programme highlights new UK filmmaking talent, while onstage interviews with respected figures including Judd Apatow, Ray Harryhausen, Tilda Swinton, Errol Morris, Roger Deakins and Shane Meadows provide behind-the-scenes insights into all areas of filmmaking. Audience favourites of recent years have included Tsotsi, Control, In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Day Watch, Tekkonkinkreet, Paranoid Park, Knocked Up, The Visitor, Man on Wire and The Edge of Love, while brand new titles that gained prominence from their world or international premieres at EIFF 2008 include Good Dick, Faintheart, Helen, sleep furiously, Bigga Than Ben, Mum and Dad, Summer and The Kreutzer Sonata.
Raindance
Raindance founder, Elliot Grove, found himself at odds after crashing out of the London property market in the 1990 recession. After two years of thumb-twiddling, his neighbour, a part-time farmer, reminded him of his roots and said: "As long as you are feeling sorry for yourself, no doctor in the world can cure you." Thus, Raindance was born, with Elliot casting back to his long exprience as a sceneic artist and set designer on some 700+ projects, his inherent Canadian organisational ability, and good, old-fashioned PMA (Positive Mental Attitude).
The first Raindance event was a Dov S-S Simens class in early April, 1992 - on the weekend before the last general election that John Major won. A few months later, with friends of Raindance making movies, Elliot launched the festival in the heart of London, during the pre-MIFED week mid-October. With MIFED long gone, it's hard to remember that during the first 9 years of the festival over 1,000 international acqusision executives attended the festival each October. During that period, over 63% of the films screened at Raindance found an international distributor. MIFED died a death post 9/11, and the festival has developed from a trade and industry event into a bell-weather festival.
The British Independent Film Awards were created despite much industry scepticism in 1998. The first producer was Fred Hogge, who worked closely with Tessa Collinson, who is now one of the BIFA directors. Publicity for the first 8 years was the domain of Phil Symes, who amnaged to break down the press resistance to our awards show, and to launch it into the event it is today.
Raindance is run by a talented team currently 9 full time strong.passionately enthusiastic about independent filmmaking. Weekends and evenings are filled with private shorts, feature and documentary projects which each individual hopes will be good enough to make it into our own fes
Sensoria Sheffielm Music and film festival 24 - 30 April 2009
Sensoria is looking for exciting new work in the realm of music film – this can include fictional features or short films with an innovative soundtrack, music related biopics, music documentary and truly exceptional music video. Films must be completed after 2006. There is no submission fee. The Sensoria film programme will be announced in 2009 - expect a fantastic mix of classic and cult, previews and premieres to hit Sheffield screens in April. Sensoria is the UK’s festival of film and music. Sensoria’s natural home is Sheffield - a city renowned for its creative and technical innovation and one rich in musical heritage. The festival has risktaking and innovation at its core - it is informal and informative; Sensoria loves to provide access, raise aspiration and work to encourage new talent on an ongoing basis. We look forward to seeing you in Spring for a heady mix of screenings, performance, talks, events and exhibitions but keep checking throughout the year as we present Sensoria Teasers - events, activities and collaborations as and when the opportunity arises. SensoriaPro also delivers exciting ongoing activity for professionals and emerging talent within the music and film industry.
Head Tracking with the Wii
Using the infrared camera in the Wii remote and a head mounted sensor bar (two IR LEDs), you can accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen. This effectively transforms your display into a portal to a virtual environment. The display properly reacts to head and body movement as if it were a real window creating a realistic illusion of depth and space. This is an amazing way of creating a more personal and realistic gaming experience. This could be transfered into 3D modeled worlds and such like as the viewer or creator could step inside the creation and react view the environment as it has been made.
Wii Motion Plus
This is the new motion plugin for the wii that enables it to track your arm in a new more precise way. This could maybe be extended into a home motion tracking with multiple censors on the body to track multiple body parts putting you into the game in a new way.
Foldable display tracked with Wii remote
Johnny Lee has created infrared tracking and projection,simulating displays on flexible and foldable surfaces. This allows us to fit a large interactive display into our pockets. The tracking is accomplished using the Wii Remote and IR LEDs. This could be a really cool way of displaying our work in more creative and interactive ways. This technology could be transferable into galleries and the likes to make them a more interactive and exciting experience.
Easter Holiday Work Placement
I am looking to take a work placement during the easter holiday of 2009. I hope to get in contact with one of the companies on the database that i have formed on my Wiki space. I am looking for any type of placement to gain insight in the area of film and video production.
New Books
These are some books that I have ordered from Amazon. They are books on cinematography that I think will help aid my study in the area.
Microsoft 'Smart' Table
This technology is the new wave of interactive surface tables. It is truly incredible. The surface enables you to place your camera, phone, computer etc. onto the table and instantly access files across all platforms. You can place a camera and laptop on the table and transfer files and view file across the two platforms. This table is also multi touch so multiple people can use the table at any one time. It really is amazing and the expansion of the software is transferable to all areas e.g army, business meetings etc.
Red Camera
Red Camera
RED 4K Footage from IMAGE4YOU.TV on Vimeo.
This is some test footage shot at 4k downsized to 2k for an export to DPX files. The quality is amazing and the technology is truly ground breaking. For the price of around £30,000 you are getting more than twice the quality of 35mm cinema quality cameras for a considerably lower price.
They are expected to release camera in 2010 that can shoot at 28k YES!!! 28k that is ridiculous. It will be called the Epic 617 pro. The brain alone will cost $53,000 which for the product doesn't sound that bad.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)