new blog

  A good question; isn’t communication what these professions are all about? The reality is that however good a writer or communicator the candidate is, it’s highly likely that they have little or no direct experience in writing and formatting a modern, professional   Media or Journalism CV . Professionally produced CVs do not follow “report-writing” or “article-writing” rules or guidelines although they share a very similar aim; to get a hard hitting and dynamic message heard by its target audience and produce the desired response. In this instance, the “message”, if delivered correctly, is that the recruiter has an opportunity to interview an outstanding candidate. Done incorrectly, it’s a clear message that the recruiter should quickly pass onto more suitable candidates. Media CV & Journalism CV – meeting the recruiter’s high expectations.   The “downside” of these two sectors is that recruiters do indeed have very high expectations of the CVs that they receive fro...

  How to write a CV Don’t hide the good stuff! The aim of your  Successful CV  is to immediately bring to the attention of the reader the key points that lead them to believe that they simply have to interview you. Successful CVs  have a limited time span to achieve this as they are often scanned, either by a human or by a machine and bullet pointing key areas will allow both types of “readers” to accurately and quickly identify the winning points that you need to make. Bullet Points on a CV also help to break up the format into a more visually pleasing style, encouraging the reader to consider yours in more detail than others that are poorly formatted. Bullet Points on a CV will also help you identify what the absolutely key facts are that you want to have noted. Does your current CV need a health check? Even CVs that have been produced by a CV Writing Service can become out of date or are simply not strong enough to compete in today's fiercely contested job market....

  How to write a CV Spell checkers are great, assuming that you have set the language to “English – English” and have not left the default “American – English” in place as this will introduce some interesting  spelling errors. An error on any CV that you send means: “I didn't notice it” - (I pay no attention to important details), “I didn't spell-check it” – (I’m lazy) – “I thought that was correct” – (I'm semi-literate). Also be mindful of accepting your spell checker's suggested correct grammar options as these are often incorrect. At the very least, leave your CV after writing it for a while and then carefully review it again.  This delay can often make mistakes more obvious. Ask a friend or colleague to read it for you: fresh eyes often see things that are not immediately noted by the writer as errors or poor grammar.   Does your current CV need a health check? Even CVs that have been produced by a CV Writing Service can become out of date or are simply not stron...

  How to write a CV No , it invites conscious or subconscious judgements from the reader. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 is meant to protect people from age discrimination, although  you may never know why your job application has not been considered further , an undisclosed judgement on your age may have been a key factor. Recruiters  may have an ideal age span in mind  for a role: 30 – 40 yrs of age for example. This will not be disclosed of course. Why point out that you are 42 or 28 years old? The other side of age judgements is the “age versus ability and experience” consideration that people make. In other words: “this candidate looks fine on paper, has the qualifications and success rate we seek. However, she’s only 27 years old”. This age judgement by a recruiter may be made against many factors: what they had personally accomplished at that age, how staff they currently manage at that age perform and a raft of other factors. Clearly, an exper...