Writing a CV or r?sum?

[Torsten]

Hi everybody,

Let's talk about CV's r?sum?s and portfolios. When was the last time you worked on your CV or r?sum?? Do you like this type of activity? As for me, since the launch of english-test.net I have not spent much time on updating my CV as I thought that the web site itself could become my r?sum?. Now I have realized that for a number of reasons it will be very useful to exchange experiences on this topic.
So what format and structure do you prefer when you design your r?sum? or CV? Do you prefer a r?sum? or a CV? Or maybe you use a combination of both? What do you think about this format:

• Objective (What do I want? - This could contain information about your professional goals for the next couple years.)
  
• Professional Summary (Who am I? - This one could contain an individual definition of such words 'success', 'learning' and 'team'.)
  
• Areas of Expertise (Where can I work?)
  
• Work Experience (Where have I worked? - This one can contain the sub section 'projects'.)
  
• Educational Background and Qualifications (Where, what and how have I learned?)
  

Any thoughts?
Torsten
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi Torsten!

As you mentioned there are a lot of occasions to think through one?s life. Doing that I see three big points that I consider:

- what have I achieved?
- what have been my goals?
- what are my goals for the future?

I think, all the three points together are a life plan. The both first I would do as a r?sum?. A CV for me is something like memoirs, in the sense of anything I?ll do at the end. Of course, the word Curriculum Vitae is often used when employers request applications. I myself prefer to write way of occupational development.

When I apply for a job I separate the points regarding your suggestion of the format this way:
- I write a letter of application in which I explain my personal situation, sometimes I refer to special projects, about successes i had and so on.
- I write a Way Of Occupational Development where I advice to my Skills, the dates of being employed and so on.

Michael

[Conchita]

Keeping your CV succinct and as short as possible is also very important. In many companies, CVs that are longer than one A4 page are often not even read, as I know from personal experience. Embellished CVs can create a negative impression of the applicant, apart from being terribly boring.

[Alan]

Hi,

Having sat on and also chaired interview panels for teaching posts at the college where I worked, I know how the good CV can make a difference. Application forms that have spelling mistakes, carry signs of wear and tear, are mass produced to fit any job are to me candidates for the waste paper basket. A neat, concise and relevant document is seductive and appealing and in my book is a candidate for shortlisting.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a driving instructor

[Torsten]

Good morning my friends,

Many thanks for all your suggestions. Michael, you have made some good points regarding your future goals and your employment history. Conchita and Alan, you are right - a paper based CV should be down to the point and succinct. However, what do you think of using the Internet for presenting yourself? I mean, you could put your CV online organizing the information in an easy-to-use format. You could include current projects and samples of your work. This way you could provide your prospective employer or client with more details about yourself and it will help them make a decision.
What do you think of this alternative?
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

I used to do a lot of interviewing and hiring and I can tell you, there's nothing worse than a resume that's "too" long.

What I can imagine for internet use would be making a succinct resume and attaching additional information at the end. In other words, the resume itself would still be a relatively short "stand-alone" document, but additional information is also available if someone wants it.

Don't many organizations use computers to do some of the job application screening nowadays? If your resume is online, you have to expect that it might be a computer "who" does the initial screening. Or a prospective employer finds you by doing an online search (i.e., a computer is also involved here). In order to "get past the computer", it would be crucial to have the "right keywords" in the resume.

Amy
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Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Fan of Arabian horses]

[Torsten]

Hi Amy and Michael,

Thank you very much for all your input. Michael as you have mentioned, there are a variety of reasons I've brought up this topic. Let me explain some of them today. You see, I have been working freelance for more than 8 years now.

This form of employment has pros and cons like any other situation. One of the many advantages of being self-employed is that you have much more freedom as to how you want to work and with whom.

I often have contracts with companies that are subcontractors of yet another company. For example, when I do a training program for a group of engineers they don't have a contract with me direct.

So, I don't advertise the name of my company or give them my email, website or phone number. However, they company I have a contract with gives their clients my name.

Then, if any of the participants of my course wants to know more about me they can google my name. English-test.net is becoming more and more important for me and since I have been self-employed I have met a lot of excellent English language trainers from English speaking countries as well as Germany.

That's why I decided to create english-team.com - a company that provides a variety of language services. Now I want to use the principles and experiences of english-team.com and implement them into english-test.net - that's why I'm bouncing ideas regarding the professional profiles/portfolios/web resumes - whatever you might want to call them. I have to work on my profile too - it's far from ideal.

Hope this makes sense, let me know what you think.
Regards
Torsten
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi Torsten!

Anyhow I expected some changings concerning you. All your posts, replies and topics refered to that. To be able to expect the unexpected is one of my advantages but also my very big weaknesses. So i am not really sure what to understand regarding your intention to implement your experiences and principles of English-team.com into English-test.net.

So as you are absolutely free to do everything what you want to do -as I understand English-test.net as it is your baby-, I think, first of all it seems to be a good idea if you would change the layout into a bit easier visible way. As I have had a look at mrcards website and also to your English-team.com website I think that your presentation is much more easily visible and less hard to read. So it could be a good idea to turn English-test.net?s layout into a similar face.

Also, although i can imagine you?ve heard this often enough, it might be senseful to make it easier to find this site.

As far as i am concerned the handling of this site is really useful and easily visible. I would not change the tools. I can?t help myself but I think mrcards had had a look to this creating his own website.

The first two points I mentioned I have experienced because i?m a not well proficient English user and it had been irritating first, so that I first lost the interest in this site and only because I absolutely wanted to improve my English skills I decided to have one more look at this site. And the word what drove me too having another look was `for free`. Sorry that I mention this but there had been a lot of other English-test providers whose layout had been more attractive in spite of they weren?t for free. What I mean is that their layout have a more professional face.

Torsten, I hope that helps you. Whatever you do please teach us at the right time.

Have a good success!

Michael

P.S.: I have learned a lot until now and liked go on doing that.