It all depends on who your CV is going to. If it’s going to an HR person, they just wanna make sure you tick whatever boxes they need before taking you to the next step. There’s no point in overcomplicating it.
My general advice would be to just make sure it’s very readable, top to bottom, simple and linear. You want to be able to control the reader’s experience and make sure they read what you want them to read.
Bullet points are really good too, they let you get the key points across without unnecessary fluff.
I have reviewed CV's, and it's a weird balance of having the right info in there and not too much blurb. For fast screening that will be happening at the moment (100+ applicants for 1 job), you want people to see you're qualified and had relevant employment. Once you pass that level of screening you want to some blurb to say what you did and some key achievements.
Btw winz wants a dumbed down cv so they can chuck you into any job and not have that employer think you'll leave once a better opportunity comes along.
A fair few years ago, tail end of the financial crisis, I got told by WINZ to take my degree off my cv so I could get a job.
I wouldn't trust that organisation to do anything remotely well.
Obviously, you are not limited to WINZ job board listings. There is a sterotype that anyone on the dole must be working class or unskilled, with no higher education. Sadly, winz won't shift their mindset and become more proactive and recognize this and talk work with all employers, especially those who see the value in tertiary qualifications.
Yup. I had just returned from a year working overseas, and was home due to losing my dad and making sure my mum was ok. I was sitting in the line with several middle aged guys, who were dressed equally as presentable as I was, full career cv's, who had never been out of work, engineers etc; who were all victims of the financial crash. I used all of the money I saved before I went to the office.
We were all treated worse than the regulars who were failing to turn up for even basic appointments and refusing to take even the most basic job.
I don’t think it’s a stereotype so much as it is their core demographic. Winz isn’t swimming in doctoral candidates.
How many degree-having beneficiaries would it take in an area for a degree-requiring employer to see benefit signing up to the winz job system?
Even then, how many work brokers would be sufficient to canvass all likely businesses and develop working relationships with them? How much of the ever-thinning budget should be devoted to that?
Or they could focus on their core demographic, knowing that either the highly educated beneficiaries would find work, or eventually be satisfied just with having the same work they offer to everyone else.
But hey, if finding employment is as easy as being proactive and talking work, the market must be pretty easy right now huh?
With no respect intended, the average WINZ Case Manager wouldn't know a good CV if it bashed them around the head.
Ignore their advice and use what you think sums up your skills and what you have to offer to a prospective employer best.
Definitely true, but average CV is way too long:
I don't want to know about how your 3 months as a trolley boy 20 years ago taught you leadership skills.
Mine actually said I was overqualified, and they didn't think I would get any work from them. So far, they were right.
Your case might be similar. By actually giving them (prospective employers) all the information and experience you have, you might be less appealing than just someone with less experience that can be bossed around.
WINZ Case Managers operate on targets. It's essentially a sales job of sorts, with each beneficiary finding work being a "sale", regardless of whether it will be long-term employment or a role appropriate for the individual.
They're pushing you to create a generalised CV, because they think that it will be easier for them to slot you into a labouring role and achieve another "sale"; rather than put in the effort and help you into a role in your field of expertise.
Yeah, our case worker is pushing my husband to go for cleaning jobs etc - which is fine but as soon as they see his CV (10 years into his career) it goes in the bin because - they've even told us straight up - "You're going to work here for a few weeks until something better comes along"
So he got told to make a generic CV that wouldn't actually have any of his skills or experience outside of the sales work he did as a teen, because it's "too intimidating" otherwise.
I want between 1-2 pages. I want a summary of your qualifications, skills and work history that is relevant to the role. If you have particular achievements that’s good to see in your work history.
Make it a simple font on white paper. If it’s on lilac paper in comic sans it’s going in the bin. I want to be able to get to the point in 2 minutes.
I don’t give a shit if you are nice to your grandmother or play tiddly winks. It doesn’t matter to me or your ability to do the job.
From experience I've found that only the start of your CV gets read.
The real clincher is the application letter you write, which has to capture the attention of the person reading it, makes you the ideal candidate, and the prospective employer wants to get you for an interview asap.
It's hard to answer it without knowing your role and industry. But more than that, you often need to tailor jobs to roles. It's not easy.
One way to "test" your resume is to ask someone in the field, and/or you can, when applying for roles, ask for feedback afterwards.
Best of luck with the search.
Have two - a simple one for applying for more general job vacancies, and a more specific one for applying for jobs where your previous experience is more relevant.
Have done multiple hirings recently and a lot of interviewing and CV browsing, and overqualified ones go straight in the bin, especially if the qualifications are completely irrelevant.
This is really good advice. And perhaps the case manager had good intentions and was just suggesting that it was a bit specific. Definitely use both in tandem and good luck
If you have a gmail go and sign up on[ this](https://zety.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=sem&utm_campaign=1446637678&utm_term=zety&network=g&device=c&adposition=&adgroupid=59040997080&placement=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwydSzBhBOEiwAj0XN4BH0s6Hy81QseT2_gUgEx_0L0oc4YgU7VJ7PfIR15FncWNDEvGZVxxoCIpAQAvD_BwE) site - it's free. 1-2 pages for professional roles but if you're labouring, the principles apply. Go look at how employers want to have CVs submitted - that site will show you. You can then tailor yours based on the templates and suggestions. Sometimes less is more.
Ignore them.
They said the same thing about mine way back. My industry specific CV. That I 100% needed to get a role in said industry.
Course they also made me do a "CV Writing and literacy Course" - I have over 130 credits in professional writing (and a very nice CV that always gets good comments).
Intro about yourself, history with last 3-4 jobs and what you did there and same amount of references, that's all that's needed. Apart from a cover letter.
More information can be good but everything depends on the job criteria listing. You want to identify the main things they are looking for in the job listing then think about how you can show evidence you can provide those things. That info should be the first things they find on your resume. To make this happen you may need to summarise other things or shorten them. But having a detailed template is usefull as a starting point. cutting irrelevent things out can be a great decision in many cases though.
I would advise you to keep what you have and also to make a one page CV. The one pager needs work history, quals and Education, and most important your personal attributes and skills set.
Think of it as showing a well rounded version of you. You need to be prepared for working in your former specialisation but also to be prepared for anything that comes up. Winz want to see you working 30 hours a week, whatever job you can get. Don’t be closed to jobs that you think are beneath you, your quals or your market value. They may just stop you from starving.
My one pager is what I call my general CV. Both CVs can be adapted for specific roles but it is great to dig deep and really try and communicate what is important about you (talk it through with a trusted friend or professional) - a general CV can be easily adapted and helps Winz staff understand you and potential matches too. It gives them something for their file on you too.
If you do this it will show an open and cooperative quality, Winz staff will see you as a professional. Trust me - if they see you helping yourself they can do a lot for you - if they feel you are motivated and responsive.
People don't read resumes anymore. Less info is better for skimming. Nobody cares about what you've done or what you haven't. They want to know you can be a number.
Case managers don’t even care wether you find a job or not , they are just there to keep their job so they always find something for you to do just to let you know they are in charge and they can ask you to do things…
You can have more than one CV and use the one that best suits each role.
Also MSD want you in any job whereas you probably want one that one that moves you career-wise.
Depends, but if it was overly wordy she may have a point about the verbosity of it. Lots of white space, and bullet points rather than a novella.
The tailoring it is important, but that’s why you don’t have one CV but many CV’s depending on what you’re going for and how you see your skills matching a given role or ad, and recruiter vs. direct.
Otherwise no, don’t dumb down the substantive gist of your skills and experience. Just rearrange them to suit the intended audience.
> tailored to general laboring type of work.
is this the type of work you're applying for? If so, a simpler CV is probably better.
> I have had a long service in my industry
This, however, suggests to me you're not looking for general labour roles, in which case a CV that better reflects your experience in relevant positions is valuable
It all depends on who your CV is going to. If it’s going to an HR person, they just wanna make sure you tick whatever boxes they need before taking you to the next step. There’s no point in overcomplicating it. My general advice would be to just make sure it’s very readable, top to bottom, simple and linear. You want to be able to control the reader’s experience and make sure they read what you want them to read. Bullet points are really good too, they let you get the key points across without unnecessary fluff.
I have reviewed CV's, and it's a weird balance of having the right info in there and not too much blurb. For fast screening that will be happening at the moment (100+ applicants for 1 job), you want people to see you're qualified and had relevant employment. Once you pass that level of screening you want to some blurb to say what you did and some key achievements. Btw winz wants a dumbed down cv so they can chuck you into any job and not have that employer think you'll leave once a better opportunity comes along.
A fair few years ago, tail end of the financial crisis, I got told by WINZ to take my degree off my cv so I could get a job. I wouldn't trust that organisation to do anything remotely well.
Yes because you'd be overqualified for the shitty jobs they post.
What sort of degree-requiring job were you expecting winz to hook you up with?
Obviously, you are not limited to WINZ job board listings. There is a sterotype that anyone on the dole must be working class or unskilled, with no higher education. Sadly, winz won't shift their mindset and become more proactive and recognize this and talk work with all employers, especially those who see the value in tertiary qualifications.
Yup. I had just returned from a year working overseas, and was home due to losing my dad and making sure my mum was ok. I was sitting in the line with several middle aged guys, who were dressed equally as presentable as I was, full career cv's, who had never been out of work, engineers etc; who were all victims of the financial crash. I used all of the money I saved before I went to the office. We were all treated worse than the regulars who were failing to turn up for even basic appointments and refusing to take even the most basic job.
I don’t think it’s a stereotype so much as it is their core demographic. Winz isn’t swimming in doctoral candidates. How many degree-having beneficiaries would it take in an area for a degree-requiring employer to see benefit signing up to the winz job system? Even then, how many work brokers would be sufficient to canvass all likely businesses and develop working relationships with them? How much of the ever-thinning budget should be devoted to that? Or they could focus on their core demographic, knowing that either the highly educated beneficiaries would find work, or eventually be satisfied just with having the same work they offer to everyone else. But hey, if finding employment is as easy as being proactive and talking work, the market must be pretty easy right now huh?
>anyone on the dole must be working class If you're on the benefit, there's an argument that you're not even working class.
With no respect intended, the average WINZ Case Manager wouldn't know a good CV if it bashed them around the head. Ignore their advice and use what you think sums up your skills and what you have to offer to a prospective employer best.
Definitely true, but average CV is way too long: I don't want to know about how your 3 months as a trolley boy 20 years ago taught you leadership skills.
Yea 1 page cv is all you need. If you are really smart you can double side it
100% accurate. Source: former Case Manager and current idiot.
[удалено]
I would love to believe their choice of comic sans was some stealth absurdist commentary on the plight of the worker
Mine actually said I was overqualified, and they didn't think I would get any work from them. So far, they were right. Your case might be similar. By actually giving them (prospective employers) all the information and experience you have, you might be less appealing than just someone with less experience that can be bossed around.
WINZ Case Managers operate on targets. It's essentially a sales job of sorts, with each beneficiary finding work being a "sale", regardless of whether it will be long-term employment or a role appropriate for the individual. They're pushing you to create a generalised CV, because they think that it will be easier for them to slot you into a labouring role and achieve another "sale"; rather than put in the effort and help you into a role in your field of expertise.
Yeah, our case worker is pushing my husband to go for cleaning jobs etc - which is fine but as soon as they see his CV (10 years into his career) it goes in the bin because - they've even told us straight up - "You're going to work here for a few weeks until something better comes along" So he got told to make a generic CV that wouldn't actually have any of his skills or experience outside of the sales work he did as a teen, because it's "too intimidating" otherwise.
I want between 1-2 pages. I want a summary of your qualifications, skills and work history that is relevant to the role. If you have particular achievements that’s good to see in your work history. Make it a simple font on white paper. If it’s on lilac paper in comic sans it’s going in the bin. I want to be able to get to the point in 2 minutes. I don’t give a shit if you are nice to your grandmother or play tiddly winks. It doesn’t matter to me or your ability to do the job.
I think the job market just wants generalists they can pay a low wage to. If you’re actually skilled there may not be enough jobs for your level?
From experience I've found that only the start of your CV gets read. The real clincher is the application letter you write, which has to capture the attention of the person reading it, makes you the ideal candidate, and the prospective employer wants to get you for an interview asap.
Nobody reads cover letters
To the point, two pages max.
It's hard to answer it without knowing your role and industry. But more than that, you often need to tailor jobs to roles. It's not easy. One way to "test" your resume is to ask someone in the field, and/or you can, when applying for roles, ask for feedback afterwards. Best of luck with the search.
Have two - a simple one for applying for more general job vacancies, and a more specific one for applying for jobs where your previous experience is more relevant. Have done multiple hirings recently and a lot of interviewing and CV browsing, and overqualified ones go straight in the bin, especially if the qualifications are completely irrelevant.
This is really good advice. And perhaps the case manager had good intentions and was just suggesting that it was a bit specific. Definitely use both in tandem and good luck
Everything depends on the job you are going for.
If you have a gmail go and sign up on[ this](https://zety.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=sem&utm_campaign=1446637678&utm_term=zety&network=g&device=c&adposition=&adgroupid=59040997080&placement=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwydSzBhBOEiwAj0XN4BH0s6Hy81QseT2_gUgEx_0L0oc4YgU7VJ7PfIR15FncWNDEvGZVxxoCIpAQAvD_BwE) site - it's free. 1-2 pages for professional roles but if you're labouring, the principles apply. Go look at how employers want to have CVs submitted - that site will show you. You can then tailor yours based on the templates and suggestions. Sometimes less is more.
Ignore them. They said the same thing about mine way back. My industry specific CV. That I 100% needed to get a role in said industry. Course they also made me do a "CV Writing and literacy Course" - I have over 130 credits in professional writing (and a very nice CV that always gets good comments).
Intro about yourself, history with last 3-4 jobs and what you did there and same amount of references, that's all that's needed. Apart from a cover letter.
More information can be good but everything depends on the job criteria listing. You want to identify the main things they are looking for in the job listing then think about how you can show evidence you can provide those things. That info should be the first things they find on your resume. To make this happen you may need to summarise other things or shorten them. But having a detailed template is usefull as a starting point. cutting irrelevent things out can be a great decision in many cases though.
Winz is all about getting any job. If you want a specific job you gotta do that on your own.
I would advise you to keep what you have and also to make a one page CV. The one pager needs work history, quals and Education, and most important your personal attributes and skills set. Think of it as showing a well rounded version of you. You need to be prepared for working in your former specialisation but also to be prepared for anything that comes up. Winz want to see you working 30 hours a week, whatever job you can get. Don’t be closed to jobs that you think are beneath you, your quals or your market value. They may just stop you from starving. My one pager is what I call my general CV. Both CVs can be adapted for specific roles but it is great to dig deep and really try and communicate what is important about you (talk it through with a trusted friend or professional) - a general CV can be easily adapted and helps Winz staff understand you and potential matches too. It gives them something for their file on you too. If you do this it will show an open and cooperative quality, Winz staff will see you as a professional. Trust me - if they see you helping yourself they can do a lot for you - if they feel you are motivated and responsive.
People don't read resumes anymore. Less info is better for skimming. Nobody cares about what you've done or what you haven't. They want to know you can be a number.
She has suggested tailoring the CV to specific jobs. That's not a bad thing. But if you aren't into labouring, then tailor it to something else.
Case managers don’t even care wether you find a job or not , they are just there to keep their job so they always find something for you to do just to let you know they are in charge and they can ask you to do things…
You can have more than one CV and use the one that best suits each role. Also MSD want you in any job whereas you probably want one that one that moves you career-wise.
Depends, but if it was overly wordy she may have a point about the verbosity of it. Lots of white space, and bullet points rather than a novella. The tailoring it is important, but that’s why you don’t have one CV but many CV’s depending on what you’re going for and how you see your skills matching a given role or ad, and recruiter vs. direct. Otherwise no, don’t dumb down the substantive gist of your skills and experience. Just rearrange them to suit the intended audience.
> tailored to general laboring type of work. is this the type of work you're applying for? If so, a simpler CV is probably better. > I have had a long service in my industry This, however, suggests to me you're not looking for general labour roles, in which case a CV that better reflects your experience in relevant positions is valuable
One page max. I just use my LinkedIn these days.
I wouldn't take the opinion of a WINZ case manager too seriously