Twitter + Resume = Twesume

In simple terms your twesume is the CV you use on Twitter. How can that work? I hear you ask. Well, it’s tricky, especially as you’re limited to only 140 characters. (This paragraph alone is 196!)

Your twesume clearly can’t hold all of the information you include in your CV. However, you can use it to share your career aspirations, experience and skills in a short, neat sentence. Twitter is already being used by thousands of jobseekers to help promote their skills and let employers know they’re looking for work. The twesume is the latest extension to this and it helps you, visibly, let people know you’re looking for work.

There aren’t many success stories which involve candidates only using Twitter to find a job, but it’s definitely worth adding to your mix of recruitment platforms, alongside agencies and job boards, like CV-Library.

Examples of twesumes

So what should your twesume look like? We’ve hunted around on Twitter and found some real examples below:

1. #Twesume #Marketing & #Communications professional with #Strategic management, #writing & #Event planning experience

2. CertifiedMeetingProfessional (CMP) 20 yrs exp/ PR & MKTG Specialist / miracle worker / social media gal #twesume

3. Tech-adept media professional eager to sharpen skills on stories related to tech, science and higher ed. #twesume

4. social media strategist – content creator – audio & video broadcast, production & editing – #twesume

5. Freelance Navajo graphic and web designer with 8 yrs exp seeks new opportunity. “I design with you in mind” #twesume

We’ve also noticed a trend for jobseekers including a link to their LinkedIn profile within their twesume. This is a great idea as it directs recruiters straight to a place where they can find a lot more information about your professional background.

Use your twesume on your job hunt

One of the hardest parts of your job hunt is standing out, so use your twesume to do just that. Target employers on Twitter directly and mention them in your twesume, for example:

@CVLibrary I have 6 yrs sales experience & I’d love to work for you. Hardworking, dedicated and results driven #twesume

Other ways to utilise Twitter while job-hunting are to include a link to your Twitter profile on your CV or follow up with the recruiter after you’ve made an application on Twitter, rather than the traditional email or phone call. It will demonstrate how dedicated you are to your job hunt and make you stand out as a creative individual with initiative.

Although we definitely don’t recommend binning your CV and spending all day on Twitter, in the competitive world of job-hunting it’s another great way to get yourself seen by the right people.

For more information and advice while on your job hunt, you can visit the CV-Library Career Centre, as well as searching our job board which holds over 65,000 live vacancies at any one time.

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Getting your CV right is important and mistakes can easily be made, so JobZoo have put together a few simple Do’s and Don’ts to follow in “The CV Battle”.

What’s the difference?

Making the shift from public sector to private sector is defined by cultural perspective, as much as anything else. Working in a county council can have an entirely different onus than being employed in a private sector organisation (where financial performance is premiered over the bureaucracy of the public sector), and for those employees looking to make the shift, it’s important to keep this in mind. Your CV, for instance, will need to target the revenue-hungry mindset of the private sector – and demonstrate you’re a results-driven candidate. Projects tend to be faster-paced in private sector organisations too – so being able to cope under pressure is an essential skill for making the move to the other side.

Privatising yourself

Despite the obvious differences between the two sectors; they’re not totally separate entities. So don’t worry that your years of experience in the public sector will be worthless in the private sector. It’s all about channelling your skills and experience in the right way. First things first, you’ll need to establish which types of roles you’d like to apply for in the private sector: there may be a parallel job with a different title, or an entirely different role, where your experience will prove especially relevant.

Once you’ve narrowed down your private sector potential jobs, you need to pay close attention to the language used in private job advertisements. It can be easy to use public sector terminology in your CV and covering letter out of habit, but these will undoubtedly put off a private sector recruiter, so try to alter your language as much as possible. For instance, swapping the term best value (the regime used to continuously improve local government performance across authorities) for best practice would signal a private-sector-directed CV.

Be sure to emphasise statistics that demonstrate cost-savings, or productivity improvements you’ve made, in your CV too as this will grab the attention of a private sector employer. If you’re daunted by the prospect of making your CV – and indeed your interview technique – private-sector-friendly, then pay a visit to PublicIntoPrivate – an employment service designed especially for candidates making this tumultuous move.

Combating the stigma

You’ll need to overcome private sector opinion of public sector workers too when making this transition, which although contains many misconceptions, can prove a genuine barrier. In fact a recent report by recruitment agency Hays, revealed that employers, and recruitment agencies alike, believe those that have worked in the public sector are used to an “easy life” and are “ institutionalised”, and would therefore be unable to “hack it” in the private sector world. Despite these fallacies, you’ll need to show employers you’re commercially savvy, and understand the importance of winning new clients – and maintaining their services (compared to the public sector, where service users don’t affect profit).

Keeping positive about the transition from public to private is the most important attitude to keep intact. As John Lees, career coach and author of How To Get A Job You’ll Love and The Interview Expert, pointed out to Totaljobs.com: “only 9% of private sector HR managers say that they have never recruited from the public sector.” So get your private sector hat on, and get applying for jobs!

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To be included in this new facet of career management, you must create an online CV on a professional networking site – LinkedIn is the preferred choice these days with over 10 million members in the UK alone. You can register for free at www.linkedin.com – and once you’re registered, you’ll be in a headhunter’s home territory. If your CV is up to date and ready to go you can simply copy and paste info from there into your Linkedin profile.

Simply creating a basic profile on Linkedin however isn’t enough to get noticed. It’s important that your profile is well constructed with lots of relevant information and keywords, as you’ll be in a very busy market place, so here are a few simple tips to help you stand out among the crowd:

• Do have a photo – keep it professional but also relaxed.
• Headline – describe yourself thoughtfully so you’re noticed.
• Don’t forget to add your website address and Twitter account if appropriate.
• Complete the summary – include plenty of keywords to improve your chances of being found.
• Complete the career section – keep it high level, but remember those keywords.
• List your skills – this is where you collect endorsements and, again, improve your rating.
• Connect with people – start with those people you know and go from there.
• Add a link to your email signature to encourage people to connect with you.
• Join groups – groups help raise your profile and make you more “findable”.
• Take part in group discussions and people will be more likely to connect with you.>
• Give recommendations and ask for them in return.
• Once you get going, ask for endorsements too, they are like testimonials.
• Enjoy it – explore, take part in discussions, find your voice.
• Do a little every day – make it a 10-to-20-minute daily habit.

When you get better at it you can even move sections of your profile around so that your skills are at the top, much like they would be on your CV. It’s worth looking at Linkedin tutorials or Youtube videos to go into it more in-depth. As your profile and network builds, you increase your chances of being found. As your connections build, look at their connections to find others you might want to invite to connect and it’s a good way to find mutual connections.

If all this sounds a lot to take in, you may be able to find a CV writer who can do this for you.

Companies and headhunters don’t want to waste the time and money placing adverts when they can find exactly what they want on LinkedIn. You can jump the queue and increase the chances of landing your dream job substantially with a little thought and effort. Just imagine the phone ringing with that dream job opportunity even though you weren’t looking…

Get connected – you’ll appear irrelevant if you don’t – and that’s never a good thing.

If you would like help with your CV or with your Linkedin profile please contact sue@premiumcvs.co.uk or visit www.premiumcvs.co.uk

It’s all about the “Cs”, you see: creative, concise, colourful, cool… All of these terms are what you want your CV to say and show. Why? Because these days, with so many job vacancies saturated with applications, you want to get yourself noticed and make life easier for the employer.

Put yourself in their shoes: last week you advertised a vacancy and seven days later your inbox has already received over 100 CVs. Good news, but you simply don’t have the time to scrutinise each, word for word. So, you skim through them and put to one side those that stand out; maybe because a candidate’s opening statement boasted a vast skill set, or their impressive education history caught your eye, or perhaps it simply looked different to the rest.

That’s right, looked different. While we’re all told to never judge a book by its cover, in certain situations you’re going to ignore that mantra and actually do the opposite. Employers can be saturated with applications and so it’s important that they’re drawn to yours before having even read it. Therefore, follow the rules of “C”:

Get creative. The aim when taking this “spruce-up-your-CV” approach is to be limitless with your imagination. Don’t hold fire on colour combinations or content layout because you want to make that CV stand out. A great source of inspiration is magazines; see how they layout different articles within a page while making them eye-catching yet easy to read.

Keep it concise. Having your CV spill over three or four pages will get you noticed, but for all the wrong reasons. When overwhelmed with countless applications, the last thing an employer wants is to wade through pages of waffle about how great you are. Try and make it fit to one A4 page, or two maximum. It might be a challenge, but it can be done.

Don’t be afraid to give stuff the chop. To keep it concise, you’ll need to cut content – be it words or entire sections. Be blunt and ask yourself: “is that really necessary?” Only include work experiences that are relevant and matter; if you’re going for an office-based PR job, the employer won’t care too much for your university cash cow catering job.

Combine keywords and sections. You can lose sections yet still convey the message that once was there. For example, if you’ve got an “interests” section – lose it. Instead, combine key elements in, say, your personal statement: “whether on the football pitch or in the office, I’m a team player.” In that short space, you’ve suggested to the employer that you like and participate in sports. A lot of connotations can be taken from one word. Plus, not being overtly specific means you might have more to talk about come interview time.

Upload your CV to job boards such as CV-Library. By registering your CV with online job sites you’re inviting top recruiters and employers to headhunt you and contact you directly about vacancies that match your skills.

There are so many examples out there on how to make your CV jump out from a pile of mundane, Times-New-Roman-using “professional” CVs. Get on Google images and have a peek.

We’re not saying that you have to go overboard and make your CV look like a movie poster – a simple change to modern typefaces or an injection of bold colouring is a good place to start. Keep it contemporary, clean and, most importantly, creative.

For more information and advice while on the job hunt, you can check out the CV-Library Career Centre, as well as search its database which boasts over 66,000 live vacancies at any one time.

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A cover letter is very important and with the job market so saturated at the moment it’s the perfect opportunity to show off your skills and enthusiasm for the job alongside your CV. The number one piece of advice from CV-Library is to always send one. It may sound obvious but you would be surprised how many jobseekers miss out this simple step and unfortunately this could mean your generic CV gets put right to the bottom of the pile. By spending the time and making the effort to write a cover letter you are demonstrating to the recruiter how serious you are about their vacancy.

Five simple cover letter tips from CV-Library

1. Keep it focussed

Always write a new cover letter for every vacancy you apply to. This might sound very time-consuming but your cover letter is meant to be specific to the role and not just a repetition of your CV. Do your research on the company and make sure your cover letter reflects the vacancy details. You can, of course, save time by copying sections of each cover letter if you’re applying to very similar jobs but on the whole you need to make yours stand out by keeping it as focussed as possible.

Tip: recruiters like to think you are going out of your way to apply to their role and not simply applying to each and every job that looks relevant to you.

2. Don’t write an essay

Your cover letter doesn’t need to be an essay, three paragraphs is generally enough; never more than one A4 page. It can be quite brief and it needs to paint a positive picture of you. It’s a chance to really sell yourself on top of your CV and catch the recruiter’s eye by adding a personal touch. CVs can often become quite generic and stale and if a recruiter has hundreds of applications to sift through your cover letter could be the best chance you have to really stand out.

3. It’s not a CV bolt-on

Your cover letter is not simply a repetition of your CV. It is your chance to give an overview of why you are ideal for that role. You can take elements of your CV, such as key skills and past experience, but it’s a waste of time if you’re simply copying your CV. Point out why the role appeals to you, what makes you the perfect candidate and give an overview of previous experience that supports these points.

4. Think about the layout

Even though you can personalise your cover letter, maybe more than your CV, you want it to look professional and neat. The presentation of a cover letter can say a lot about a candidate. Keep the opening paragraph simple and describe clearly what position you’re applying to and why. Make sure your contact details are easy to find and invite the recruiter to contact you further with any questions or to arrange an interview.

5. Double-check the content

As with all applications you need to make sure you double-check your spelling and grammar. It’s also helpful to ask someone else to check your cover letter as a fresh pair of eyes can often find mistakes you missed.

Tip: if you have copied sections of previous cover letters ensure you haven’t included the wrong company names, vacancy details or addressed it to the wrong person. This could be very embarrassing and will probably mean you’re not invited to the interview stage!

You can visit CV-Library’s Career Centre for more job-hunting advice and search and apply to over 60,000 live vacancies from their site.

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You don’t always need to work for free in order to get good experience on your CV. There are many part-time or temporary jobs that you can get which can still look good on your CV. The trick is knowing how to describe your work responsibilities, and explaining what you gained from it. Even the most basic part-time jobs, ideal for students and teenagers, can look good on your CV. Here are five examples of part-time or temporary jobs that you can make look good on your CV, whether you’re going to be a doctor, electrician, journalist or PA.

• Hospitality work – the hospitality industry offers a myriad of part-time jobs. Having a job in a café, restaurant or bar isn’t just useful for aspiring chefs or restaurant managers; hospitality requires great people skills, long hours, and team work. Experience in customer service and working under pressure are great transferable skills.
• Phone operative – working in a call centre for any sort of employer, whether in customer services, marketing, sales or working for charities, provides valuable communication skills. There are so many jobs that require employees have good a telephone manner. Also, working in a call centre that focusses in telemarketing could also give you experience in meeting targets, solving problems and sales.
• Shop assistant – whether it’s in a high street shop, supermarket, local newsagent, or large homewares store, working in retail can require and teach a broad range of skills. Being in charge of the cash tills requires trustworthiness, numerical ability and good customer service.
• Babysitting – looking after someone’s child is a serious job. A babysitter needs to be responsible, trustworthy, mature and able to take charge of a situation. It could also be used to demonstrate your entrepreneurial flair, especially if you advertised your services!
• Tutor or sports coach – if you’re particularly good at music, dance, sport or a particular school subject, then tutoring can be a great part-time job. Turn your interests into work experience as well, which will look great on your CV. Teaching someone else certain skills shows your ability to work alone, organise lessons, and demonstrates maturity – not to mention expertise in a given subject, instrument or sport.

No matter what part-time job you have, there are always ways to tailor the description of your role to better your CV. The general skills of time-keeping, independence and reliability can be gained from any part-time job. Don’t dumb down your experience, no matter how small; make it relevant.

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Increase your employability

Of course the driving force for volunteering should be always be the urge to help others and benefit their lives, but in such a competitive job market, volunteering could be the make or break between you getting a job, and well, not.

Evidence of volunteering on your CV shows you to be an altruistic individual with objectives and cares larger than your own (and coming across as a nice person is never a bad thing!), and what’s more it can also significantly increase your skills and experience. For instance, whilst hands-on volunteers who work with animals or with the elderly are common, as are administrative support, project management and technology help opportunities. The former can prove especially beneficial to your graduate CV: with the majority of entry-level graduate roles requiring some level of administrative experience.

Career path

As well as the department you will be helping out with, it pays to set your volunteering sights on a charity that – in some shape or form – is related to your career interests. For example, if you’re interested in sports journalism or are training to become a physio therapist, then why not turn to Sport England? Through whom you might be able to help out with football coaching or administration for a local rugby club. Alternatively, if you have career aspirations of working in an art gallery, The Voluntary Arts Network (VAN) can help you track down local art groups that may need your help for fundraising.

Short of time?

If you have full-time reading hours, rather than the three or four contact hours a week that some students enjoy, that’s no excuse not to get helping come the 11th! Micro volunteering has been especially designed for people who want to make a difference in their lunch break (and other short time slots of course). Typically, these short-term voluntary actions can be carried out in less than 30 minutes – ideal for that good-deed-for-the-day factor.

Sounds like something you could squeeze in? Phone company Orange has an initiative called Do Some Good, comprised of a downloadable smartphone app that enables you to take part in bite-size volunteering – from completing surveys to taking wildlife photos – in five minutes or less (for those really short of time). Or, if you’re seeking something a little meatier, the Help from Home website – with its tagline “Change the world in just your pyjamas” – has tasks such as proofreading or book scanning (which help preserve books for future generations) that are ideal for students studying Media or English, as well as lots of other micro volunteering opportunities.

So there are plenty of ways to get involved during Student Volunteering Week – as well as a corresponding myriad of personal benefits, including improving your CV prior to graduation. To find out more about the week, and volunteering in general, head to: www.volunteering.org.uk

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CV advice

There is no right or wrong way to write a CV, however there are a few simple rules you can follow:

• Your CV must be concise (use bullet points).
• Make sure your CV is easy to read and well-structured.
• Tailor your CV so it fits with what the reader is looking for.
• Make sure your CV sells you!

The first thing to put on your CV is all of your contact details, including phone numbers, so the employer can get in touch easily.

When adding in the rest of your information, it’s essential to ensure the headings are clear and easy to read. You also need to ensure that the information is well organised and written in chronological order with the most recent experiences listed first.

You should start your CV by listing your education and employment history – putting which ever you feel is the most relevant to the job first. For example, if an employer is more focussed on experience than academic qualifications you should put employment history first (and if you’ve just graduated, it will make more sense to put your education first).

A good tip is to try and avoid having gaps in your employment history. If there are gaps due to a return to education or a break for travel, list those events as part of your CV and be prepared to discuss them at an interview.

Next, you should insert a section where you can show personal qualities and interests that may be of value to an employer.

In terms of references, you do not need to list the details on your CV but the prospective employer needs to know they are available if needed – so explain that references are available on request.

Finally, before you send it off, make sure your CV meets all the requirements of the job you are applying for. This will give you the best chance of securing that all-important interview!

Interview advice

When preparing for an interview you should always understand what the format will be. If you are unsure, it is ok to ask.

You need to ensure you know your CV inside out, and can fully explain everything on there, so you are prepared for any questions.

Always ensure that you fully understand what the job itself entails by reviewing the job description and person specification prior to the interview.

Research the organisation thoroughly by screening relevant publications for articles and visiting the company’s website. In particular, it’s always worth reading the company’s annual report if available and ensuring you understand their mission and values.

Top tips to help you prepare for a successful interview are as follows:

• Dress – smart and business like.
• Directions – if you have not been to the offices/location before, it may be worth doing a practice trip to ensure you know where you are going on the day.
• Arrival – make sure you are there ten minutes early.
• Look at current affairs/news relating to the company’s industry.
• Try and imagine the most difficult questions they could ask and prepare to answer those (everything else will then seem easy to answer!).
• You never get a second chance to make a first impression: I always recommend starting by being polite to the receptionist.
• Hand shake – should be warm and firm (but not too firm).
• What do you need to take with you?
• A map
• A copy of your CV
• Any questions you may have for the organisation
• Your interview letter or email
• Contact details for the organisation

During the interview you should follow these simple rules:

• Keep eye contact with each member of the interview panel. Do not just focus on the panel member who has asked the question you are answering – engage all members of the panel.

• Smile! It suggests confidence. Remember, it is possible that the interview panel will also be nervous. As much as they will want to put you at ease, you can also help them relax.

• Don’t assume that the panel has memorised every detail of your application form or CV. Don’t assume that they know what your previous experience has entailed.

• When giving real examples of “how” you have achieved a positive outcome, specify what this was and the benefits. Be clear about what your personal contribution was.

• Be aware of your body language. You want to convey that you’re enthusiastic, positive and energetic. So don’t slouch in the chair looking demoralised even if you think the interview isn’t going according to plan.

• At the end of the interview the panel will often ask if you have any questions for them. This is your opportunity to show that you have thought about the job and the organisation and to get clarity about anything you are unclear about. For example you could ask:

• How would you describe your organisational culture?
• What induction and training programmes does the organisation offer?
• What sort of people have done well in this team/organisation?

Don’t just ask about holidays and perks, this doesn’t leave a good impression. Don’t introduce the issue of salary unless the panel bring it up – doing so could give a negative impression. This subject can always be discussed in more detail when an offer of appointment is made.

• Finally, at the close of the interview, be positive. Thank the panel for the opportunity to meet with them and for their time and consideration. Convey the impression that you really want the job and that you look forward to hearing from them.