Getting a job isn't easy, as anyone will tell you, especially if you're living in the UK during a recession. Unfortunately nowadays, just having a good attitude wont get you work.
Recently I made a big decision to use my degree in Broadcast Journalism to start a career in Social Media. However, I soon became painfully aware that I would definitely need to revamp my CV/Resume if I was ever going to get any work experience, be it paid or just for "the crack"
Working in Australia for a year was fun and in some cases quite lucrative but it hasn't done much for me in the way of relative work experience and my current CV looks like this...
Yeaaahhhhh, I'm not gonna be handing this to a potential employer am I?!
So first things first, I needed to get some advice on what to put in a new resume, in particular, how to write it so Social Media managers would take notice.
A simple Google search found me plenty of websites which I could pay to write me a CV... I dont think so. Naturally I hit up the blogs for suggestions and these are some you came back with.
As always Mashable was very relevant in its article, I didn't find it suggested too much which wasn't doable and luckily half the tips I'd already taken steps to achieving, so I felt like I was on the right track.
Daniel Morrisey provides a concise outline on how certain areas of a resume should adhere. He also states that any CV, no matter how long should stand up to the 'Two-second-test' by which any employer should be able to able to see what you have offer with a quick glance.
Here I found an example of a good media CV. It was to the point and as Dan suggests above, it would show the relevant information at a quick glance. It also doesn't seem to exaggerate at all, whereas more than once I've came across comments suggesting you lie... naughty naughty!
Ok so most of the stuff on here was fairly obvious and I must admit I scoffed at the advice when I first read it but then later I went back to it for another read and I think sometimes its nice to be reminded of the simple points.
While these are very helpful, it also didn't hurt to refer to a proven resume too, i.e. from someone working in the same field you'll be applying for. With this in mind it wasn't long (3 days!) before I had strummed out a cracking first draft, and thus my CV now looks something like this...
But once again with these things, its not what you know, its who you know, or more to the point, what somebody else knows. After saving my resume, I was found a friend that was more than happy to take a look, proof read if you will and maybe touch it up where needed.
Found this helpful? Or perhaps looking to hire? Why not contact me directly and take a proper look at the real thing... alternatively I'd love to hear any tips you have with creating an award winning CV or even any stories you have relating to handing out resumes.