scott wrote:

> I agree with what Paul wrote, especially the employment history.  Beef 
> it out a bit and take out the negative words like "small".

I posted a sheet of paper to two-dozen people, typed the filled in 
results into an Access database, and printed some pie charts. If you 
take out the word "small" it sounds like I did something really major.

Similarly for the scripting; copying some files from A to B isn't 
exactly rocket science. It's not like I developed a major application. 
It's just some small utilities.

> Use a 
> smaller font size if you can't fit it all on 2 sides, the one you are 
> using is quite large.

Kwi?

> Beef it out more depending on the job you are 
> applying for, eg if you are applying for a programming job then explain 
> more about the scripts and tools you've written.

Is anybody going to care that I wrote a program to copy some files 
around? I mean, we're talking about a few dozen lines of code here. It's 
not exactly GCC.

> Under your skills profile, I would actually write the complete list of 
> languages you have a "long history" with, drop the "etc" at the end.

Hmm, yes, that sentence can be misinterpretted. It makes it sound like I 
have a "long history" with the specific languages listed; I actually 
meant I just have a long history of programming in general.

> Beef out the last bullet point and 
> make it clear that you can learn new languages quickly, if they are 
> expecting you to use a language you are not proficient with this will help.

Heh. Should I include the anicdote about the time I got so bored that I 
learned PostScript in my lunch break just for something to do? ;-) I 
think it's a great story, but I'm not sure whether I should actually 
mention it.

> Bear in mind that when someone is looking at your CV they want to see 
> *evidence* of what you say you are a good at.  For everything you say 
> you do or like, try to think of something that proves you are.  eg 
> "developed a number of scripts", add afterwards something like "these 
> have been working successfully to save blah blah blah and have improved 
> reliability and uptime blah blah".  I think Paul said something similar.

Hmm, this is difficult. I've been programming for decades, but I don't 
really have anything useful to *show* for it. I suppose I could try to 

BackupExec license (although that really is flexing the truth somewhat 
severely).

> Beef out the bit about working liaising with staff, especially the US 
> dudes, nowadays most companies have to deal with foreign people at some 
> time or another and it shows you can communicate effectively.  Also 
> expand the "plan future upgrades" bit, make it sound like you are part 
> of the team that is designing the network rather than just looking after 
> it.

Well I'm *supposed* to work with the US dudes, and I'm *supposed* to be 
responsible for planning future upgrades. But frankly, nobody really 
bothers to communicate with me any more. I just find out about these 
decisions when new hardware arrives on the doorstep.

> Take out the things like filing and photocopying, any monkey can (and 
> does) do that and they are interviewing you for a programmer, not an 
> office assistant.

OK.

> Take out your college diploma and GCSE results (I think you said you'd 
> already done that), and beef out your degree details if you have space. 

Do *you* see any GCSE results listed? I don't.

> It looks a bit confusing at the moment, I would group it into 1st 2nd 
> and 3rd year and then put the details under each.

You realise that the grades I mentioned are just the good ones, right? 
Most of my grades were far less stellar. (E.g., for Accounts & Auditing, 
I think I got a D-. The Research project was an F+. And several 1st year 
modules I failed outright.)

[Nitpick: It was a 4-year course.]

> If I were you I would 
> also take out the grade for your final year project, and replace it with 
> some more details about the project.  Some poeple who are looking at the 
> CV might not know what MVC stands for?

Does it matter? MVC is highly unlikely to be even remotely relevant to 
anything I'll be doing. (And it would take several paragraphs to explain.)

> If you still have space to fill, add in a small "personal hobbies" 
> section, I know some employers want to see some evidence that you have a 
> life outside of work subjects, so it can't hurt.  Just think up of a few 
> non-computing activities you've done once or twice in your life :-) 
> they're not going to ask for proof.

Hmm. Skiing? Rock climbing? SALSA?? Hahaha!

> Remember a CV is there to sell yourself, someone is going to read 20 CVs 
> and choose a few to interview, you want to do everything possible 
> (without lying obviously) to make sure they choose yours.

Yeah... I get the concept. I'm just not sure how to put across how great 
I am without it sounding like I'm blatently lying.

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