Writing a CV

[Martin]

Hi, so basically my Mum's decided to put her foot down and told me to get off of my arse, so I'm gonna go job hunting Soon™. I've seen one or two places around my area (walking distance) with "vacancies available" in the window so I'm probably gonna go for one of those or to try and get a job as a guest server at the local Pizza Hut or something--I don't want to spend the money that I earn on travelling to/from work, and I ideally want a job that has reasonably flexible hours, allows me to interact with the general public, and keeps me moving rather than standing in roughly the same place for hours at a time.

However, before I do any of that I need to write a CV; I've been googling around a bit but none of the articles I've seen really give me an idea of exactly what I need to put on my own. They aren't really appropriate for someone who is looking for a part time job and has barely any past work experience beyond an unpaid week at a pre-school, a week stocktaking+packaging for deliveries in a small clothing warehouse, and 1 day unpaid office work. So I've got a few questions:

• What kinds of things should I put on a CV? I have a lot of shit I could put on there, but I don't know how much of it's relevant enough to bother taking up space on my two sides of A4 for (i.e. I highly doubt that "has experience in adobe illustrator and other professional/semi-professional design software, plays the french horn to grade 7 equivalent standard, and has experience in both article writing and multiple pieces of semi-professional video editing software" will serve any purpose when applying to a jobs in shops/restaurants, but IDK where to draw the line between "useful stuff" and "non-useful stuff")
• What do I include in a personal statement? Every article I've found has been so vague about what you're supposed to put in this, and especially for the type of work I'm looking for (entry level, reasonably generic student job) I have no clue what the hell I'm meant to put here.
• Any other general advice for writing a CV wrt layout, sections to include etc.?

One other question too. This isn't technically a question about CVs, but am I really going to have to answer bullshit questions about why working at Pizza Hut as a guest server is my dream job in a job interview? Or will I be able to get away with something along the lines of "because I like pizza, want to get some money rolling in, am good with both adults and kids, and want a job with a social aspect to it" instead of some mega hyper bullshit?

Thanks in advance!

 

[imagi]

A cover letter is essentially an introduction about yourself and the objective you're after. All the experience you've provided even if it's minimal can be beneficial to the layout of the letter. Other experience you can include can be from school. For example, was there a group project you completed where you took charge? (Make sure to provide proof of it in case they ask) Employers value leadership because it shows you have the organization skills and confidence to succeed. To identify if your skills are useful or not useful to the position, think of how they would relate to it. Does the position you're pursuing require or list any of those skills? There might be times where restaurants need someone to develop their image and want someone to create excellent brochures, coupons, or flyers and reach out the public for more exposure. Perhaps your skills with Adobe Illustrator and other design software will help, but make sure you detail how you can do it.

Typically, a cover letter should be one page with 3-4 paragraphs. The first paragraph should show your excitement for the position, your purpose, the position you're after, and how you found out about it. This is where your personal statement will fit. Next paragraph(s) should detail why you are a strong candidate for the position. This is where you provide qualities that make you stand out and relate them with experience. Make sure to research the company. That means knowing their mission, their values, their history, their name and etc. which shows you know something about them. Last paragraph is about how and when the employer will contact you. Make sure to follow up and don't assume they will contact you when you send it in. Thank them for reading the letter and mention your eagerness to meet with them.

In regard to applying as a server for Pizza Hut, don't say you like pizza and want to make an income because that shows your'e not serious enough and many others will think the same. Do you enjoy providing great customer service so customers keep coming back? You should focus on the things the position does and demonstrate how they excite you.

All in all, writing a cover letter isn't too difficult. It can be fun, especially if it's a position you feel you can excel. Make it interesting and I hope you hear back from one soon!

 

[Tera Melos]

I'm a borderline professional Job Hunter if you want to hit me up on Discord and go over your Resume or CV or even help you with Mock Interviews.

Best of luck in your Job Search, friend.

 

[Pyritie]

Just remember that the main things your employer will be thinking when they read your CV are "does this person have the skills I want for them to perform well?" and "will they work with the rest of the company?". You want to convince them why you'd be a good pick for their job.

Keep your CV short as well -- I usually hear two pages is a good maximum, with all your important stuff on the first page. Send them your CV both through regular post and online if possible, and call them up again a week or two later -- this demonstrates that you're actually interested in their job and aren't just throwing it at anything remotely relevant.

You're saying CV instead of resume so I'm assuming you live in the UK, in which case you also don't want to put anything on your CV that gives any indication of your race, sex, religion, etc etc. No photo. Just list your name, your contact info (with a professional looking email address, not pikachu_princess_420@hotmail.com), and other stuff like that. The reason for this is because some places will automatically throw out your CV if you put that in just so they don't have to worry about discrimination law stuff later.

One last important thing is to never lie. If you start making things up to make you look better, it will bite you in the ass later. Never do it.

One other question too. This isn't technically a question about CVs, but am I really going to have to answer bullshit questions about why working at Pizza Hut as a guest server is my dream job in a job interview? Or will I be able to get away with something along the lines of "because I like pizza, want to get some money rolling in, am good with both adults and kids, and want a job with a social aspect to it" instead of some mega hyper

Depends on how good the interviewer is. You might get one who isn't very good and just reads off of a script he found online, in which case yeah, you might get some dumb bullshit questions. But the real point of an interview is for them to find out more information about you, whether you'd be a good fit for the team or not, and for you to ask questions about them as well.

Yeah, pretty much everyone works for the money. But they might just want to know "why'd you pick us instead of somewhere else?", which you could answer with something like "I want a more hands-on job where I'd be on my feet instead of sitting on a computer all day, I want to interact with other people regularly, and I want to get experience working at a place with those things". You don't have to suck up to them and lie about how much you love their company. (And if they want you to do so, you probably don't want to work there anyway)

 

[faint]

I can send you some example cover letters that I've written when I'm off work. Generally, I try to differentiate them from my résumé while still touching on key aspects that I know will actually move them to the next step (reviewing my résumé). I think too many people write cover letters strictly as a summary of their résumé and I personally think that's a shitty practice. Also, depending on where you're applying, it's first run will either first be reviewed by a machine (key words matter here) or by an actual human (usually the case for smaller companies). Customize your cover letter to the type of environment you're applying for. Look at the JD and pick three or four qualifications that you can actually do and emphasize those.

Also, another little tip that has been successful for me is viewing the mission statement of the company. I tend to apply for companies I can actually see myself working in (health care, education, clean energy, etc.) so I typically don't need to rely on bullshit. However, if this is your first job, read their mission statement or "about us" section and find something that you can spin to make yourself look like an employee they wouldn't want to pass up.

Almost forgot: lots of people lie about their Adobe CC skills, so if you are actually proficient in one of those products, definitely put it on your résumé but make sure you can talk about it during an interview.

 

[AM]

No need to bullshit either. For the interview at the job I’m currently at for almost 2 years now I told them one of the main reasons I was interested was to pay my bills. I went from moving / hauling furniture to drafting e-mails long story short so as long as the cover letter is concise and straight to the point as well as the interview you should be fine in the long run.

 

[Myzozoa]

Unless you're really fancy or applying for a really fancy job, you should keep your resume/CV to a short bullet-point format that consists of mostly work history and education. Mine barely takes up a single page and I always get calls back for every application. You change your resume depending on the type of job youre applying for. So, if you're applying for a position in food service they probably aren't gonna care too much about the summer you spent volunteering to measure aneurisms on a ct scan at a hospital lab (or w.e). You don't need to say a lot, you want to show that you are a qualified, desirable candidate that read the job description before they applied.

The person looking at your resume might learn a lot about you and what youve done, OR they could learn almost nothing: my work/education history speaks for itself and the only thing they should learn from my resume is that I do (or don't, as I have gotten interviews for positions I was under-qualified for, and it's okay to say that you would need to time to become successful at the posiiton if that is where you are at) have the skills and experience that they're seeking, and that I know how to write a good resume. This saves them time, and keeps them from getting any impressions or 'red flags' from my resume, ensuring they contact me to find out more rather than get discouraged by some random impression they get from some 'quirky' thing I write on my resume.

my resume is organized nearly exactly like the one in the following image only i dont include any geographic data in my contact info nor do I include an italicized summary at the top. In addition I also include a section that lists my healthy, constructive hobbies at the end, instead of a section that lists additional skills, as most of my skills (case management software competencies for example) are already mentioned in the work history descriptions:

For interviews just be as honest and thorough as possible, make sure to ask any questions you can think of. Interviewers LOVE when you ask them questions. Like you said in your OP, don't lie about how something is your dream job, work is whats real and your answers should be realistic so just say how working at pizza hut fits in with your general goals, such as to practice customer service or w.e it is. thats fine.

i hope this helped.

 

[Cresselia~~]

Usually, people would write what they had done in the past that would actually help in the job they're applying for.
Even stuff like "I help my mum with family chores everyday" would help.

For a non fancy job such as pizza hut, I don't think you'd spend time writing much about your education.

 

[Ohmachi]

Martin Cover letters are useless. No one reads them. Focus on your resume. I have experience with resumes pm me yours and I'll help you out.

 

[UncleSam]

Martin Cover letters are useless. No one reads them. Focus on your resume. I have experience with resumes pm me yours and I'll help you out.

This isn't strictly speaking true. Cover letters are useful as a way of demonstrating that you have attention to detail, basic writing skills, and are willing to jump through hoops if they ask or request it of you. It's really only useful as a 'signal' to potential employers that you have other skills (as mentioned above), however, and I definitely wouldn't include one unless they ask for or 'recommend' one ('recommend' is basically employment speak for 'mandatory if you desire this job, but we won't come out and say it so we can easily weed out people who don't really want it').

As for the resume, basically see Myzo's post above. Focus on bullet points that are easy to parse and understand, and focus on your strengths at the top. Absolutely do not exceed one page under any circumstances.

 

[pokemonisfun]

Wait what? A CV is not a cover letter (at least where I am from). It sounds like some people are conflating them or answering a question the OP didn't ask.

CV is a curriculum vitae and compared to a resume tends to cover more academic achievements and is more in depth (something you wouldn't need for a pizza hut job).

Cover letter is a letter that describes why you want the job, why you are qualified and often how you heard of the job opening.

I'm from the East Coast of the United States so maybe it's just different from where I am at, but it seems to me Martin to answer your questions directly:

• You don't need a CV
• Personal statement should say why you are qualified and why you want the job. Personal statement would be often part of cover letter
• Just in general, resumes should be organized from most relevant to least relevant experience (so if you worked at Pizza Hut before, that would go first). And also from most recent to least recent chronologically within the bullets.

I hope this helps

 

[Nix_Hex]

Just some random advice and comments, since I can only comment briefly and phones are awful for typing stuff.

Martin Cover letters are useless. No one reads them. Focus on your resume. I have experience with resumes pm me yours and I'll help you out.

They sure as heck are useful when the JD says to upload a "resume and cover letter." Maybe they won't read them, but you should at least have one on deck. As far as a CV goes, you don't have enough life/work experience to justify having one (no knock on you, no one on this site except maybe mingot or boss man chaos would have a use for a CV). A resume and cover letter (if asked for) are all you need. Both are max one page. One thing I found extremely helpful when I went on a job spree in August 2016 was to keep all of your accomplishments, formatted as needed, in a Word doc, ready to copy/paste into a skeleton resume as appropriate to the position.

Don't put buzz phrases like "detail oriented" because it gives you the leg up over precisely nobody. Play to your strengths, not meaningless cliches.

 

[Soul Fly]

LPT: Google docs has a bunch of not-bad-at-all presets for Resumes/CVs in case you need to shoot one off in short notice w/o 2 much drama.

 

[Diophantine]

Hi, so basically my Mum's decided to put her foot down and told me to get off of my arse, so I'm gonna go job hunting Soon™. I've seen one or two places around my area (walking distance) with "vacancies available" in the window so I'm probably gonna go for one of those or to try and get a job as a guest server at the local Pizza Hut or something--I don't want to spend the money that I earn on travelling to/from work, and I ideally want a job that has reasonably flexible hours, allows me to interact with the general public, and keeps me moving rather than standing in roughly the same place for hours at a time.

However, before I do any of that I need to write a CV; I've been googling around a bit but none of the articles I've seen really give me an idea of exactly what I need to put on my own. They aren't really appropriate for someone who is looking for a part time job and has barely any past work experience beyond an unpaid week at a pre-school, a week stocktaking+packaging for deliveries in a small clothing warehouse, and 1 day unpaid office work. So I've got a few questions:

• What kinds of things should I put on a CV? I have a lot of shit I could put on there, but I don't know how much of it's relevant enough to bother taking up space on my two sides of A4 for (i.e. I highly doubt that "has experience in adobe illustrator and other professional/semi-professional design software, plays the french horn to grade 7 equivalent standard, and has experience in both article writing and multiple pieces of semi-professional video editing software" will serve any purpose when applying to a jobs in shops/restaurants, but IDK where to draw the line between "useful stuff" and "non-useful stuff")
• What do I include in a personal statement? Every article I've found has been so vague about what you're supposed to put in this, and especially for the type of work I'm looking for (entry level, reasonably generic student job) I have no clue what the hell I'm meant to put here.
• Any other general advice for writing a CV wrt layout, sections to include etc.?

One other question too. This isn't technically a question about CVs, but am I really going to have to answer bullshit questions about why working at Pizza Hut as a guest server is my dream job in a job interview? Or will I be able to get away with something along the lines of "because I like pizza, want to get some money rolling in, am good with both adults and kids, and want a job with a social aspect to it" instead of some mega hyper bullshit?

Thanks in advance!

I know you're not going for an IB job, but I always use the template found on this page no matter what I'm applying for.

Hide

https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-resume-university-student/

I'm not sure about 2 page long CVs. Most people (nearly all) tell people to keep it to one page. I guess you could go slightly over, but an employer isn't going to read 2 pages unless there are very few people applying. Then again, I'm from the UK and have no idea how recruitment works outside Britain.
As for "useful stuff", there's nothing objective here. On a piece of paper list out all the things that could possibly be CV-able that you have done. Then brainstorm what kind of skills you've gained from it (bullshit/overexaggerate if you think it's necessary. Depending on the role it could be). This could be from extra-curricular activites to your interests/hobbies to past work experience. When have you displayed a good deal of teamwork? Organisation? What about productivity? Etc etc etc. Tailor your examples and the skills displayed to what you think the role of the job requires.

For a personal statement/cover letter, I've never had to do one for a non-professional job, but I always stick to
Why the company
Why the division/team
Why you
I guess for something like a Pizza Hut waiter you could say something like you want more experience working with customers to improve sales abilities; you want a job where you can display charisma; you think that you'll be able to perform well in a fast-paced environment and so on. Don't be afraid of saying that you need money, though don't make it the main point of why you want to work there.

Hope this helped. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask :)

 

[Pyritie]

As far as a CV goes, you don't have enough life/work experience to justify having one (no knock on you, no one on this site except maybe mingot or boss man chaos would have a use for a CV). A resume and cover letter (if asked for) are all you need. Both are max one page.

Wait what? A CV is not a cover letter (at least where I am from). It sounds like some people are conflating them or answering a question the OP didn't ask.

• You don't need a CV

I hope this helps

You are both wrong. In the UK, where Martin lives, a CV is the same thing as a resume. I've never heard of anyone asking for a resume here. Always a CV. Maybe CV means something different in the US or wherever you live, but in the UK it means "a short document that lists work and education experience".