feedback on cv please

[wrights]

im 18 wanna get into the tree industry so heres my cv to start with:

 

Matthew Wright

93 tennyson road,stafford ,st17 9sr

tel :07845033192

email:[email protected]

 

Personal Profile

i am a keen and capable worker in outdoor and physical pursuits. I work well on my own or as part of a team. I have a high regard for working safley and can be trusted with a range of tools. I respond quickly and effeciently to instructions and enjoy the challenge of learning new aspects of work. I am reliable and have good time keeping skills. I am now seeking a new postion to develop and utilise my skills and experience.

 

Skills and Abillities

a. good praticall skills

b. experiance in landscaping

c.i.t communication skills

d.adult numeracy and literacy

 

Work History

March 2011 - October 2011 d.i. gardens

working alongside the proprietors of the company as part of there team. role involved landscaping , garden maintance , driveways , small amount of tree and hedge work , fencing and patios. some of the job involved sole working. purchase of materials, obtaining quotes, telephone ordering

 

December 2011 - September 2012 derrington fencing and landscaping

working alongside the director. role involved landscaping , garden maintance , driveways , small amount of tree and hedge work , fencing , patios ,

also wood working . sheds , rabbit hutches , dog kennals . kidling firewood , and decking.

 

Semptember 2012 - to present j d smith landscapes

working part of a 11 man team doing utility and retail grounds maintance. shrub planting and cutting , grass cutting , clearance works , leaf blowing .

 

Work experiance

November 2011 penkridge garden company

laying sleeps to build retaining wall. genral labouring.

 

November 2011 jim kelly property maintance

conservantory fitting , upvc window and door fitting , and painting and decorating.

 

Education

king edward v1 high school , stafford. 2005 - 2010

GCSEs level e english landuage, english literature , design technology , maths , additional science.

RSA Pe grade 1

Edexcel adult literacy - level 2

adult numeracy - level 2

Indigo training

Painting and decorating tradeskill award

Carpentry and Joinery tradeskill award

Plumbing tradeskill award

Brick and Block tradeskill award

City and guilds credit units in employability and personal development

NOCN 3 credits entery level three working in construction

 

Further qualifications and training

City and guilds level one skills working with others

NOCN 3 credits introduction to health and safety in construction industry

Indigo training certificate in enterprise

City and guilds entery two and three in ict

CSCS card approved

 

Hobbies and interest

I enjoy motorsports particular off roading . I like to be fit and healthy. I like to socialise in spare time.

 

References

Available on request from :

di gardens stafford

Indigo training , wolsley court staffordshire technolgy park stafford, st18 oga , 01785 254 620

derrington fencing and landscaping stafford 07974600389

j d smith landscapes 07778289836

jim kelly proerty maintance stafford

[DrewB]

i would get your spelling all corrected before sending it out bro. good on you though.

[Gnome]

One of the things that I look for when looking at C.V.s is the spelling. There is no excuse for incorrect spelling on a C.V. as nearly all are made on some sort of word processor with spell check. (Bad words are underlined in red line !)

 

At the moment your C.V. would be filed in the misc. section of the bin.

 

If you did manage to get an interview the first question I would ask is to explain these magical good time keeping skills. I would be looking for a very creative answer. If not I would be going back to my lunch break.

 

Don't know what the hell City and guilds ict is?

 

On a layout point of view I would put your most recent activities at the top of each heading.

 

As I scan a C.V. I want to know what you are doing NOW and then look back at other jobs in a chronological order.

 

The same goes for your educational background. Put your most recent, which is usually your highest award first and then go backwards until you get to GCSEs.

 

Hobbies and interests are a bore to me as they usually make the person out to be boring and conformist.

You say you like motor sports particularly off roading ? Do you participate or are you sitting watching the telly? We all like to be fit and healthy, do you participate in team sports, do you have a training regime, are you on any mental diet plan ?

 

I would also change the " I like socialising in my spare time" as that to me infers that you will be on your mobile all the time to your mates. You could change that for:" I have a close circle of supportive friends who regularly meet up for...( some sort of organised social activity.)You don't need to lie just elaborate.

 

These are just some pointers for you which you can take with a pinch of salt if you want.

 

Just giving you the opinion of someone hiring an employee. You have to understand that YOU have to stand out in a C.V. without writing War and Peace. There are too many people applying for jobs with the same wording and layouts.

 

I would hazard a guess that this Indigo training helped you collate and produce the C.V. If they did then they are doing you a great disservice and that is not on.

 

It's not all doom and gloom just a bit of careful thought and attention to detail and you will get there. Remember this is YOUR C.V.

 

Hope that helps.

[Arob]

The lads above make fair comment.

 

The best advice i can give is to imagine that you're the person looking to take someone on, what do you want?

 

To make it a bit easier imagine you're buying a machine, what do you want?

You want something that does what it says it will do, something that is reliable, that won't be a waste of time and money, and you don't want to buy something to then have to go and exchange it, right?

 

So it's the same with an employee; you want the right qualities in that person, not someone that claims they can do things when in fact they can't, or don't bother.

 

Now look again at your CV, an employer only has this to go on for an idea of your attitude to work. You are saying you have IT communication skills and adult literacy but in this very document you fail to spellcheck, to use capital letters properly, and appear to even get the name of your school wrong. This raises the question how much of this is because you are exaggerating your abilities and how much because you just couldn't be bothered?

 

If you are serious about this then apply the lessons found in the original post here http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/47093-desperate-times-my-silky-saves-day.html at the end of the day it's up to you to put a smile on your face and go out and make it happen, you're still young so go and work for free if that's what it takes to get started. Remember your CV is only one (rarely used) tool in a very big toolbox, know its uses and limitations and you'll be away.

 

Now, when you seriously start applying, when you've got a bit of experience, when know which company you want to work for and why, then use your CV and covering letter to tell them; show how you can fit into their team. Think about if from their point of view, for example, if you live five miles away tell them how you'll get there on time every day, if it's on the bus then it's up to you to go and find out the times the bus runs, put it in your letter "No. 63 runs to your road end, the first one arriving at 6.30am then every 20 minutes after that", the bloke looking to employ you will appreciate that, the last thing he needs is to go looking up bus routes and timetables.

 

If you are keen that is how you can show it, use your initiative, you need to fit in with them, be honest and show some common sense. Putting your home address, mobile no. and email address on a web forum seems unnecessary and a little bit daft imho, but as the saying goes, mistakes come from a lack of experience, experience comes from making mistakes!

[Le Sanglier]

All the above make fair points, for me it's the spelling, on a cv it matters.

[Gnarlyoak]

Spellcheck! Spellcheck! Spellcheck!

 

In this day and age when most documents are created on a computer, there is simply NO excuse for not running the document through a spell checker, which is usually embedded within the software you used to write the document.

 

Grammar. Alll names of individuals, companies, address details inc. postcodes and the beggining of paragraphs should begin with a capital letter.

 

eg: Peter Smith, PS Plumbing, 23 High Street, Stafford.

 

Also make sure that your punctuation and spaces are in the right order.

 

eg: 93 tennyson road,stafford ,st17 9sr (9 errors!)

Should be: 93 Tennyson Road, Stafford, ST17 9SR

 

When seperating statements or narrative within the body of a text with a comma, the comma should appear immediately after the end of a word. There should not be a space and then a comma.

 

eg: also wood working . sheds , rabbit hutches , dog kennals . kidling firewood , and decking.

Should read: Also wood working. Sheds, rabbit hutches, dog kennels, kindling firewood and decking.

 

Once again a spell checker would pull up on most if not all of basic errors like these!

 

Bullet points. When you list bullet points, the narrative of each point should begin with a capital letter. eg:

 

a. Good prac......

b. Experience.....

c. I.T.Comm.......

 

In the latter example, note that when you shorten a word to the first letter only followed by a fullstop, then that letter should be capitalised.

 

Perhaps a personal preference, but I would highlight each section heading by either typing it in bold or underlining. This just helps to break up the page, and makes it easier for any potential employer reading it to go directly to the most salient points that interest them the most.

 

Work experience should be listed in reverse chronological order, starting with your current or most recent job and going backwards to your first work experience from leaving school/college.

 

You should also name the college or institution from where you gained your additional qualifications and training.

 

Well done to you to putting your CV out there on a public forum and seeking advice on its format and content. I do hope you take on board any criticisms as constructive, but your initial draft is full of sloppy and unnecessary errors from start to fininsh, many of which could of been avoided and corrected had you bothered to take the couple of minutes needed to run it through a spell check. You have trumpeted in your education details that you have gained a Level 2 in Adult literacy! No offence, but were you being tought by a 10 year old, or did you just sit at the back of the class "txtng ur m8s"?

 

Remember first impressions last! An incoherent and sloppy CV will quickly end up in the bin and you will not get that interview.

 

Once you redraft your CV, print it out and take the time to sit and read through it yourself without any distractions. Then read it again, make any changes that you think are necessary, then print it out again and ask someone else to read it through for you, and get their feedback.

 

Probably best if its not one of your mates that went to the same school as yourself!

 

Once it is polished to perfection, you cand send it out to all potential employers confident that it is likely to clear the first hurdle, in that when your CV is opened it will be placed on someones desk for further consideration rather than immediately tossed in the bin.

 

Good luck mate.

[Gnarlyoak]

If you are keen that is how you can show it, use your initiative, you need to fit in with them, be honest and show some common sense. Putting your home address, mobile no. and email address on a web forum seems unnecessary and a little bit daft imho:

 

On a web "forum" yes. But if one assumes that the finished CV is to be printed out and a hard copy delivered to a potential employer, then your name, address and contact number at the top of the page is essential.

 

An email address is less important, but if you have an alternative contact number such as a landline for your home address then it would be useful to include that.

[Albedo]

Very good advice so far.

 

The wording of your one line intro, and some other bits of carelessness have created a bit of a bad impression for me.

 

This is epitomised by your email address ....Girlfriends name 4 your name....

 

I'd set up a new, more serious one, for job applications...it's easy to do.

 

That's the kind of thing people carve on trees with a penknife.

 

Good luck in these hard times and hope you get a start somewhere.

[HCR]

Lots of good stuff already, but here are a couple of extra points:

 

1. Set up a sensible sounding email address for job applications. [email protected] - that sort of thing.

2. Describe your previous job by means of achievements rather than tasks.

3. List key skills (bullet points only) between your personal profile and and your employment.

4. Limit the personal profile to 30-35 words, and write it in the third person - e.g. Has developed significant skills in the field of domestic landscaping.

 

Have you got a driving licence? Make sure you mention it if you do.

[wrights]

thanks for feedback points taken the only way i think im going to get into the tree game is ask you tree surgons feedback