Ch. 17: Enhancing your employability

When nothing else works

In this chapter you will learn:

• How to add to your skills when refining your CV alone is not enough

Room for improvement

If you go through your generic CV every few months, you will usually discover a few niggles.

Those parts that, every time you read them, you wish looked a bit better.

• The lack of industry experience that every job you’d like insists upon.
• Public speaking skills you don’t have.
• Equipment or software you’ve never learned how to use.
• French stuck at GCSE level for a decade that is no use in your business.
• The ever-increasing amount of time you have been unemployed.

Whatever the niggle may be, don’t just try to wish it away – or worse, lie. If there is something you could do to make your CV look better and give you more of a chance of getting to interview, why not do it?

Getting in early

It’s never too early to write your first CV. Whether you’re at school doing GCSEs next year, or A levels after that, or you are just starting further education, write it today. Yes, it’s going to look pretty empty in places, but that’s just what you need at this stage. The gaps in your early CV might help you decide how to spend some of your time over the next year or two, if you're serious about wanting a job when you finish your education. That’s not to say you should live your whole life by what will look good on your CV. But when things are tough and more people than ever are out of work, thinking about how your CV looks is something best done sooner.

The job market is already very competitive. Landing your first job with no experience can seem impossible. If you see a big gap in your CV now, start thinking how to close it. The following pointers apply to improving your CV at various stages in your career:

START YOUNG

Some larger companies may prefer not to employ under-16s and so may require a national insurance number on your application, but there are many other jobs you can do before then. Types of work under-16s can legally do include:

• shelf stacking and other shop work
• washing hair or cleaning up in a hair salon
• car washing (by hand, on a private basis, not as part of a Commercial operation)
• serving or clearing in a café or restaurant
• working in an office
• reception work
• domestic work in hotels and motels
• Farm-related work, fruit picking or gardening...

The extract above has been taken from 'Get That Job With the Right CV'
Copyright © 2010 Julie Gray

Get That Job With the Right CV