Some advice for graduates on preparing CVs

I just wanted to post some advice to any final year students currently applying for jobs. Have just had a large number of CVs in for a trainee financial position and am shocked by some of them.

1. Double and triple check spelling and punctuation.
2. For a graduate job, please put your leaving cert subjects and grades on the CV. Stating you got 550 points is not helpful.
3. Please include a covering letter or email - just emailing a CV with nothing else is just going to get deleted.
4 In a covering letter and CV make sure it is addressed the correct person and company! And that you know exactly what the position you are applying for is.
5. Please don't apply for a job that has minimum requirements if you do not fill them.

Ok - rant over - will get back to sorting through the applications!

Re: CVs from Graduate - advice

Very good advice...

1. Get someone else to read your CV for you to check it for spelling and punctuation and proper use of English.
2. If you do not meet the minimum requirements, do apply for the job but explain in the covering letter that you recognize that you don't and give reasons why you should be called for interview.

Sorry - yes good point on number 2 - was just applying to this particular job where minimum requirements are needed for entry to the professional body.

I'd also add...

Take a little time to tailor your CV to each job being applied for.

A standard CV is fine, but to try and make it stand out every attempt should be made to highlight the key skills you can offer for each specific role.

(From experience a lot of graduates seem to feel that they don't need to do this due to a lack of work experience, I'd certainly disagree)

Re: CVs from Graduate - advice

Brendan said:

Very good advice...

1. Get someone else to read your CV for you to check it for spelling and punctuation and proper use of English.

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You could also arrange a meeting with the Careers Advisor in your institute and ask him/her to look over your CV. They will also give you some advice on cover letters or any other area you are unsure about.

Don_08 said:

3. Please include a covering letter or email - just emailing a CV with nothing else is just going to get deleted.

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I agree that applicants should always submit a cover letter but at the same time, if they don't, I think you should still reply that the application has been unsuccessful/rejected.

As a busy employer, I would not dream of replying to a CV which was just blasted around to so many employers that they couldn't be bothered to tailor a covering letter. That would be like sending off a personalized email response to spam.

Brendan

Calico said:

I agree that applicants should always submit a cover letter but at the same time, if they don't, I think you should still reply that the application has been unsuccessful/rejected.

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In a 'perfect' world this would be the case, but where money and time is king, this just isn't the case. Being a graduate myself, i would love if this was the case, where we were all shown the error of our ways and how to correct them, like in the learning world we are used to. To be honest maybe a harsh and realistic view of the real 'working world' is what some people need.