There's an old saying... There's no such thing as a free lunch...

When I first started writing professional CVs some years ago, I noticed that many CV writers offered free CV reviews and I wondered whether I should be doing the same. 

Many friends and business associates suggested that if we offered free CV reviews, we could then entice clients to sign up to a fully paid CV writing service; therein lay my dilemma...

I didn't feel it was ethical to offer something for "free" when there was an underlying ulterior motive to up-sell.  OK, so they don't have to buy, but going on a fishing expedition to bait potential clients in the hope that they'll bite just isn't for me.

One of our early CV clients, a senior sales manager, submitted her "Compelling CV" to two well-established CV writing services for free CV reviews - simply to reassure herself that her CV was indeed compelling.  She received prompt feedback from both CV writing service providers, which she passed on to me. Here's what happened.

One made 2 modest recommendations for improvement (one of which was to remove an apostrophe from the abbreviation KPIs), and went on to offer to rewrite her CV for c£350. 

The other sent a detailed "report" which made many recommendations about layout, fonts, bullet points, etc - all of which we had already implemented!  Clearly they had not even read her CV, but had simply sent a standard response that unsurprisingly included an offer to rewrite her CV for a price in excess of £300. 

Happy with the CV that we had written for her, our client didn't avail herself of either offer.  She went on to secure a suitable role - a good outcome for both of us.

In fact Compelling CVs does offer a comprehensive CV review service but the reality is that we're running a business and providing a quality service.  So, yes, we really do read your CV and yes, we give honest and valuable feedback and suggestions on where it falls short and how it can be improved.  Occasionally, we've waived the cost and told clients that they have a very strong CV and don't need our help.  But when we do undertake a CV review, we feel it's only fair to charge for our service based both on quality and time spent.

If you'd like a little more information about our CV Review Service, please click here.

Whilst many hobbies are interesting, you need to assess whether your hobbies add to your character and/or provide added value for a potential employer.

If you are running the local kids football club, or you coach tennis at the weekends, volunteer as a leader for Duke of Edinburgh Awards or Chair the local Women's Institute, then you will probably have amassed a considerable number of transferable skills that you can apply in the workplace.

Let's look at running.  If you go for a quick run after work every evening, that shows a degree of commitment.  However, if you have a gruelling training schedule and you are planning to run the London and New York Marathons next year then, hey, that's really something special.  It illustrates commitment, ambition, determination and perseverance - which could all be valuable to a potential employer.  And if you are doing it to support a worthwhile cause, better still!

Coastal walking is another interesting one.  Do you just enjoy occasional walks at the seaside or are you executing a lifetime ambition to walk the entire UK coastline to raise funds for your favourite charity?

Do you attend personal fitness classes as a social activity or do you have a goal to lose 3 stones and climb Mt Kilimanjaro?

Think hard about your hobbies, how they affect your character and how they can translate into worthwhile attributes that will add to your employability.  If you have little or no work experience, then these transferable skills become even more important.

If your interests are solely partying and drinking to excess, then these are probably best left off your CV unless you are applying to become a holiday representative for the 18-30s club where the ability to party is a pre-requisite!

If you really can't see the value in your hobbies, then an employer is unlikely to see them either.  So perhaps you should leave them off your CV entirely.

This is an area which we always explore with our CV clients.  What we discover is often amazing and heart-lifting - which helps make what we do so worthwhile.

There's been a lot of debate in the media recently about UCAS personal statements, highlighting the disparity between the support that private school students receive when writing their UCAS statements, and the support (or lack of support) that state school students receive.

The research was commissioned by The Sutton Trust  and undertaken at the University of Manchester who compared UCAS Personal Statements of 309 applicants, all with identical grades.

Read the Times Higher Education article here

The gist of the article is that privately educated applicants apparently had statements that were well crafted and articulated, and they had better quality work experience that their "well placed" contacts had presumably facilitated for them.  Whereas state educated applicants had less well crafted statements, were less likely to have had help compiling them, had only experienced Saturday jobs, and had worse grammar and spelling than the "privileged" kids.

I'm not convinced - especially by the grammar element! These kids all had the same grades after all...

But is this really an issue of privilege?  The same information and advice is available to all - private and state school students, parents, teachers and careers advisors.

Why shouldn't - more importantly, why wouldn't - parents want to give their kids all the support they can?  This support should be forthcoming from parents regardless of wealth or education.

Private education is no longer the privilege of the wealthy.  I know lots of ordinary parents who are not big earners but who send their kids to private schools because they want their kids to have the best possible start in life and/or they feel that the state system is inadequate.  They want their kids to attend schools that maintain high standards both in teaching and in behaviour.  Schools where teaching staff are passionate about their subjects, are able to engage the children in learning, and can maintain discipline in the classroom.  Who wouldn't want that for their kids?

Conversely I know well-off people who've had to take their kids out of private school because of changes to their circumstances and some who are happy to use the state system where good state schools exists, eg Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

On the subject of work experience, it's not solely down to "who you know".  Yes, there's a bit of that but it's often just about making the effort.  I secured 2 lots of work experience for an undergraduate earlier this year, just by tweeting.  How easy is that?  No favours.  No friends in high places.  Just a little effort.

Likewise I got fantastic work experience in a law firm some years ago for a GCSE student, just by picking up the phone and going through the solicitors on Yellow Pages.  Again, no favours, just a little effort.  This didn't involve privilege in any way, shape or form.  Anyone can access the yellow pages and start ringing around.

Yes, there will always be disparity and an element of privilege and I'm glad of it.  The world would be rather dull if we were all the same.  But this needn't impact on UCAS personal statements.

There is a wealth of information available about writing UCAS statements.  State educated kids and their parents and teachers all have access to the same information as the privately educated.  It's all on the UCAS website, on the internet generally, on individual university websites, in their prospectuses and in the libraries.  And I can tell you from personal experience, that kids and parents are totally bombarded with information from UCAS long before the application process starts.  There is absolutely no excuse for ignorance or for lack of preparation.

There's a typical example on our UCAS Personal Statements page of the sort of information that's freely available to all university applicants.  It's a short video that illustrates how to approach the UCAS statement and how to brainstorm your skills, achievements, motivations, etc.

Click this link to view the video: http://www.compellingcvs.co.uk/ucas-personal-statements.html

I disagree that good quality UCAS personal statements are the domain of the privileged few.  It's about effort and motivation and wanting your child to succeed (or, in the case of teachers, wanting your students to succeed).

On a final note, CompellingCVs provides support with UCAS Personal Statements for students from all walks of life and we'd be happy to help you or your child with their UCAS statement.

If you didn't read Part 1 of my blog on Video Interviews, you might want to read that article first...

• You must remember to talk directly into the webcam - maintaining eye contact as if you were talking directly to the interviewer.  It's often tempting to look at the screen or refer to notes... don't!
• When you are answering questions, try to inject some enthusiasm into your voice.  This can be difficult when you're talking to a camera, so you may need to practice this in a mirror.
• Maintain a good posture - don't slouch and don't wriggle - but don't be rigid either.  If your chair is a swivel type, lock it into the upright, static position.

It's a good idea to practice video interviewing with a friend - possibly recording the interview over Skype.  Enlist the help of someone you trust to give you positive, constructive feedback, and who will help you to identify problems and to improve your performance.

• Pay attention to body language, enthusiasm and eye contact (with the webcam), and then make adjustments to your performance, until it becomes more refined yet natural.
• During practice interviews, get into the mindset by dressing appropriately and creating the correct room-setting - so that you are in true interview mode, even though you're just rehearsing.

All recruiters will set different interview questions, so we cannot provide details of what you will be asked.  However, since video interviews are not interactive, questions will be static - totally