This means you need to take stock of your current position, decide where you want to be, then create some goals and milestones to help you achieve your aim.

Carrying forward old and irrelevant job history usually won't bring success.  Instead, take a blank sheet of paper and start brainstorming about where you are today in terms of knowledge and skills, and where you where to be.

Working from scratch, list all your hard and soft skills.  Then list your achievements and the value you have delivered in previous roles.  This could include increased efficiencies, profits, sales, brand awareness, functionality, etc.  If you're short on ideas, browse LinkedIn for job vacancies and member profiles, which will help give you some inspiration about skills, terminology and how to present your achievements.  You're not just trying to create a list of duties; you want to create a list of value-added achievements.  Employers need to know what makes you better than the other candidates; why they should employ you.

Be honest with yourself.  It's no good saying you've got excellent interpersonal skills if no-one in your office enjoys working with you or if you don't enjoy working as part of a team.  If you're a square peg, you'll never fit into a round hole, however much you kid yourself.

This process will almost always identify skills gaps.  These could be technical or perhaps lack of knowledge about team leadership or business methods.  Whatever gaps you identify, try to plug them.  Research the internet for training courses - many of which are free or very cheap - then sign up.  Don't overdo it and take too much on at once.  Bite-sized training over a period of time will deliver better results.

A word of warning...

Don't quit until you've got all your ducks in a row.  You're always more employable when you're in work.  So stay focussed on your existing job while you get your career move in place, and make sure you leave on good terms and with a glowing references and testimonials.

We're always happy to chat and we're around over much of the Christmas break, so give us a call if you need help.

If you use Loft Resumes or any other form of creative formatting, please let us know what impact it had on your job applications.  We'd love to know whether it worked for you.

If you keep sending off the same CV for every job advertisement, you're unlikely to meet with success.

Read and analyse the job advertisement, see what key skills and experience they are seeking, and make sure that your CV is a good match - not just through interpretation but in exact words and phrases.

Although your CV still needs to make sense and read well, it needs to be specifically targetted to match each job vacancy advertisement.

If the job ad specifies Advanced Excel, make sure you include those exact words in your CV - remember you need to actually be advanced in Excel - no BS please...

If the advertisement specifies that they want someone with excellent organisational skills, then include those skills on your CV.

Prioritise your skills on your CV to match the priorities of the job advertisement.

Start off with one good CV.  Save this as the Master.  Then copy, edit and save each adaptation under a new file name.  This takes a little time  but it really pays dividends.

The same applies to cover letters.  These should "match" the job advertisement.  Don't just rehash your CV, address the advertisement - identify with their requirements - be the perfect match.  Tell them what excites you about the role, why you're interested, what you could bring to the role but make sure you're letter isn't all "me, me, me".  Talk about the company and how you think you would fit in and contribute to their goals.  It helps to check out their website and to read the advertisement fully before responding.

Good luck with your job search!  Get in touch if you need help.

 andIt was National Careers Week a few weeks ago.  Considering that my business is careers-based, I would have expected a big push on Twitter and other forms of media but I didn't notice any particular song and dance.  What I did notice, however, was an article on how our National Careers Service, which was launched a year ago, is failing young people.  You can read the article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21144825

I came across a short video yesterday about how to write your first CV, coincidentally produced by the National Careers Service.  I doubt that the advice given in the video, and the sample CV provided, will do little to help job seekers secure an interview.  The formatting is poor, there was no mention of targetting the CV, no section for skills and achievements and no mention of keyword matching and ATS. They advised that you include skills and achievements in the profile or in the hobbies/interests sections.  Nonsense!  They did, however, fare a little better on their cover letter advice.  You can watch the video here: http://vimeo.com/60555694 but I don't recommend you follow their advice, so do exercise caution!

From time to time I look at what other CV writers (my competitors) are offering and, while there are undoubtedly some good, professional providers out there, there are also some who should be given a wide berth.  But how can a jobseeker know who to trust or what to believe? 

Jobseekers are often vulnerable and they don't know whether they're getting good advice or bad.  It's certainly difficult.  But here's a brief list of things to look out for.

1. Avoid CV writers who don't talk with you before you commit. You need to talk with the CV writer who will actually be interviewing you and writing your CV.  You need to trust them to give you their time and attention, to ask lots of questions and to really take an interest in you - not just as another fee-paying client but as a real person with individual needs and aspirations.
2. Upload/download CV writing services can be risky.  If the content of your CV is poor, then reformatting is not going to improve your chances of success.  Your CV might look nicer, but the content will still be poor and will fail to get you interviews.  Unless you're absolutely certain that the content is good, then don't use a reformatting service.
3. Many companies offer to review your CV for free and then inevitably follow up with advice that you should pay them to rewrite your CV.  Effectively, you're being "baited" by the free offer and then they'll want you to sign up with them for a paid CV writing service.  There's nothing wrong with that in principle; it's how business is often done.  But when you reach the "lure" stage, follow my advice in "1" above.  You might also want to read my earlier blog on Free CV Reviews, which you can read by clicking this link: Compelling CV's Article on Free CV Reviews
4. You get what you pay for:  If someone is charging £15, £25, £35 for your CV then, really... what quality of service are you expecting?  Why do they put such a low value on their service?  At those prices, how can they make a living?  How much time will they spend interviewing you and writing your CV?  How many drafts/re-writes?  Or will they just be copying and pasting generic "fluff" into your new "templated" CV?  And speaking of templates, you can read our reasons for NOT using templates here: Why we don't use templates
5. Having your CV professionally written is an investment in your future. It will impact on your ability to get interviews and it will affect your earning power.  Therefore you shouldn't skimp on price where there's a risk of jeopardising quality.  If the CV writer doesn't place a realistic value on their service, I suggest you avoid them like the plague.
6. Are they interested in your aspirations?  Do they want to know what job you're applying for?  Have they asked to read the job advertisement?  If they don't know where you're headed, how can they help you to get there?
7. Many CV writing companies farm out your CV to freelancers.  Again, nothing wrong with that except you do need to speak to the actual writer and establish a rapport with them before you commit.
8. Avoid friends who offer to write your CV for you.  I heard recently of a friend's son being asked to help create a CV for someone, purely because he was good on a computer!
9. I'm personally suspicious of CV writers who only have a mobile telephone number.
10. Are the CV writer's testimonials genuine?  Anyone can write fabulous testimonials for their own website and I've seen one CV writer who offers financial incentives to gain testimonials, which rather undermines the process!  So, try to establish whether testimonials have been provided on an independent third-party site, where they are more likely to be genuine.

There are many pitfalls to seeking CV writing and advice.  So you need to exercise caution, ask lots of questions, be able to talk to the person who will write your CV (before you commit), bear in mind that you'll get what you pay for, and then trust your instinct. 

Good luck in your job search and don't hesitate to contact us.  We're always happy to talk.

Barbara Patrick
Professional CV Writer and Career Coach
Compelling CVs

I exhibited at Bracknell Careers Fair last week. It was hosted by Bracknell & Wokingham College and organised by Bracknell Job Centre.  The event was very well organised and promoted, and the college facilities were excellent.  I'd never been to the College before and I was really impressed.

Whilst I was hopeful that the event would be well attended, I was totally unprepared for the influx of visitors that rushed into the exhibition hall when the doors opened at 10am.  It almost seemed like the Harrods Sale with customers rushing in to grab the best bargains. Amazing.

From just a few minutes after 10am until after the exhibition officially ended at 4pm, I had a constant stream of job seekers all wanting their CVs reviewed.  Visitors waited patiently in the queue which at times was 8-10 deep.  It was relentless and way exceeded what I'd been expecting.

While the Government constantly talk about people who don't want to work, the people I spoke to all desperately wanted to get into work and they welcomed any advice I could give.  They came from a range of ages, backgrounds and disciplines, from school leavers to executives, and they all had a story to tell.  I just wish I'd had more time to spend with each of them.

Out of all the CVs I reviewed, however, only a small handful were reasonably well prepared.  So there's clearly a need out there for more education on employability and job seeking skills. 

I'm working on it!

There is an abundance of free CV templates (aka Resume Templates) available online and many companies who sell templated CVs.

We never use CV templates because every client is unique and "one size" CV templates aren't suitable. 

Rather like the story of Cinderella, where all the ladies were trying to force their foot into the tiny glass slipper so that the prince would choose them, it simply doesn't work.  It's far better that the slipper is designed to fit the foot!

We firmly believe that it is the CONTENT of a CV that is important.  Whilst a CV template may provide some useful headings, you are still left with the problem of creating the content.

Whereas "Education" may feature highly on one client's CV, it may hardly feature at all on another's. This is because a client may have many years' experience where their education is totally irrelevant to the role or industry they are applying to.

Likewise, "Hobbies and Interests" may be totally irrelevant and omitted from one client's CV but included in another where they bring transferable skills such as leadership.

After content, keywords (to match Applicant Tracking Software Systems) and relevance are important too.  CV templates can't assist with these either, except by suggesting useful headings.

Because our clients all have different experiences, achievements, skills and personalities, we build their CVs from scratch, focussing on their individual strengths. This is much easier to achieve through avoiding the use of CV templates.

Ultimately, our CVs are beautifully formatted and you would be forgiven for thinking that we use CV templates; we do not.  What we do use is a particular "style" and "layout" that works extremely well for our clients, as our client testimonials bear out.