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I'm applying for a job at my local Apple Store... CV check please?

MasterHowl

MasterHowl

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 3, 2010
1,067
182
North of England
Hi there :)

I just moved to Manchester for university, and there's an Apple store here! I'd love to work there for some extra cash, and because I love Apple so much :D

Could someone please quickly check my CV for me? I'd be extremely grateful.

Constructive criticism is welcomed. I edited my "normal" CV to make it more Apple based. Everyone on it is 100% true, so I'm not BS-ing at any point.

Thank you very much!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27585750/Curriculum Vitae Apple Version MacRumours.pdf
 
Last edited:
MasterHowl said:
Hi there :)

I just moved to Manchester for university, and there's an Apple store here! I'd love to work there for some extra cash, and because I love Apple so much :D

Could someone please quickly check my CV for me? I'd be extremely grateful.

Constructive criticism is welcomed. I edited my "normal" CV to make it more Apple based. Everyone on it is 100% true, so I'm not BS-ing at any point.

Thank you very much!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27585750/Curriculum Vitae Apple Version (MacRumours).pdf
Click to expand...

i'm going through it now and will reply/edit this post when i've done :)

Edit: Okay looks pretty good, aside from a few obvious spacing errors. Also, Tim congratulations on the Chief Scout Gold - i also achieved this a long (long long) time ago, and it's a great thing to have (and i don't think it's equivalent to broze DoE, as you stated/may be wrong).

I'm not sure what else you could add, apart from expanding on certain aspects such as why you liked Keynote so much, why iPhoto appealed to you, etc. Hopefully someone else will be able to give you some more positive advice.

All the best for the job, you might see me popping in ;)
 
Last edited:
Do not write your resume like a novel

Your contact info should not take up ~1/2 of your first page

List your education/work experience/etc....do not make a story out of it

Your resume is very time consuming to read (not a good thing when employers are looking at tons of resumes)

You do not have to list your class work and grades...your gpa is enough and if they want a transcript, they will ask for it.

Listing any education (like middle school) prior to university is irrelevant

Conventional wisdom is to keep your resume to about a page

just some very quick thoughts
 
Last edited:
dukebound85 said:
Do not write your resume like a novel

Your contact info should not take up ~1/2 of your first page

Your resume is very time consuming to read (not a good thing when employers are looking at tons of resumes)

You do not have to list your class work and grades...your gpa is enough and if they want a transcript, they will ask for it.
Click to expand...

Thank you :) Sorry, what a "gpa"? And how could I shorted my contact info?
 
MasterHowl said:
Thank you :) Sorry, what a "gpa"? And how could I shorted my contact info?
Click to expand...

in the us, gpa is an indicator of your course grades all averaged together


As far as how you should sort, I know pages has resume templates that will give you an idea


EvanLugh said:
Actually it's usually 'required', personally i've always looked straight for the results table. Maybe it's an English thing ;) :p
Click to expand...

Oh really? well definitely keep it with what's the norm in the UK. Cultural differences I suppose lol
 
it's a little much.

When I write my resume, it's very to the point.

I write in bullet points and not in a story.

The Cover Letter is where you tell your story
 
I'm not a fan of the layout and it's very wordy. Some things that I would do...

(As a disclaimer from the start, this is just from personal experience in the UK. Formats differ across the world and I am not a professional in this area.)

Name etc. I always just put in the top right, as if I were writing a letter. It's a format people are used to and doesn't take much space. I always make my name a bit bigger on the first line. Something like this...


A N Other
123 Fake Street
Piccadilly Basin
Manchester
M1 1AB

Tel: 0161123456
Mobile: 07850123456

fake@emaildomain.com
​

Then, I would re-order. It's good to try and go reverse chronological and have the important stuff up front. So I would go with the following...

(Short) Personal Statement -- to give an intro
Eduction (reverse chronological) -- to show what you are doing now
Work Experience (reverse chronological) -- what you have done in the past
Interests -- other

Next have a nice big heading for each section and then subdivide. Be sure to include dates. So for employment you might have something like

Employment
Employer 1 (August 2006 to September 2007)
Some text about working some place etc.

Employer 1 (August 2004 to September 2005)
Some text about the place you worked before that

Once you have that, try and cut down each section a bit. Try to have a little intro and then bullet points with the key items. So taking one of your examples

McDonalds (August 2006 to September 2007)
During my years employment I worked as part of the food delivery team, working to deploy maximum food enjoyment. I was responsible for
  • Taking money
  • Serving Customers
  • Handling Complaints

This has helped me to build skills such as
  • Team Working
  • Communication
  • Time Management

Obviously, put a bit more effort into the words than I have.

On your eduction section. Concentrate on what you are doing at university (write a little paragraph and then bullet points as above - keep a consistent format with work experience). For anything prior to that, just list out what you got. Don't bother with a table. Mention anything they ask for specifically. Otherwise for GCSE it may be enough to just write 6*A, 4*B, 1*C (or whatever you got).

Another important thing. Avoid sentences like "I believe I am empathetic". You need to be sure of yourself and you need to back it up. So, go for something like "Through my work with MenCap I have proven myself to be empathetic".

Generally, I think you have too much information. You are going to have an interview on top of this to discuss in detail. Keep to the key points. Calling bingo numbers is not important - what were the absolutely key, really impressive, things you did for MenCap?

I don't really want to post my CV on a public forum, but if you would like a copy drop me a PM.

Go to the Careers Centre (it used to be in the University precinct centre - near the Kilburn building). They will help you out with your CV and interview technique etc.

If you can cut it down and make a Word copy available, I'm also happy to add more specific comments inline.

On a side note - how are you enjoying Manchester?
 
Guys, make sure that when you give him advice you are not using American standards. You have no idea what is or isn't acceptable in the UK then best not to post it as it will only confuse matters. The standards there very likely to be different than ours for a resume.
 
Like the poster above me said, the US and UK are obviously different when it comes to resumes/cv's. However.. what I do know is that you want to keep it short and sweet. Do your best to wow them with as little as possible. The people reviewing these have lots of work to do, and they don't want to read through 3 pages of stuff. Since I guess in the UK you need to include that table of grades, I'd say MAX 2 pages. Just try to cut down the rest of the stuff, make it more brief and get straight to the point.
 
Yeah, no GPAs in the UK. So you'll need to list them. As you get older, they will become insignificant and you'll just put' x GCSEs at grade y or above'... Until then, they're helpful in there.
 
dukebound85 said:
Do not write your resume like a novel

Your contact info should not take up ~1/2 of your first page

List your education/work experience/etc....do not make a story out of it

Your resume is very time consuming to read (not a good thing when employers are looking at tons of resumes)

You do not have to list your class work and grades...your gpa is enough and if they want a transcript, they will ask for it.

Listing any education (like middle school) prior to university is irrelevant

Conventional wisdom is to keep your resume to about a page

just some very quick thoughts
Click to expand...

You're thinking of a resume. He is writing a curriculum vitae. those are two completely different things. The CV is supposed to list all of this, where a resume is short, like what you're suggesting.

BL.
 
Pursue, not peruse. It should not be more than two sides of A4. There is some repetition and verbiage in there, so cutting it should not be a problem. You might also want to tailor it to the job a little more; think about what qualities Apple might be looking for, and structure your CV around those.
 
Don't hold out hope about getting a job there. Apple stores don't want people working there who know something about what they are selling. If you look hip and act like a doofus, you might get a job there. But if you are 40 and have been using Apple hardware since the beginning and actually know how to network OS X and Linus and Windows 7, then just walk out the door and don't go back.

The quality of people working at Apple stores is sub par from what I've seen. I'm not even sure any of them were even born after 9/11. It's quite sad really.
 
r1ch4rd said:
I'm not a fan of the layout and it's very wordy. Some things that I would do...

(As a disclaimer from the start, this is just from personal experience in the UK. Formats differ across the world and I am not a professional in this area.)

Name etc. I always just put in the top right, as if I were writing a letter. It's a format people are used to and doesn't take much space. I always make my name a bit bigger on the first line. Something like this...


A N Other
123 Fake Street
Piccadilly Basin
Manchester
M1 1AB

Tel: 0161123456
Mobile: 07850123456

fake@emaildomain.com
​

Then, I would re-order. It's good to try and go reverse chronological and have the important stuff up front. So I would go with the following...

(Short) Personal Statement -- to give an intro
Eduction (reverse chronological) -- to show what you are doing now
Work Experience (reverse chronological) -- what you have done in the past
Interests -- other

Next have a nice big heading for each section and then subdivide. Be sure to include dates. So for employment you might have something like

Employment
Employer 1 (August 2006 to September 2007)
Some text about working some place etc.

Employer 1 (August 2004 to September 2005)
Some text about the place you worked before that

Once you have that, try and cut down each section a bit. Try to have a little intro and then bullet points with the key items. So taking one of your examples

McDonalds (August 2006 to September 2007)
During my years employment I worked as part of the food delivery team, working to deploy maximum food enjoyment. I was responsible for
  • Taking money
  • Serving Customers
  • Handling Complaints

This has helped me to build skills such as
  • Team Working
  • Communication
  • Time Management

Obviously, put a bit more effort into the words than I have.

On your eduction section. Concentrate on what you are doing at university (write a little paragraph and then bullet points as above - keep a consistent format with work experience). For anything prior to that, just list out what you got. Don't bother with a table. Mention anything they ask for specifically. Otherwise for GCSE it may be enough to just write 6*A, 4*B, 1*C (or whatever you got).

Another important thing. Avoid sentences like "I believe I am empathetic". You need to be sure of yourself and you need to back it up. So, go for something like "Through my work with MenCap I have proven myself to be empathetic".

Generally, I think you have too much information. You are going to have an interview on top of this to discuss in detail. Keep to the key points. Calling bingo numbers is not important - what were the absolutely key, really impressive, things you did for MenCap?

I don't really want to post my CV on a public forum, but if you would like a copy drop me a PM.

Go to the Careers Centre (it used to be in the University precinct centre - near the Kilburn building). They will help you out with your CV and interview technique etc.

If you can cut it down and make a Word copy available, I'm also happy to add more specific comments inline.

On a side note - how are you enjoying Manchester?
Click to expand...

This is like gold dust to me! Thank you so much. I'll drop you a PM later on today when I get back from lectures about how I'm getting on in rainy Manchester :D

PurpleMarmalade said:
Pursue, not peruse. It should not be more than two sides of A4. There is some repetition and verbiage in there, so cutting it should not be a problem. You might also want to tailor it to the job a little more; think about what qualities Apple might be looking for, and structure your CV around those.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! I'm a terrible speller. I'll try get it down to 2 sides of A4.

sk1wbw said:
Don't hold out hope about getting a job there. Apple stores don't want people working there who know something about what they are selling. If you look hip and act like a doofus, you might get a job there. But if you are 40 and have been using Apple hardware since the beginning and actually know how to network OS X and Linus and Windows 7, then just walk out the door and don't go back.

The quality of people working at Apple stores is sub par from what I've seen. I'm not even sure any of them were even born after 9/11. It's quite sad really.
Click to expand...

I disagree... why would they want people working for them who don't have clue how to use a Mac?! Luckily I'm not 40, I'm 18 :) Thanks for the advice anyway.
 
I think r1ch4rd's advice was great, I'd just make it clear using Bold's or bullets when listing, it makes it easier on the reader, also keep it to just 2 sides of A4.

The idea is, the person reading will not have time to sit and read 4 pages when they may have 50 to go through, make it easy for them to pick out the key words they are scanning for and to see if you meet their requirements.


Good luck! Which one are you going for? Arndale Centre or Trafford Centre ?
 
Looks Good

MasterHowl said:
Hi there :)

I just moved to Manchester for university, and there's an Apple store here! I'd love to work there for some extra cash, and because I love Apple so much :D

Could someone please quickly check my CV for me? I'd be extremely grateful.

Constructive criticism is welcomed. I edited my "normal" CV to make it more Apple based. Everyone on it is 100% true, so I'm not BS-ing at any point.

Thank you very much!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27585750/Curriculum Vitae Apple Version MacRumours.pdf
Click to expand...


Good simple lay out, personal statement perhaps a little dry? Never hurts to mention your passion for the company you want to work for.

Maybe your activity here to where you" help others with Mac related issues?". I would certainly give your CV a proper read were it presented to me.

Astrophysics? You might be the first person to travel faster than light ( I'm trying to get my head around the recently released paper from CERN)


Good luck with the interview....I'd say you were in with a good shout, make sure that the manager, and not any other member of staff gets the CV.
 
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