Opinions on my CV Please

[Shaun.P]

"Highers" are qualifications you earn by sitting exams in Scotland. When you go to High School you are there for 4, 5 or 6 years.

In 4 years the highest qualification you can get is a Standard Grade (which is enough to get you into College - college here is like a State College to Americans). If you stay on for 5 years you can get Highers. Typically Universities look for 4 highers before letting you in depending on course. The University of Glasgow is one of the best Universities in Scotland and I think I needed 4 B's at my Highers to get in. I stayed on for 6 years and got 2 A's, 2B's and 2C's. So Highers are basically qualifications you earn in Subjects you study. To sit a higher, you need to have done a standard grade in it usually.

So, highers are important! You don't get an over all score in Scotland.

That make sense at all?

Shaun

 

[bearbo]

"Highers" are qualifications you earn by sitting exams in Scotland. When you go to High School you are there for 4, 5 or 6 years.

In 4 years the highest qualification you can get is a Standard Grade (which is enough to get you into College - college here is like a State College to Americans). If you stay on for 5 years you can get Highers. Typically Universities look for 4 highers before letting you in depending on course. The University of Glasgow is one of the best Universities in Scotland and I think I needed 4 B's at my Highers to get in. I stayed on for 6 years and got 2 A's, 2B's and 2C's. So Highers are basically qualifications you earn in Subjects you study. To sit a higher, you need to have done a standard grade in it usually.

So, highers are important! You don't get an over all score in Scotland.

That make sense at all?

Shaun

It certainly make sense for college application purposes, but why do they matter to employers? Given you aren't working in those specific fields?

 

[Shaun.P]

Highers are just important...I don't know! It shows subjects that you have studied in great depth. E.g. Advanced Higher Maths means you have studied Maths for 6 years and taken it further shows interest. They are good qualifications until you get your university degree.

 

[jng]

Would I not send the CV as a PDF if I was sending it online anyway? Or do they prefer .doc?

Not necessarily. Over half of the companies I applied to just have a cut and paste from. No formatting.

I've never sent a .doc

 

[Shaun.P]

Computer Expertise is now:

• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office, Filemaker Pro, Windows and Mac OS X;

 

[r1ch4rd]

Highers are just important...I don't know! It shows subjects that you have studied in great depth. E.g. Advanced Higher Maths means you have studied Maths for 6 years and taken it further shows interest. They are good qualifications until you get your university degree.

Agreed! It is very important to put on all of your higher results. If anyone is not familiar with highers they are simiilar to English A levels. If you don't know what they are you just need to know they are very important to employers in the UK.

If it helps you (or if you are interested) I could post my old CV from when I was straight out of Uni. It got me the first job I applied for so it must be alright

 

[bearbo]

Highers are just important...I don't know! It shows subjects that you have studied in great depth. E.g. Advanced Higher Maths means you have studied Maths for 6 years and taken it further shows interest. They are good qualifications until you get your university degree.

I'm not arguing with you the importance of those grades. But you have to understand sometimes the employers don't care about certain things.

But what do I know, I'm not from scotland.

Hopefully you saw beyond my first point, and saw my other suggestions. Because from your first revision did not reflect them.

 

[Shaun.P]

Sorry Bearbo, I don't have you on ignore. I thank you greatly for your comments, I missed them sorry. I'm changing it now.

Do you have me on your ignored list or did you intentionally ignore some of my comments?

1. in education, you want to put a bit more information. can someone from UK that knows what GPA means tell me what's the UK equivalent?

2. I'd take out the qualification part. I've not ever seen a resumé with grades in them. Where were these grades from anyway? Are these grades from standardized tests? If not, they don't mean much.

That's different from if your employer asks for your past transcript, in which case you can show he/she your past grades.

3. In your previous experiences, you want to put your employer first. in this format:

Burger King
Crew Member

not vice versa. You are only a crew member to burger king. You are not a crew member to other people. Therefore the "crew member" is under burger king.

4. "Offer extremely good customer service" is subjective and is NOT a task you did while you were at burger king. That does not belong to your CV/resumé, it belongs to recommendation letter.

Make sure your grammar is correct and consistent.

for instance



should be




5. Telephone manner and enthusiasm for further learning is NOT a skill. However, computer expertise is. You should elaborate on the computer expertise

 

[Shaun.P]

Here it is!

Tell me what you think. Any other changes? And is it an improvment than the one I had before?

Shaun

 

[davidjearly]

The University of Glasgow is one of the best Universities in Scotland...

Don't be so sure of that. They like to think they are, but not for many many things. It is one of the poorest Medical Schools in Scotland for example.

It certainly make sense for college application purposes, but why do they matter to employers? Given you aren't working in those specific fields?

It matters. Any employer worth their salt cares about the latest educational results a person has. Since the OP hasn't concluded University yet, they are of upmost importance.

But what do I know, I'm not from scotland.

It's nothing to do with being from Scotland specifically, or even the UK for that matter so perhaps you could drop the attitude.

Tell me what you think. Any other changes? And is it an improvment than the one I had before?

Shaun

I'm not to sure of just how condensed the 'profile' section is. It is an improvement from before, but it is very informal. To me that is a put off. Also, I would consider including your references if you have contacted them beforehand to make sure this is ok. It prevents the employer having to get additional data beyond your application.

Other than that, excellent job and it has come a long way.

David

 

[Shaun.P]

As you can see, I never got a Higher in English I'm more of a Mathy person . If you could recommend text that you would use to replace the profile bit I would be greatly apprecative.

Shaun

References are going to be a problem. I was sacked from the Odeon and I don't think I've been at Burger King long enough to ask. And my first job was ages ago and they don't remember me!

I do however, have a friend who was a Superviser in the Odeon at the same time I was there, but she's left. Would it be worth putting her down for a reference?

And I should manage to get a character reference from someone.

Shaun

I'm not to sure of just how condensed the 'profile' section is. It is an improvement from before, but it is very informal. To me that is a put off. Also, I would consider including your references if you have contacted them beforehand to make sure this is ok. It prevents the employer having to get additional data beyond your application.

Other than that, excellent job and it has come a long way.

David

 

[r1ch4rd]

I think that your CV should give some idea of what you are like as a person. If I am going to hire you I need to know a bit more about you. I have read your CV and I don't feel like I got a feeling for you at all. Do you have any hobbies, extra curricular activities at school?

Many people have a string of qualifications so you need to separate yourself from the rabble a bit. Focus a bit on things that make you unique. Things that you can offer that nobody else can. You will need to give examples to back these things up though.

http://www.juggl.org/cv.pdf <- My old CV if you want to "borrow" any of the structure or ideas. Not that my CV is by any means the perfect example.