Posted By Frank Hallett
And do make sure that any spelling mistakes are deliberate and clearly so:

And, any jokes will actually appear as such to the anonymous reader.

And don't start too many sentences with "And".

Frank Hallett

Posted By gham
have a look at this thread

there is a very good answer to what should be put in it.... go get a coffee for when your reading it though!

Posted By Frank Hallett
Dear All

My apologies for appearing to hog this topic, but it's important in so many different ways to so many organisations and individuals.

Could there ever be a concensus on an IOSH "Model CV"? It couldn't be compulsory, but it would provide a "Best Practice" approach to this fundamental essential to actually getting the recruiter and prospective candidates better matched.

Think of it as a kind of filtering process.

Frank Hallett

Posted By Simon Heesom
I remember reading in the SHP magazine a few months ago, in our Favourite few pages at the back! they had a series of articles from the major recruiters, and they all asked for a different format. but what I have found, by using these specialist recruitement agencies, is the first thing they do with your CV is cut and paste it into their own format anyway. (saw my own CV at a job interview, not what I sent). So in essence I agree IOSH should produce a CV guidance document at least.

And they should also target Recruitement agencies to advise prospective employers as to who they realy need to employ, maybe then we can see the last of 'must have Gen Cert anda degree' when what they realy want is a 'Dip 1-Tech IOSH or a CMIOSH'.

Posted By Frank Hallett
You're absolutely right in principle about belonging to an organisation gham; but I believe that the previous post comment was intended as an example of better recruiter information so that you & I can better decide whether to invest any time on the application.

Beating the "I shouldn't have to belong to an organisation to get a job" drum is not what this is about.

Frank Hallett

Posted By Alexander Falconer
I disagree with previous comments on "a good employer wants to see designatory letters after names" how many employers actually know what they mean? Employers who do, have done the research, but who bothers as long as they fill the post (different when a HSE Manager/Head is compiling his team, what if its a company owner, or HR officer, or whatever)

Most importantly, is the top third of the cv highlights the personal profile of the candidate, this is worth its weight in gold.

As a previous well respected mentor and trainer (now recently deceased) stated "If you wish to use your designatory letters, get a job as a salesman" This does hold true!

I never use or highlight mine (MSc, Dip EM, I.Eng, MIIE, MIIRSM, Tech IOSH).

Regards

Alex

Posted By Frank Hallett
Hi Jonathon et al

It's all about ensuring that the recruiter gains what they consider to be the essential info about the prospective candidates.

If they do it by seeing which CV fails to fall in the wastebin [quite common I suspect] that's fine by me - I'll just ensure that they've got sufficient seperate sheets of paper with my contact details on. If it's by blindfold & pin - I'll do the same; but I need to know which they use.

As long as I know what info the recruiter wants, and the preferred format, that's what I'll do; thus saving a huge amount of wasted time, effort and money for all party's. That's why I would support an IOSH sponsored pro-forma to set best practice.

Frank Hallett

Posted By Philip McAleenan
Jonathon,

You use of the term “fuuzi wuzzis” is inapropriate on this or any other professional forum given the racist nature of the phrase. Derived from a Kipling poem written during the colonialist wars in the Sudan in which he patronised the Sudanese fighters, the expression is and has been used as a derogatory term for black people. Let’s see a withdrawal of the expression before it does any more harm to the institution.

Philip

Posted By Bill Fisher
Two messages have been removed, due use of an inappropriate phrase and resultant complaint.


Bill Fisher

(Moderator)

Posted By Malcolm Hogarth
Well, that did generate some lively discussion didn't it? My initial postings on the forums were aimed more at the actual quality of CV's than designatory letters after names; but I do tend to agree with the majority view that including them will give a recruiter an initial indication of what might follow.

It has been a very interesting exercise sifting the CV's that came through for the position we advertised (from both this site and elsewhere), and we had a huge range of applicants from MSc's and consultants to candidates with the NEBOSH General Certificate. We are almost at the stage of drafting a shortlist for interview.

Many thanks for all your contributions.

Malcolm

Posted By Allan Kerrigan
My experience of applying for jobs is that the "local government model" of a jobdiscription, to which you the applicant do a "statement of application”, is both a fare way of proving your experience, without having to wave qualifications around.

I have always been more comfortable in apply with this method, if fact when usually asked by a prospective employer for a cv, I always attached a statement of application as well, this helps fill out the vague areas that cv's leave. If I am applying through an agency or to an H&S practitioner, I just submit a CV.

Both methods have proved successful and unsuccessful.

Posted By Mark Talbot
I spent most of Tuesday reading CV's for a senior post, and I was passed them after a non-safety person had 'sifted' them.

We held very different opinions as to who should be invited for a chat, but we agreed that a 'yes' from either of us warranted the time.

I found that a couple had been overlooked because of qualification blindness (the label read "no NEBOSH" when the candidate held a relevant MSc and BSc, oops).

I read all CV's thoroughly, but I only do this once a year at most so it is novel for me. Still, I found the ones that had a brief profile section right at the top of the page were far easier to read and gave me a much better idea of what I was looking at.

I would suggest that if like me you have no NEBOSH (BSc for me) that you mention the relevance in your brief profile - for the unfamiliar people.

Oh, and a list the length of your arm of each little seminar or course attended really does send the reader to sleep - keep it really relevant to the post offered.

Don't have one CV ... have many tailored from a bulky one that you suit to the post by deleting the irrelevant.

Posted By gham
I never put professional memberships or qualifications on the first page. This is because in most cases, as mentioned about LA's, applications forms asks about current employment and experiences before you list your quals.

I also belive that there is no point in listing all the qualifications that I have before I tell you what i have done that demonstrate compentency (weather its true or not ha ha...), and it's seem to work very well for me