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Curriculum Vitae and interview help?


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It says to share knowledge and I need some of that.

 

Heya.

 

So I need to hand out a CV and I realized the ones I have are very very clumsy. We did them in school and honestly my teacher knew nothing. 

 

So I googled templates but there are so many. 

 

So from people with experience. What is the most important thing to have in your CV? What must not be in your CV? What looks good and what looks bad? When is it to little or to much? 

 

And then interviews. How do you prepare for them? What’s best to know and not to know? 

 

Any help is appreciated!

 

thanks! 

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I'm not exactly a career woman, but I've done some reading about resumes. Basically, include your education and recent and relevant experience. Don't include skills you don't have (or that have gotten rusty), irrelevant experience, hobbies (unless they're relevant), or every little thing you did at previous jobs.

 

You'll probably get a lot of conflicting advice. Some people say a resume should always be two pages, and others say it should be no more than one. It should be as long as it needs to be, but limit it to two pages (unless you're writing what we in the US call a CV, a document that lists publications, lectures, patents--usually used only by academics, scientists, and other highly accomplished professionals). Some people say you should have an objective statement, and others say you should never have one. I think the prevailing wisdom is to include one if you're new in the job market or changing careers, but otherwise leave it off.

 

Whatever you do, double- and triple-check it for writing errors, formatting errors, and the like. Although anyone can overlook such mistakes after looking at a document a dozen times, errors like these send the message that you didn't take the time to proofread and thus don't really care.

 

I hope this helps.  

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scarletlatitude

A resume is more for work experience only, where as a CV is for academic experience (at least in the US). 

 

On my resume, I have just schooling, work experience, and volunteer experience. On my CV, I have all of that plus professional organizations, course descriptions (as I am already a teacher), publications, and references. My resume is about 1.5 pages... the CV is currently on 3 pages. 

 

There are interview practice questions online. Just google "interview questions for _____" and see what you can find. :) 

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11 minutes ago, scarletlatitude said:

A resume is more for work experience only, where as a CV is for academic experience (at least in the US). 

 

On my resume, I have just schooling, work experience, and volunteer experience. On my CV, I have all of that plus professional organizations, course descriptions (as I am already a teacher), publications, and references. My resume is about 1.5 pages... the CV is currently on 3 pages. 

 

There are interview practice questions online. Just google "interview questions for _____" and see what you can find. :) 

I think here we have CV and resume combined. So it is just CV

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What type of job are you going for? I can possibly help (I did a whole module of my degree on things like CVs and interview etc).

 

Basics I can give you though:

 

In terms of CVs, at least by UK standards, its best to keep them to two pages, or rather, two sides of A4 paper.

List your educational qualifications, esp your maths, English/language and IT or similar subjects.

List your most recent/relevant jobs, or any voluntary/community based work.

Include a short paragraph that sets out who you are, any skills that might not be listed with education/work, and hobbies, your work ethic, if you're punctual it's good to add that in too.  

Include one, preferably two reference details. This should be the name of your last manager(s) at a previous job - however, if this isn't applicable, it's considered acceptable to list a teacher.

 

In terms of interview, basic questions will be things like 'Why do you want this job?' 'Why do you think you're suitable for this job?' but it will vary depending on what the job role is. 

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24 minutes ago, smallnsparky said:

What type of job are you going for? I can possibly help (I did a whole module of my degree on things like CVs and interview etc).

 

Basics I can give you though:

 

In terms of CVs, at least by UK standards, its best to keep them to two pages, or rather, two sides of A4 paper.

List your educational qualifications, esp your maths, English/language and IT or similar subjects.

List your most recent/relevant jobs, or any voluntary/community based work.

Include a short paragraph that sets out who you are, any skills that might not be listed with education/work, and hobbies, your work ethic, if you're punctual it's good to add that in too.  

Include one, preferably two reference details. This should be the name of your last manager(s) at a previous job - however, if this isn't applicable, it's considered acceptable to list a teacher.

 

In terms of interview, basic questions will be things like 'Why do you want this job?' 'Why do you think you're suitable for this job?' but it will vary depending on what the job role is. 

It’s retail work. 

 

I have a teacher for reference but was not sure if I could use it. 

 

I would say we are similar more to UK standards then US cause we weird like that. 

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37 minutes ago, AwkwardSquid said:

It’s retail work. 

 

I have a teacher for reference but was not sure if I could use it. 

 

I would say we are similar more to UK standards then US cause we weird like that. 

If it is for handing into several shops, i can't help a lot, some good advice above.

 

for interview, research a little into the company (the structure, how many shops, anything they do for good causes)

 

They may ask why do you want to work for us, if you know something about the company that question is easier to answer

 

have examples ready of when you have worked well as part of a team, as well as examples of when you have taken ownership of a problem or task and completed it without assistance or with minimal assistance. - companies like people that will be part of the team, but at the same time they don't want to have to give you constant supervision.

 

good luck

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@AwkwardSquid

 

Over here it's pretty normal to put a teacher for a reference if you don't have much/any work experience, because a teacher can still vouch for your reliability/personality etc.

 

My CV advice still stands, as do the interview mentions.

 

You'll probably be asked why you want to work in that store, and why you think you'll be good at it. Depending on what the store sells or if its a chain store, you might get asked if you know much about the brand or why you like it. 

 

If you have any more questions, I'm happy to help! I've worked in retail a looooong time. 

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6 hours ago, smallnsparky said:

@AwkwardSquid

 

Over here it's pretty normal to put a teacher for a reference if you don't have much/any work experience, because a teacher can still vouch for your reliability/personality etc.

 

My CV advice still stands, as do the interview mentions.

 

You'll probably be asked why you want to work in that store, and why you think you'll be good at it. Depending on what the store sells or if its a chain store, you might get asked if you know much about the brand or why you like it. 

 

If you have any more questions, I'm happy to help! I've worked in retail a looooong time. 

What is the best way to handle questions when they ask about a situation or having problems with a customer? What is a good way to approach and actually how do you handle that?

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Talk about how you successfully handled the situation. If you didn't handle it as well as you would have liked, talk about what you did right, what you did wrong, and what you wish you had done differently and/or what you learned from the experience.

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Yeah, if you have any direct experience in handling similar situations, even if its not in retail, talk about that. In retail you're expected to keep a cool head, even if people can be a bit fussy sometimes - but never refer to customers as being a pain in the ass or awkward, at least at interview level hahah. Sometimes people need extra 'help' in what they're looking for. 

 

If they ask you about what you'd do in a very challenging situation where you as an employee might not have the authority or even product knowledge to back up what the customer wants, there's nothing wrong with saying you'd call a manager or supervisor over as well. It's better to do that than give the impression you'd make something up as you go along (for instance at work this guy phoned up yesterday absolutely FUMING because another member of staff had incorrectly told him we don't stock a certain card game, when we do and neither me nor my colleague could resolve that but you can bet if the manager had been in, he'd have been handed the phone ASAP). 

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understand that it's a BS chess game. you can get a fancy crystal chess set, your own regulation turn clock, watch the masters play religiously.

 

you can go ace a game, just crush it

and the other guy might think "Huh. He castled his king. Thats what all those poser hoodlums do. No way I am I hiring him."

 

the best advice I can give isn't good advice sadly. but it's this:

don't pray at the shrines of gods you will forget about just as soon as you find your way.

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12 minutes ago, gisiebob said:

understand that it's a BS chess game. you can get a fancy crystal chess set, your own regulation turn clock, watch the masters play religiously.

 

you can go ace a game, just crush it

and the other guy might think "Huh. He castled his king. Thats what all those poser hoodlums do. No way I am I hiring him."

 

the best advice I can give isn't good advice sadly. but it's this:

don't pray at the shrines of gods you will forget about just as soon as you find your way.

I am going to remember this forever XD thank you

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