Moral Maze Question - CV Honesty?

Oh certainly. I spoke to one agency and told him that as someone who's been successful in a different industry, if he could get me in front of clients I would be able to persuade them of the benefits of hiring out of industry. He was quite frank about it, saying that he might agree with that approach, but 10 times out of 10, if he matched a CV to the JD of a role, he'd be fine. If he got creative, 1 time out of 10 he'd get an angry client and the delighted client who might have found the perfect hire, through a more open approach, would not make up for that, as he'd still only have 9 fees.

 

"...I'm sorry Dr Bwood_Horn but even though you have over 10 years experience in the area of biosensor design but we couldn't process your CV as you omitted your GCSE subjects and grades..."

I actually begged the "consultant" to send me this in written form so I could frame it. FWIW I have no GCSEs but 'O' levels.

 

One tip I was given years ago was to type lots of useful key words that actually don't apply to you in white text in your CV. Gets you picked up in a cv trawl. "Acquisition, restructure, international, management, cost-reduction,..." etc etc.

 

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned as I have not read the whole thread, but I believe that if you actually get a job that you have submitted an untruthful CV for, and this is subsequenly discovered at a later date, you could be charged with fraud? I'm not 100% sure that this is correct, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that this is indeed the case.

 

I think that would be the case if you had included a paragraph that read "I had several years overseas running our Italian office during which time we grew 500% in revenues whilst at the same time reducing our cost base by 83% and successfully integrating 357 acquisitions". If a stray word had been accidentally left in a draft of your CV that was sent to the agent, who then reworded what he sent to his client and possibly missed the words you'd hidden anyway I think you'd be ok. If it was absolutely clear that you had no overseas experience that would be clear in the interview but you are in front of them and have the chance to wow them with your personality and a selected sample of wfcforum postings with >10 likes.

 

I don't think anyone has suggested submitting an untruthful CV, just an edited one that excludes DoB and removing some job history, particularly older ones.

My CV doesn't include my GCSEs, mainly because I graduated from uni with a Physics degree 20 years ago and I have 20 years of working experience; my GCSEs are irrelevant.

 

Should I have included my "Herts Foundation" certs. in French and German? I think the grades were "levels" but it was all a very, very long time ago.

 

Do you have to go through an agent? Depending on the field you are looking to move into, surely there are communities online whether it be forums, twitter or linkedin whereby professionals discuss these things. I am not saying you'd get a job immediately through these channels but I do plan to turn a hobby into a career in the next few years and making contacts by participating in the conversation from the outside is one way I'm hoping to mitigate that transition.

It may sound stupid, but for example if I were looking to get into writing about Watford FC, I'd be complimenting a wobby journo / Kevin Affleck on their recent article or even someone like Adam Leventhal and asking for advice for breaking into the industry.

Obviously this isn't guaranteed to work, but what's the worst that could happen?

 

You get Kevin ringing you up threatening to send his brother Gavin round to put you in your place.

 

Good point, I'd forgotten about that.

I don't particularly like him or the way he reported but nevertheless it would be silly to discount using him as an avenue into that niche field

 

You make sound reasoning, but my issue is that I'm leaving the world of property, but don't have a specific vertical into which I'm trying to get.

I just want to sell something which isn't a scam and which will allow me to pay my bills without having a nervous breakdown.

 

Prostitution?

 

I've not had gainful employment since my 21st bday. Self-employed is the only way to go.

 

Well, I now have my new job. I've done my induction and a bit of online training already. Got to do a bit more shadowing and some proper training first and wait for my DBS check to come back.

Then I'm out on my own, doing the job.

I'm going to be a care assistant compadres!

Helping people to stay independent in their homes in older age and infirmity. A useful job that also has the advantage of being active and with good human contact. Noble and contributory, but only humbly paid of course. I have had enough time wasted tip-tapping on keyboards in offices on grey industrial estates. I am very grateful to them for giving me the chance after so many other rejections and I'm really looking forward to getting started and feeling very positive about it. It exactly meets the criteria I was looking for. I was very worried I would end up having to go back cleaning again.

Also, I think the skills from this will be very transferable. There are lots of elderly people. They need carers everywhere. You can move where you like and get a job easy. We could go to Cornwall or somewhere if we wanted in a year or so.

 

Congrats Clive. Just avoid talking politics with the elderly!

 

Well done Clive. Really worthwhile. And I think you will enjoy it - you seem a sociable (as well as socialist!) sort.

Let me know if you go down to Cornwall, I’ll tell my brother to put away the silver and put the peacocks in the barn.

 

Congrats Clive, Can you bring me a copy of The Mail when you visit me?

 

Good news and good luck. As you say, you'll get a lot of satisfaction from making the world a better place for those you see. Cornwall is too far from the Vic but there are a lot of decent coastal towns in the south generally where there must be strong demand for someone with a year or two experience. Hope it goes well.

 

Make certain you know whether "travel time" is included in your basic or whether "travel time" is paid at a different rate (if you're driving your own vehicle see if they are going to contribute to your change in insurance). Also it *may* be worth investigating what housing associations are operating in your area as some define a "care assistant" as a "key worker" which *could* bump you up their social/council housing list.

 

Yeah, they seem pretty reasonable. A small family-owned concern operating in three towns around here. Travel time isn't included in the basic and is at a lower rate (min wage), but the time working is paid better than that. They also pay 35p a mile mileage so, that's OK. No 15 minute visits either, which is good.

No, unfortunately the insurance change isn't covered. I have to pay that.

Good point regarding the 'key worker' thing though. I'll look into that.

 

Note you can claim back tax on the difference between 45p/mile and the 35p they are paying you for business mileage essential to performing the job..

 

Anything for you Clive?

https://www.htafc.com/club/careers/

 

two companies i work for here are recruiting. but you would have to accept portuguese wages. they aren't so low that you won't be able to pay your bills and have a nervous breakdown, but you'll have to choose at least one of them.

 

Still holding out for my cake and eat it scenario

 

cake is for closers

 

You think I'm joking?

 

I have found the same. Recruiters for FD roles want someone with experience in that industry sector. While skills might be transferable, and even add value by bringing fresh insights, the end client feels more comfortable knowing they are seeing someone who has been there and done it in their space. No point in me applying for roles in retail, financial services, B to C organisations. It's IT/technology sector B to B companies for the rest of my career or nothing.

 

No, it's for patissiers.

 

Unless they're expecting a contact book (which is usually unusable due to non compete clauses or simple ethics) it's a waste of time but still, I'm getting nowhere. Maybe I'd join Clive, but I hate old people.

 

Coals to Newcastle. Your business model is ****.

 

who wants to invest in my company? an investment in me is an investment in the future*!


*of me

 

How far back can they check your ****ty A level grades? Asking for a friend.

 

on a more helpful level, when you figure out the industry you want to get in i recommend doing a trial of linkedin sales navigator (if you're not using it yet). so easy to set up a filter for companies in the geographical/commercial area you want and then contact the decision makers directly with an offer of your availability. it always works for me

 

I have done the same a few times using onesource, MINT or similar. You can design a report with the MD name, address etc for all businesses in the relevant sector within say 25 miles and then send out 100 CVs with a slightly personalised mailmerged covering letter that basically says "Are you looking to strengthen your xxxxx dept without the need to pay any recruitment fees ?". If one happens to land on the MD desk when his FD etc has just walked out, you're in business. I got my first FD job that way. I've luckily never had a period out of work that wasn't covered by an exit fee from the previous role but if the going got tough I even considered a "try me out foc for a week and if I don't add value, pay nothing" offer.

 

You might stay off the subject of other people's football teams too...