Started applying for jobs. Eek!

[movergroover]

I agree madoxen. As an employer i would disregard cv's that 'filled themselves out'. I think that key points are vital when writing your cv. I also think that your cv needs to be specific to that job highlighting this.

If you have some friends in your chosen indusrty then get them to check over your cv.

Remember it is the first thing that an employer will see :-)

[Duncan74]

Well I got a lot better response once I put Badminton on my CV.

Although I did have to drop off 'Dwarf Tossing' and 'Single Sex Mud Wrestling' off the list to keep it to 2 pages. Don't think this was relevant to the change in fortune though.

I'm very surprised by the NZ CV format, but I defer to the local knowledge. Over here then you'd be commited to a loony bin before getting a job with a 12 page CV, no matter how much you've done.

[Jolie]

Originally Posted by Manks

I did see someone on here mention once that their NZ CV was 9 pages long! I don't know if they are still around and can elaborate, but even on Seek they say brief is best.

The format required for a CV in NZ may be very different from that in your home country.

My CV here is 9 pages long. My CV in the U.S. was 2 pages long. Anything longer than 2 pages in the States usually gets binned immediately. A 2-page CV down here would probably get binned immediately.

When I was first told this, I thought it was absolutely insane! What employer would want to wade through a mini-novel for every applicant???

Furthermore, in the U.S. you do not put any personal details like hobbies on your CV – it's considered very unprofessional.

However, I was assured repeatedly by numerous people who work in my industry, as well as recruiters, that it really is the expected format here. Apparently a lot of people in NZ who do the hiring (not recruiters) think that more = better. I had my CV up to 5 pages and was told by a couple of recruiters to make it even longer! I don't know about what Seek says regarding CVs, but I tend to think that recruiters in my particular field would be giving me better advice than the general one-size-fits-all advice provided by Seek.

And I never got any feedback from recruiters or interviewers that my CV was too long. The feedback I almost always got was "you're extremely well-qualified, but we decided to go with someone who had NZ job experience".

Altering my CV from 2 pages to 9 went completely against my grain and whatever "common sense" I might possess. But when in Rome, if you do it the way you think it should be, instead of what the people doing the hiring think it should be – you generally end up being unemployed in Rome.

So be very sure that you check several different CV examples specifically from NZ and update your CV to a similar format if it does not already fit the format required here in NZ.


This is the most recent edition of the book I used when rewriting my CV for NZ, and I would recommend it:

Write Your Own CV: A New Zealand Guide, by Paula Stenberg

Frog Recruitment's Cover Letter, CV and Interview Tips