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Should I pay £30 to have my CV (Americans call it a resume) professionally rewritten?

Mr Allen

Mr Allen

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Topic.

Had a free CV critique from CVNow.co.uk and they said it's good but needs work.

Anyway, they're offering a Professional CV writing service for a 1 off payment of £30, which I can just about afford, should I go for it?
 
Sounds a bit suspect to me.

When you have shown your cv, is the general opinion negative or just nothing? Because if it is no comment, then they are trying to get you to part with some money.

Do you think your cv needs working on?

Personally, I would have thought that due to your disability issues, you would get free help with your cv.
 
Suzanne said:
Sounds a bit suspect to me.

When you have shown your cv, is the general opinion negative or just nothing? Because if it is no comment, then they are trying to get you to part with some money.

Do you think your cv needs working on?

Personally, I would have thought that due to your disability issues, you would get free help with your cv.
Click to expand...

The Socials won't do anything, they keep saying I don't have a learning disability so I'm not eligible for their employment courses.

I'm being tested for LD next week though.

As for the CV critique itself, they said my CV needs a "summary" section, and details that I have about 13 years of experience (I have about double that actually, my work goes as far back as my placement from school in June 1990 but that would make the CV too long), plus there's been other stuff I've done but I can't remember the exact dates because it was years ago.
 
I did have a paid career counsel (more than the £30 in total) which included rewriting my CV. It helped me get a new job. Besides rewriting I got tutored on how to write (and customise it for further use) it.

It's not necessarily a scam and you could benefit from it, but I would still recommend a career consultation with an expert beyond just CV. Treat the payment as an investment. My career consultation got me elevated to 2nd job already.

There is a problem with applying the info found on internet. It could too general and not provide the information you need. The expert offers individual approach. I needed that individual work to actually get work. I read websites and books but it wasn't efficient.
Would you advise people to get treated on their own from a website? Not likely. DIY is not always the way to go just because it's cheap.
 
If you have any NT (or aspie) friends or family who are successful career-wise, ask them to help you rewrite your CV. If that's not an option, then pay the professional. I once really wanted to use a career counselor, but it was extremely expensive - out of work and out of luck, there was no way I was parting with what little money I had left to pay this person!
 
If you post it here without identifying information I'd be happy to give you some feedback for free as well.
There are temp agencies that offer free career counseling, including rewriting your CV with you and training you for job interviews, provided you try to find a job through them. You could see if those services are available in your area.
 
My CV is saved on my MS One Drive, not my Google Drive so I can't upload it.

Here's the content without my personal contact details.

Education



Gleadless Valley Secondary School, Sheffield (September 1987 to April 1992)

Sheffield College Loxley Centre September 1992 to April 1993

Weelsby Hall FE College, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire April 1993 to March 1995

Sheffield College Loxley Centre September 1995 to July 1997



Employment



PDSA Charity Shop - Broomhill, Sheffield. June 2014 to Present

Duties

Serving customers on the Till, cash and card handling, customer service.



MIND Charity Shop Hillsborough, Sheffield - June 2016 to September 2016

Duties

Sorting stock for sale such as clothes, books and DVD items.



Oxfam Charity Shop - Glossop Road Sheffield. 13th November 2015 to June 2016.



Duties: Serving customers on the till, signing customers up to Gift Aid, sorting donations.



Lifewise Centre, Crucial Crew for South Yorkshire Police, Hellaby Industrial Estate, Rotherham October 2008 to August 2015

Duties

Escorting Year 7 school children aged 10 and 11 around scenarios dealing with issues such as road safety, drug and Alcohol awareness, knife crime, anti-social behavior, Internet safety, Public transport safety and a mock Courtroom case.



Hospital Broadcasting Sheffield, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield. September 2007 to April 2011

Duties

Assisting in the presentation of live weekly request shows on Hospital radio, visiting Patients on Hospital Wards to collect requests, and assisting in fundraising efforts.



Lower Stannington Community Forum, Stannington, Sheffield. March 2006 to April 2007.

Duties

Typing of important documents such as minutes of local Committee meetings and other ad-hoc admin duties.



Chrystal Radio and TV, Sheffield Children's Hospital, Sheffield. April 2007 to September 2007.

Duties

Presented Sunday afternoon request show in the Hospital studio, played requested songs on the Charity's computer.









Netto Foodstores Ltd, South Road, Sheffield. October 1996 to July 1997

Duties



Assisting with Shelf stacking duties in the Supermarket, as well as answering customer queries and tidying up in the Warehouse.



Toy Department, Debenhams, The Moor, Sheffield. January 1996 to October 1996.

Duties



Collecting stock from the stock room for customers, and assisting staff with customer queries.



Oxfam Charity Shop, King Street, Sheffield. May 1995 to September 1995.

Duties

Serving customers on the Till in the Charity Shop, cash and card handling, stock manipulation, customer service.



Qualifcations



GCSE English Language and Literature (A)

NVQ Retail Level 1 and 2

RSA Word Processing Stage 1 Parts 1 and 2

BTEC NVQ Using IT

Basic Food Hygiene Certificate

City & Guilds Computer Programming (Miscrosoft Visual Basic 4)



Hobbies and Interests



Playing video games on a variety of formats such as Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo DS. I also enjoy regular Pub quizzes twice a week both general knowledge and music based, I also enjoy swimming and 10 Pin Bowling as well as playing Pool.



References



Available on request
 
Rich,

Your CV looks great for the experience you have represented.

No, don't spend money to have someone change it. I think everyone would agree.
 
What role are you applying for Rich?

Most sectors seem to have their own likes/dislikes. An Architects CV will look different to a post grads CV applying for a research role, this in turn will look different again to someone applying for a role in the retail sector.
 
Have you tried Remploy or disability employment advisor DEA, at the job centre? They want your money so I'd say no to, theres diferent ways of doing CVs , tayloring diferent ones, making them specific to the job applied for, there's organisations that gain funding from helping people get work.
 
Last edited:
Rich, I've just had a speedy look around the web at what's current.

Name and contact details.
Summary.
Employment.
Education.
Interests and Hobbies.
References.

Your summary is your opening section of the CV (after name and contact details) - what most employers will read first.

your summary is exactly that, a short summary (maybe a short paragraph) about why you fit the role your applying for.

A quick guide of what to include in your summary could be the mnemonic CEASE:
as suggested by Jerome Young on the Forbes.com website)

C - Characteristics 2-3 personal or professional traits that make you a good fit for the role and the company.
E - Experience - number of years in the industry
A - Achievements - strong track record of accomplishing for previous employers
S - Skills - high value abilities - (eg, work well in a team, problem solver, flexible?)
E - Expertise - any relevant (to the role) education, certification or special experience other candidates might not have
 
Last edited:
Rich,
"Shelf stacking duties" is called merchandising.

and in almost every role you've had, you've dealt with customer queries. This could be termed as
providing excellent customer service.
 
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