Now here’s a sad something to while away those lonely moments when you’re stuck in front of a screen: Google yourself. Yup, just go to your favourite search engine, enter your name, and press return.
This has become something of a fixation for me - but like so many things in life, there is only one first time. My first was something of a revelation. For a start, I discovered that of my namesakes one (the Honourable Simon Howard) is the owner of Castle Howard, another a partner in a law firm, another a computer scientist and a fourth a train-spotter from Southampton.
Happily, I discovered that I am not unknown in cyberspace, mainly thanks to writing the odd column - which is done partly for the love of it, but mostly for the beer money.
Anyway, a few years ago I wrote a book on CVs. Generally, it’s not such a good chat-up line, but as it’s published by Dorling Kindersley, it’s about as cool as a CV book can get.
So what’s this got to do with cyberspace? Well, I’ve discovered that, rather like Norman Wisdom, I’ve got a bit of a following in Estonia - and Romania, come to that. There, I’ve discovered myself on the cover of such blockbusting titles as CV koostamine and Cum sa scriem un CV de success. It doesn’t end there, for in France Creer son CV seems to have its fans while in its Dutch incarnation - Succesvol Solliciteren - I can now boast of having penned a book found in Amsterdam bookshops about successful soliciting.
In the States, I found second-hand copies retailing for as little as 38c, while on other sites helpful synopses seemed to steal all the best bits from the book. Indeed, one of the best lines “remember, a CV is a brochure, not an autobiography” (make a note) seemed to appear on quite a lot of careers guidance sites without even an acknowledgement.
The CV is, in fact, more than 100 years old. The term curriculum vitae first appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 1901. It has always struck me as a little odd that while we (and most of Europe) use a Latin term to refer to this all-important life document, the Americans prefer a French word, Resumé.
Taken literally, curriculum vitae means the course or progress of one’s life, which, if you want to be a successful job hunter is precisely what it should not be; it’s all about what you have in your career, not a chronological list of what you have been responsible for.
But I’m not convinced the term CV has been in common recruitment usage for all that long. Thumbing through a 1955 copy of The Times, not one Situations Vacant Notice included the term.
Applicants were asked to apply in writing stating age, qualifications, experience and, occasionally, war service. However, not one employer expected a CV.
My first CV was limited to one page - not just because there wasn’t much to say about myself, but also because I didn’t have access to even a typewriter, so each was handwritten.
Today, words come for free on a PC and CVs are getting longer - throw it all in seems to be the maxim.
However, you should plan far more carefully than that, as you’re creating one of the most important documents you’ll ever use in your life.
You also need to think about how important the first page is for the reader. Yet how many people well into their careers start off their CV with what they were doing 20 plus years ago at school or college?
The guideline here is the more recent, the more relevant - so give more detail on your most recent achievements, and less on the more distant.
It’s also worth thinking about the subtlety of language and the need to sound positive. It may seem a small point, but how much more assertive does ‘headed review programme’ sound than plain ordinary ‘responsible for review programme’?
I could go on (and on), but I guess that’s why there’s a book…which I see from Amazon is still consistently a bestselling CV book…whether you’re Estonian or not.
n Simon Howard is a founder of Work Communications and writes the Jobfile column for the Sunday Times.
This has become something of a fixation for me - but like so many things in life, there is only one first time. My first was something of a revelation. For a start, I discovered that of my namesakes one (the Honourable Simon Howard) is the owner of Castle Howard, another a partner in a law firm, another a computer scientist and a fourth a train-spotter from Southampton.
Happily, I discovered that I am not unknown in cyberspace, mainly thanks to writing the odd column - which is done partly for the love of it, but mostly for the beer money.
Anyway, a few years ago I wrote a book on CVs. Generally, it’s not such a good chat-up line, but as it’s published by Dorling Kindersley, it’s about as cool as a CV book can get.
So what’s this got to do with cyberspace? Well, I’ve discovered that, rather like Norman Wisdom, I’ve got a bit of a following in Estonia - and Romania, come to that. There, I’ve discovered myself on the cover of such blockbusting titles as CV koostamine and Cum sa scriem un CV de success. It doesn’t end there, for in France Creer son CV seems to have its fans while in its Dutch incarnation - Succesvol Solliciteren - I can now boast of having penned a book found in Amsterdam bookshops about successful soliciting.
In the States, I found second-hand copies retailing for as little as 38c, while on other sites helpful synopses seemed to steal all the best bits from the book. Indeed, one of the best lines “remember, a CV is a brochure, not an autobiography” (make a note) seemed to appear on quite a lot of careers guidance sites without even an acknowledgement.
The CV is, in fact, more than 100 years old. The term curriculum vitae first appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 1901. It has always struck me as a little odd that while we (and most of Europe) use a Latin term to refer to this all-important life document, the Americans prefer a French word, Resumé.
Taken literally, curriculum vitae means the course or progress of one’s life, which, if you want to be a successful job hunter is precisely what it should not be; it’s all about what you have in your career, not a chronological list of what you have been responsible for.
But I’m not convinced the term CV has been in common recruitment usage for all that long. Thumbing through a 1955 copy of The Times, not one Situations Vacant Notice included the term.
Applicants were asked to apply in writing stating age, qualifications, experience and, occasionally, war service. However, not one employer expected a CV.
My first CV was limited to one page - not just because there wasn’t much to say about myself, but also because I didn’t have access to even a typewriter, so each was handwritten.
Today, words come for free on a PC and CVs are getting longer - throw it all in seems to be the maxim.
However, you should plan far more carefully than that, as you’re creating one of the most important documents you’ll ever use in your life.
You also need to think about how important the first page is for the reader. Yet how many people well into their careers start off their CV with what they were doing 20 plus years ago at school or college?
The guideline here is the more recent, the more relevant - so give more detail on your most recent achievements, and less on the more distant.
It’s also worth thinking about the subtlety of language and the need to sound positive. It may seem a small point, but how much more assertive does ‘headed review programme’ sound than plain ordinary ‘responsible for review programme’?
I could go on (and on), but I guess that’s why there’s a book…which I see from Amazon is still consistently a bestselling CV book…whether you’re Estonian or not.
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