Which is the best format?

Wahab asks: Which is the best format of a CV or Resume?

In Answer:
Depends - on what you are applying for, and how you think your skills are best presented. Chronological lists your posts, Functional lists your skills, hybrids do a bit of both. A great CV/Resume won't make up for skills shortages - it won't make a qualified brain surgeon out of an first aider - but it will get you noticed and an interview

Length of CV/resume for a freelance employee

Neil asks: I've been around for sometime - 16 SAP projects - and in consequence my CV is getting rather long (4 pages[1]). I've been reading around and it seems the current trend is to keep it to two. 8086 assembler and mainframe Adabas/Natural aren't exactly a key selling points for an R/3 specialist, and I've forgetten them anyway! So should I just lump all of the ancient history into one group and give a breif general summary? Clearly the most recent work will remain in detail, but at what point(s) should I start transitioning to briefer overviews and/or mentioning in passing? Looking forward to hearing your opinions. Note: this is just the English version; the bilingual one with French goes to 8

In Answer:
Your CV is a selling document of you and your work experiences for the post you are applying for, NOT a whole career portfolio. Employers or agencies will only be interested in the last five years/three positions, which ever is longer - anything before that can be summarised.

As a contractor in temporary positions, you could summarise some placements on employer or types/skills of work you were doing to reduce the apparent "jumping" such an acceptable career path entails, if you are concerned and are looking to move into a permanent placement.

Think of it this way - if you were the recruiter/HR professional reviewing CV's all day, you would look for the strong candidates with the clear skills and experience the advert stated the post required. Hence, your cover letter and first half page of your CV has to tick those boxes, or why would they want to look any further? Your cover letter and first half page of your CV hence are key, and anything else is best described as interview fodder to check how you have managed your career.

At the end of the day, its your CV so you need to choose how to portray yourself - but a CV written for a specific post shouldn't need to be longer than 2 pages, which with a cover letter makes 3 sheets of paper.

Good Luck!

Freelance work in a CV - where?

Eric asks: Where should I put freelance work on my medical writing CV? Should I added to regular work experience or keep it in a seperate section? I usually engage in freelance work outside of my full time permanent position. But adding the freelance work to the chronological listing of my full time positions has caused confusion in the past. At first glance it looks like I jump around a great deal. Can you recommend a method of organizing my CV to avoid this issue?

In Answer:
Simply, if you miss out positions - be they temporary or permanent - then recruiters and HR people get suspicious: and that then means more questions and less chance of being hired.

Secondary to that, is then how you address those periods, to not make it look like you are a difficult employee. So hence in cases of freelance work, I list all freelance work as ONE position - and all the freelance assignments as projects or engagements under the one job. Where this goes in the resume depends on the rest of your job history. This eliminates showing you as a job-hopper - since your goal as a Freelance is to complete and finish each job.

If you have done part-time full employment alongside periods of temporary work outside of that, then position that as a separate piece of work. The issue you will then have to address is will you be dedicated to this piece of work? If you can address that in a CV/Resume, then expect a question on it at interview.

But number one remit of any CV/Resume is - don't lie, and don't leave gaps. Good Luck!