50 things not to write on your CV and 10 things not to do

Your CV has less than 10 seconds to make an impression. It’s purpose is to get you that interview meeting where you can tell the employer more about yourself and discover more information about the job itself and the employer as well.

Things not to write on your CV

“My best friend’s name is …”
“I own a laptop, GPS, digital camera and a car.”
“My name is …, my father’s name is … and my family name is …”
“I believe in God.”
“I am currently interning at [company]“
“Curriculum Vital.”
“Cheaf Accountant.”
“Succeed in Brevet.”
“Cashier Stuff Controller”
“Accounter in an accounting office.”
“Hotal Management.”
“Inside Sales Representative.”
“Sails person in [company].”
“Americain University of …”
“Chef Deron.”
“Unsurpassed Economist.”
“Certified trainee costumer service.”
“Lebanon Collage.”
“CV template.”
“Resturents & hotels.”
“Technical Bachelorette in hospitality.”
“Internet oriented”
“Chef over 20 scouts”
“I am married to Dr. …”
“Bacaloria.”
“Place of birth: AUH, Beirut”
‘Diplomat in Chef Accountant’
“I work when they need me.”
“It gave me experience while hand working”
“Worked there instead of initial employee until she backed from the maternity leave.”
‘I will be honored to work together for a better future. Olé!! & Regards.”
“I left previous work for a personal reason. If you decide to hire me, I will tell you it.”
“Resume is a way of marketing & advertising and the product is you.”
“My role in [company] as a well known company is [job].”
“Working as a [job]. I gained exploring many [job] and advanced [job] tool and components which are not known to many [job].”
“Objective: I give my best to any job.”
“Objective: To apply my extensive 1st hand experience” when you have no experience whatsoever.
“Objective: Looking forward to hold CFO position in a multinational company.” when you just graduated.
“Objective: I certify that the info contained in this application is true & complete. I’m available upon request”. That’s not an objective.
“Objectives: Get a degree in … , Education: Currently attending university.” o.O Resume doesn’t mean summary of the summary. Objective should be job related and university details, name, duration, specialty etc… are important.
“Formation” when you mean “Education”.
“Employed at [company]” Great. As what? From when to when?
“I worked as a [job].” Fantastic. Where was that? From when to when?
“Graduate from [University]. Superb! What’s your major? From when to when?
“Assistant to Miss X” – I have no idea who she is nor what kind of assistance it was…
Don’t write CV, Curriculum Vitae or whatever as a title. The document can be identified as such in 1 second.
If your email is a pet name or looks like smurfette@gmail.com, PLEASE, create a formal one for business use.
Do not list every single course in your life. Writing down your major/minor/specialty is/are more than enough.
References with every person who knows you and their phone number instead use this phrase: “References available upon request.”
Do not write down your salary at every company nor your reason for leaving on your CV. This information is either asked in an online application or during the interview.

Things not to do on your CV and some advice

Mobile pictures taken in a car with your Raybans on, where you pose or talk on your phone, are to be avoided. Actually do not put any picture at all unless required by the company. If that’s the case; only use a passport photo.
Coffee stains, smileys and folding on your CV are a big no-no.
Fresh graduates and people with up to 10 years experience: Your CV must be 1 page. Don’t use 18 Font size, write on 1/4 of the page, etc… NO ONE will read more than 2 pages (that’s 15 years experience and above) and there is no need to attach any additional documents whatsoever.
Do not bind your CV and don’t staple a business card on it… especially not a business card that says “Job Seeker”.
Do not stamp the word “Rejected” on your CV.
Do not mix Education and Experience. Separate them instead.
Do not write your CV in French unless it’s a French company your are apply to. Write it in English and on a computer.
Do not use the Month only when you add dates. Instead use the Month/Year format; especially in the experience part. If you started work on December 2011, you do not have the same experience as the person who started in January 2011.
Do not be limited to paper. Recruiters use LinkedIn and Facebook to look for candidates. Updated profiles can always play for your advantage.
Do not write your CV in a hurry. ALWAYS spell check your document and RE-READ it. The most common mistakes can be avoided this way.

BONUS: Don’t write every detail of your job description. Focus on the main points, the ones that make a difference and on your achievements. (Ex: Everybody knows what a recruiter does. He/She recruits But not all recruiters are familiar with Competency Based Interviews or Everybody knows what an Accountant does; but some are specialized in one area..like billing etc..) Try to answer this question: Why should they hire you? What kind of problem they have that YOU can solve?

People in the creative industry: this is an added pressure; your CV needs to give an impression about your creativity as well. Recruiters still have to be able to read your document if printed in black & white. (Mind the colors)

Have you encountered such things? Add to the list in the comment section!

Happy Labor Day: Working in a box or two

For a lot of restaurants owners, the main concern is how they look on the outside and how to get as many customers as possible whereas the employees’s main concern is to make a living in decent conditions.

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Did it occur to anyone that times have changed and the peoples’ relationship with work (whether it is a restaurant or another type of company) has changed as well? It is not always about the money.

Unfortunately, employers have more power than employees in most of the cases. Some employers even regard their employees as “disposable” objects with an “if you don’t like it, you can leave; there are a lot other people who would take on any job” attitude.

You call this a lunch break? I’d love to see the owner(s) working in the same conditions.

20120420 183426 Happy Labor Day: Working in a box or two

Lunch at TwinBox - Photo taken with a phone camera

Hello working conditions! Companies complain about turnover and that they can’t find the right candidates… ALL THE TIME. They should start asking themselves why. Seriously. Again, money is NOT everything. Is the “right” candidate someone who can give you his soul for a ridiculous salary?

This is just an illustrated example in a restaurant but here is much, much worse! Some employers expect their employees to work long hours without giving them anything in return, they also think it’s normal not to have a social life and it is strange to ask about self-development. Some make money on the back of under-age kids and make them work in dangerous conditions. Reminder: “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”

Employee loyalty, development, motivation etc… are all Human Resources related subjects that can make a great difference in companies’ performances regardless of their size.

Happy Labor’s Day? Modern slavery… Say what again?

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When HR (Human Resources) goes online

When people look for a job they have several options online: Job boards or companies’ website.

When it comes to job boards there is a whole list of links one can go through. All of them require you to create an account, fill forms and attach your CV.

When it comes to companies’ websites, things take a different turn. There is no standard.

Some companies don’t even have a career tab on their website which either stops people from from applying or pushes them to send their CV as attachment to any email they find on the site. There are endless examples; here are a couple of them:

Some ask you to sent your CV on a certain email with no further details; a 3 seconds operation. There are lots of examples, here are 2 of them:

Casper & Gambini’s

Alfa

Others ask for a CV including a motivation/cover letter and/or photo. Examples:

Kettaneh

Spinneys

The problem here is backstage. The HR person is getting documents under various formats: PDF, Word, Excel etc. what does he/she can do with them? Put them in a folder? OK. After 200 different CVs, when there is a job vacancy requiring a specific knowledge or experience it takes forever to get a relevant list because how is he/she to perform the search exactly? If there is a computerized system and the person is required to enter data after receiving those CVs; it will take forever as well. Their recruitment employee looks like this:

Some companies make an extra step forward by asking candidates to be more precise about their choices. The location where their wishes to work, their preferred shifts, part-time or full time etc.. Example:

Roadster Diner

The thing here is that the conditions known to be true for one position may not apply to all jobs across the organization. Night and double shift, may make sense for restaurant staff and may not make sense to the administrative team, for example.

Other companies decided to go even further by choosing 1 of 3 options:

1- Their own in-house system where you have to register with username and a password. Some are lengthier than others. Example: ABC

2- Their own full length application spreading across several pages or too lengthy for a snapshot where candidates are asked to transcribe the content of their CV and attach it at the end.
Example: Khalil Fattal & Fils Khalil Fattal fils When HR (Human Resources) goes online

3- An interface bought from a third party supplier like Bayt, Monster, Taleo etc. Example: Zawya

The remark here goes to the fact that the lengthier the application form, the less motivated the candidates will be to fill it and to the fact that in some instances, when candidates need to update their application they may have to re-fill a lengthy application form all over again.

Which solution is the best?

The quick answer is pretty simple: The best solution is whatever works to get vacancies filled in a minimum amount of time and money.

The real answer is a bit more complex; There are some points to be taken into consideration:

From a marketing point of view, not only the way companies recruit should reflect the image they want to convey but also present the careers page in the way that will attract the candidates they are looking for.
When looking for a job, job seekers apply to many companies at the same time in order to maximize their chances of getting a job quickly; which means that they are more comfortable with the quick processes.
When getting candidates to apply, companies only asking for a CV to be sent to an e-mail will face problems. Although, it’s the quickest way for the candidates; it is a headache for companies and in the long run, it backfires on the candidates themselves. Why? Because there is a big risk that the person who got the CV will interpret it wrong while entering data on a system (if there is one) and will file it the way they believe it is right. (They cannot know that a candidate is looking for a career change.) It takes too much time in the wrong place for the wrong reasons. Recruiters efforts should be on recruiting; not on data entry. Other companies ask the candidates to fill a very long application form. Eventually, many will stop mid-way and give up; they have other things to do as well. It is not about how bad they want the job but about practicality.
When it comes to updating a CV, candidates will also opt for the fast way of doing so instead of re-filling a lengthy application.

The best solution understands the following:

ALL companies that employ people SHOULD have a career tab on their website no matter what their size is.
Recruitment is a VITAL part of HR and should be taken seriously and thought of carefully. The careers page should become a candidates magnet!
The wheel doesn’t have to be re-invented. Some specialized third party solutions can be adapted to the needs of companies without costing a fortune. It takes some time to personalize it; but once done, it’s done: searching for candidates, a specific competency or knowledge becomes easy.
There are systems that can do half the work on behalf of candidates: When they upload their CV, the system reads it and automatically fills in the fields in the application. Candidates will have to read it, correct it and fill what is missing which takes less time.
The easiest way that allows candidates to update their CVs are the ones that require a username and a password but most importantly updates the database without manual interference or wasting time on a document trying to figure out if it is a duplicate or not.
Having an automated system that confirms the creation of an account with a username and password (with a way to retrieve a lost password) as well as the reception of applications when completed with an explanation of the recruitment process is better than having to spend the day replying to e-mails and phone calls where candidates ask the recruiter “Did you get my CV?”, “How long do I have to wait before I hope for an answer?”
Whatever solution companies decide to go for; they should test it on a number of candidates before making it official to see how they react to it, get feedback and make the necessary adjustments.

That’s only the facade of the recruitment process. Have fun with it! Now, do whomever is in charge of recruitment have any idea about how to perform a formal interview for their recruitment needs and what they should be doing next?

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Quick overview of recruitment issues and organization size

HR is “the professional discipline and business function that oversees an organization’s human resources” (Definition: Wikipedia) and this entails endeavors of epic proportions – No, I’m not exaggerating but that’s not the subject here. There are issues several things that can be tackled under HR like career development, succession planning, loyalty etc.. but this quick overview is meant to expose some HR issues concentrating on recruitment mainly and the relationship with organization size.

When I graduated, HR was given in one course during the whole program. A couple of years later, USJ proposed it as a “Master Professionnel” and the others universities followed the lead offering it as a Master of Science degree.

In regards to HR, Lebanon is in the infancy stage.

Small businesses

A company made of less than 100 people usually gives the HR function – understand the payroll – to the Accounting department while the recruitment and training is divided between managers and senior employees.

The problem here: While it’s totally justified not to have an HR department in this case the problem is that managers and senior employees usually do not really understand the importance of their HR function and think “how hard can it be” to interview and administer training? That’s a question that can be easily answered by any person looking for a job in these companies and employees. Employment seekers usually report the “unprofessional” process while employees show how inefficient the training was; simply because they are not trained to administer them.

Medium companies

Companies of 100-500 employees are labeled as medium. In this case, an HR department normally exist. There could be 2 to 3 people: Payroll is either left to the Accounting department or it could be something done by a payroll officer who coordinated with Accounting. Recruitment and training may be separate or given to one person, made in-house or given to external companies. The rest of the headaches are left to an HR Manager. Managers and senior employees may still be going about HR the small business way or may decide to delegate 100% of the HR tasks to the HR department

The problem here: On paper, it doesn’t look like there are any; but as soon as you scratch the surface you will fall in a troubled ocean! When the responsibilities are not well defined, problems automatically impose themselves; miscommunication being the source of 90% of them. This is widely representative of a big number of companies in Lebanon. People seeking employment get interviewed by 2 to 3 people asking mainly the same questions. Process is considered “unprofessional” for a number of reasons: work load, lack of automation etc… employees view HR as being the police of the company or try to befriend them to the extent of trying to pull favors. I am not even going to tackle how disastrous pistons can be. HR = horror referee even said to me a friend on Twitter; I understand the reaction: HR people find themselves torn apart between what management wants and what employees want: It’s no tango. HR people are what they are: people. Some are better than the others.

Big corporations

Corporations of over 500 are considered to be big. Usually, there is a team of people dividing HR tasks within each function. The problems that medium companies have can be found here but they take a different scale. With big corporations comes bureaucracy and a certain “cold” attitude.

The problem here: The size of the corporation affects its “speed”. Time to implement decisions across, time to react to certain problems etc… Employment seekers may give up in the middle of the recruitment process when the process is too slow or the company makes the position hard to get by pulling unfamiliar methods of selection like assessment centers and all kind of tests. Again here, recruitment and training can made in-house or given to external companies. Employees feel left alone and dealt with the most formal ways.

Job boards and recruitment agencies

Job boards and recruitment agencies are one of the solutions many organizations rely on regardless of their size. The choice depends on the amount of time and money the concerned companies are willing to invest in the process.

Those who have some time may do it themselves by posting their job vacancies on several job boards across the internet and look for CVs. Those who have no time or are looking to fill higher executive positions may require the help of recruitment agencies. Some have higher fees than others. The only problem is that the country is so small that usually when people apply, they spray their CV everywhere and an ethical issue arises: The person may apply directly to the company and the recruitment agency may be supplying the company with the same CV. Do you go for the free one or the one you have to pay for when you hire? So in order to avoid this problem, many agencies have taken the habit to send potential CV without names and contact details.

Does using job boards and recruitment agencies for recruitment excuse organizations from having a career tab on their website?

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An HR magazine for the Middle East

There is a new HR magazine for the Middle East: The HR Review.

And it was about time! We are nothing like any place in the world when it comes to HR laws and practices. The website needs yet to be filled. But it will come. This magazine is for anyone interested in Human Resources.

Subscription is free until December 2011.
I waiting for a few months in order to formulate a more informed opinion about it. Let’s see how it goes!

For more information you can: