Sharing good practice event

Man Met Careers & Employability

Sharing Good Practice Event Providing CV guidance to Manchester Met students

mmu.ac.uk/careers


mmu.ac.uk/careers

Aims of the session;

• Provide a networking opportunity for staff members who are supporting students in developing their CVs across the university.

• Learn more about the roles and services offered by careers and placement staff in each faculty.

• Review recent employer feedback on what makes a good CV.

• Discuss the effectiveness and availability of CV templates

• Discuss further opportunities for developing service offering, sharing of knowledge and good practice within/between faculties.

MMU Careers & Employability

mmu.ac.uk/careers

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mmu.ac.uk/careers

Agenda

• Introductions to staff & teams - improving knowledge of placement teams and CV support across the university.

• CV task and Padlet discussion.

• Review recent employer feedback on what they look for in a CV.

• CV template review and discuss.

• What next? Plans for progress…


mmu.ac.uk/careers

Getting started – how do our teams operate and what are our roles in providing CV support?

• The Careers & Employability Service provides a daily drop-in service, Monday – Friday from 1pm-4pm, where students can review their CVs, applications and LinkedIn profiles on a 1-1 basis with a member of our team.

• We also provide an e-guidance service via CareerHub, where students can submit their CVs and applications online: www.mmu.ac.uk/careersquestion

• Workshops are offered regularly across faculties.

• CVs are also reviewed as part of the new Futures Award assessment.


mmu.ac.uk/careers

TaskIn small groups, you have 20 minutes begin to review a CV

This is not a test! This task is focused on opening up conversations around what we think is important on a CV, but also identifying some of the challenges we face when reviewing CVs.

https://padlet.com/g_makin_isherwood/CVsupport


mmu.ac.uk/careers

What do our employers think?

We surveyed the employers who have recently attended our Graduate Job & Placement Fair to gather their CV feedback…


mmu.ac.uk/careers

Q1 - What are the top 3 things you look for in a CV?

Relevant Work Experience

Passion & genuine interest for the role

Degree subject & academic ability

Attention to detail

Clear evidence of relevant roles & skills

Experience outside education

Personal profile

Personality

Tailored to the role

Clear layout

Creativity

Specific technical knowledge i.e. Microsoft Excel

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14


mmu.ac.uk/careers

Q2 - What is your pet CV hate?

Spelling & grammar mistakes

Unclear, inconsistent & complicated layout

Longer than 2 pages

Too much information / too wordy

Incorrect & missing contact details;

Generic CV

Photos

Overuse of colour/images

Too small or large fonts

Creative CVs where the content is unclear

Buzzwords

CVs written in the 3rd person

0 2 4 6 8 10 12


mmu.ac.uk/careers

Q3 - Should full reference details be included on a CV?

77.78%

Yes, we prefer to have the full contact details available on CV

No, ‘references available on request’ is sufficient for this stage in the application process


mmu.ac.uk/careers

Q4 - Do you have any other comments for students who are applying to your company? A recruiter spends an average of 12 seconds looking at your CV before they make a decision. Make sure that

it's clean, snappy & simplistic, whilst still giving all the relevant information!

Tailor your CV to the job you are applying for and show passion for the work you want to do.

Be honest! It is important that all the information on your cv is accurate as it is always checked during referencing.

Make sure you research the company and role prior to applying to ensure that your CV reflects why you're the right person to work in that particular role.

Include hobbies, interested, key achievements especially if you have done any volunteering work, mentoring/coaching etc.

Research the style used in your industry – how should you present your answers. If applying for a creative role – think of how you can make your application creative


How effective are CV templates?


What next?

How can we better support each other in providing CV guidance?

Documents

Sharing good practice event