Questions about Cv / resume

I am heading back to the real world in the summer after a couple of years teaching in the wander of the world that is Taiwan. I came here pretty much straight after getting masters (temporary job to get the air fare in between). I want to head back into an entry level position probably in the finance field. To this end I want to send some of my CV now to a few possible employers.

I would appreciate some advice from any of you who have been on the other side of the recruitment process.

  1. I am essentially still looking at graduate schemes but now I have the ‘lived in Taiwan and teaching’ thingy to add to the CV. Would you prefer this work experience to come first or the Education stuff that you would expect from an entry level type chappy?

  2. Styles of CV. I have noticed that there are a number of styles and formats around. There are also templates, including templates in MSWord. It is ok to use these, or does it put you the recruiter off?

For those who have gone this route before (or anyone else for that matter)…

  1. How did you or would you sell the teaching experience?

Thanks

If you’re going to back to Europe there is a EU CV format which looks quite nice and is more or less in use nowadays. It will also give you a good idea of what to put in a CV and what not.

I don’t know about the US though. Sorry

[quote=“butcher boy”]I am heading back to the real world in the summer after a couple of years teaching in the wander of the world that is Taiwan. I came here pretty much straight after getting masters (temporary job to get the air fare in between). I want to head back into an entry level position probably in the finance field. To this end I want to send some of my CV now to a few possible employers.

I would appreciate some advice from any of you who have been on the other side of the recruitment process.

  1. I am essentially still looking at graduate schemes but now I have the ‘lived in Taiwan and teaching’ thingy to add to the CV. Would you prefer this work experience to come first or the Education stuff that you would expect from an entry level type chappy?

  2. Styles of CV. I have noticed that there are a number of styles and formats around. There are also templates, including templates in MSWord. It is ok to use these, or does it put you the recruiter off?

For those who have gone this route before (or anyone else for that matter)…

  1. How did you or would you sell the teaching experience?

Thanks[/quote]

In the U.S. the tendency (from the resumes I have reviewed and that impressed me the most) focus mostly on work experience first, then education comes later. I would only include what your Masters was in, your year of graduation, school and what your GPA was in. Also if you graduated with honors.

Especially in the Finance field (I am in Supply Chain, but I interview for all positions) the focus is on what you can bring to the table that is unique, based on your work experience and secondly your education. Was teaching your first job? How does that relate to a career in finance?

I could go on for hours - but if you would like additional information or some possible resume formats (I may have a couple of examples to provide on Finance resumes) send me a PM.

www.vault.com
www.wetfeet.com

heaps of templates for industry/job specific CV’s

you need to have a convincing story as to why you chose teaching whilst your alumnus went into finance (or whatever). dont be down on your experience and say it was a temporary thing. say you wanted a gap year and some travel/world experiences and that whilst you were teaching you met a variety of finance industry professionals in TW that rekindled your desire in finance (??)… you need a very convincing spin to set you - an older graduate - apart from alll the fresh faces graduating right now.

mesheel, ling_7070, AWOL

Thanks for the replies.

I will be returning to the UK. Last year I spent a couple of months back there and got to the final round of interviews with Deloitte and BDS (a second tear firm). These final round interviews followed online application forms and first round interviews with numeracy and reasoning / apptitude tests. I hope I have learned from my mistakes in the final round interviews. I am not going to be applying for the top level jobs, ie investment banking, but probably will edge towards the accountancy side because of the training provided. My main worry is that whilst I got through the first stage where it was an application form, I failed this first hurdle when it was a cv and cover letter. This is why I suspect that my cv style might not be getting the most out of what I have.

Thanks for the advice on the formats, that will definitely help. It seems that standard forms tweaked a little bit won’t put one in a bad light. I will check out the links.

Thanks again :smiley: