#ba2bpersonalplanning

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CV

This is the CV I made following the workshops from the VLE.

I decided to send it off to the careers team to see if they could give me any advice for adjustments I could make.

Billi replied and gave me these pointers:

​​About Me: This reads well - the only thing I would change slightly is try and pinpoint where your desire to make animation which makes people smile comes from? Is that your favourite kind of animation? Why is that  important to you? The final sentence is a good ambition, it might be a little more specific to the role you were applying for but for your career pack it works well.

Software: Don't rate yourself on your software skills - it highlights to the employer what you feel less confident in. Listing them is enough.

Interests & Hobbies: This is normally written in a couple of sentences to give context as to why you enjoy those things - have they impacted your work in any way?

Education: This looks good - if you were strugglling for space on your CV you could cut the further detail but I think it works well for now. Have you chosen not to include your GCSEs? That's totally fine - just be aware you might need to add them in if English/Maths GCSE was a necessity for the job you applied to.

Employment: Again this reads well - I don't think any edits are necessary here.

I will adjust the CV following this e-mail to improve it further, I think the feedback that was given will help me refine the CV and make it stand out and give the things I’ve written more reason to be there, it will help me define what I’ve said on there to an employer but still keep it simple and to the point.

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Personal Planning

The VLE has a page for cover letter writing, which I decided to look at before writing a cover letter for a job. I thought this would be a good way to build up knowledge in this area, especially writing for the creative industry as it’s not something I have experience in. 

Speculative job applications:

Means contacting an organisation to see if there is a suitable job, internship or freelance opportunity for you.

Important or essential part of job hunting for creative professionals.

A large proportion of work and jobs with organisations in the creative sector are never advertised.

How to make one:

Research all companies interested in working for, where will you live, what do you want out of it etc.

Write a distinctive short cover letter or email for each one.

Attach a cv and a portfolio.

Send the application to as many as you can, being carefully tailored to each company.

Three main things:

Says what you can offer that company, skills and specialisms.

What attracts you to that organisation in particular- their style, clients?

State when you are available for work experience and what you hope to get out of the placement.

Preferably always address to someone, find them on LinkedIn when writing a cover letter- the most appropriate person.

Opening line- short direct and to the point say why you are emailing.

1st paragraph, briefly describe your skills and what you have to offer- adapt personal summary statement, find a link between your practise and theirs if possible.

2nd paragraph, give information about the placement you want to do, what when and for how long but also show flexibility.

Sign off with a call to action, would it be possible to arrange a call or meeting in the next few days to discuss this further- gives them a reason to contact you back.

“Best wishes, yourself.”

In response to a job advert:

The cover letter you write for this will be different from before such as length and style, advert and requirements of the application.

Job adverts:

Identify the specialist skills and experience they have asked for

Identify transferable skills and experience they have asked for

Writing strong paragraphs:

Star method:

Situation, task, action, result

Context e.g work experience

Responsibilities

Skills

Effects your actions had, how did you use those skills

Create a story around your skills- memorable and useful for respected employers

[1801664-ba2b]

Personal Planning

I decided to look into some of the careers and employability pages on the VLE to get started on making a CV and cover letter

I watched through the CV writing course and took some notes for when I make my CV.

A CV is:

An overview of skills, experience and education

A written document ‘resume’

An essential part of job applications

An effective CV has:

Make a clear and strong impression

Emphasise key skills and achievements

Looks attractive and is interesting

Is tailored to the role applying for

1 side of a4, usually a PDF

Information to include:

Essential to include:

Your name and a title

Your contact details, hyperlinks for email and website or social media (only for professional work but not too many)

You don’t need to include your address as this can be confusing when applying for jobs in a different location or changing address when a student

Details of education in reverse chronological order

Employment and work experience, can include freelance or any volunteer work

Education: subjects studied, level of studies, institution, dates, grades and any further details

I also learned some of the following:

Writing about GCSE’s are optional and is attentive to the job you’re requiring for e.g english and maths if needed.

You should avoid setting out a long list of GCSE’s- wasted space isn’t appealing and it’s important to have an appealing CV when applying for a creative job.

Presenting employment information should be as follows:

Job title, employer and location, dates, further details about the job

You should focus on transferable skills rather than duties and responsibilities

Optional content for a CV:

Personal summary statement

Voluntary work, extra curricular activities

Skills, relevance for role, e.g proficient in after effects etc techniques

Exhibition list or a credit list- artist/film

Awards, competitions, nominations

References

Interests and hobbies

I also learned that there is a software which scans CV’s to look for relevant details, ATS is applicant tracking software, some graphic elements and formatting features may not be compatible with ATS.

Basic design choices:

Choosing fonts/typeface

Best: Arial, Gill sans, tahoma, Helvetica,

Okay: cambria, garamond

Avoid: calibri, new roman, courier- these are default and people in design have a good eye for default fonts. They will recognise you haven’t made a design choice for your font.

Forbidden: over stylised fonts can appear silly or immature

It is not recommended to use more than two fonts.

Some good ideas for title designs would be to utilise basic typography skills:

Typography skills- Amiee Farmer AMIEE FARMER

A M I E E  F A R M E R

This can give a stronger appearance and can look elegant