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Andrew Arkley|May 23, 2014

How Much Experience Is Too Much On A CV?

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Compositing a CV can be a frustrating task for any individual especially for those which are seasoned professionals. Individuals with an excess of 20 years of experience or those persons which have worked several different aspects of their career choice may find that there is quite a bit of material to choose from in terms of experience. Where it is very tempting to offer all of this experience in the CV, the result may not be beneficial. Carefully analysing your experience can highlight your key assets and increase your likelihood for employment.

Do not be too experienced

For individuals with much experience, job experience should be looked upon as an area to highlight your best positions. Start with the most recent and work back. Positions that have no relation to the job in which you are applying should be left out unless it would cause for a substantial gap in your work history. For example: If you worked as a Financial Assistant from October 2011 to the present this would be needed. The April 2011 to October 2011 as a Mail Clerk would not be so long as you have ample experience prior to April.

One argument which I have seen within many careers is that employers do not want to have someone that is too qualified. The reason for this is simple, job security. Ensure that you are not competing with your employer’s abilities or they could see you as a threat. Experience should be focused on the job for which you are applying. Where it may be true that your skills are diversified to the point of being able to run the corporation, your potential employer does not need to know such.

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Experience versus instability

Novices in their career often make the mistake of listing every job to which he or she has been a part. This does add to the overall visual completeness of the CV and if done properly you can have quite a successful presentation. The problem arises when the employment dates are close together. If you have had 4 jobs in the past year, a potential employer may view this as instability or an inability to perform your job properly.

Employers are looking for people with proven loyalty. Those individuals which have extensive short employments may be viewed as un-loyal. Consider your CV from the potential employer’s point of view. Set side by side, an employer will choose the potential employee with the most experience and loyalty. If you have a CV in which a person has three articles listed under experience but each employment shows a span of at least 2 years compared to a CV where someone has listed 10 employments which has a total span of 2 years the more dedicated worker will be chosen.

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Filling the void

It is very true that you do not want to have a shallow appearing CV. Yet, your CV does not need to appear to be filled with content just for the sake of taking up the page. This presents a conundrum. Do you add the employment history and hope that you present it in such a way as to look appealing? Doing so could be a gamble if your employment dates are close together.

To fill the void and still show your experiences consider taking the key aspects of some of the experience with the lesser duration of employment and add these skills to your achievements or key skills section. You will do better in expanding upon the skillset here, rather than trying to justify why you have so many variations within your employment history.

Remember, a potential employer is concerned with hiring someone that is competent, loyal, and a critical thinker. By presenting yourself in a way that shows you know how to organise information in an appealing way will get the attention of the employer. This is especially true in senior level positions where the executive expects a level of cunningness to the presentation of your CV.

Hiring a professional to write your CV is a great way to ensure that you will be represented in the most professional manner. PurpleCV will read over the material of your existing CV. Using professional CV Writers, we will customise your CV to the job position for which you are applying. If you do not have a CV do not worry, by filling out a simple questionnaire our experts can create an eye catching CV that highlights your experience while at the same time maintaining a level of decorum so as not to look cluttered or overbearing. Offering four different levels of services dependent upon your career status, PurpleCV is sure to have the CV Writing Services you need to bring your application to the forefront of the employer’s mind. Check out our CV Writing Service page or Contact Us today.

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