Needing some waffle for my CV

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I have finally decided that it is probably about time I started to look for a job after getting from my (aborted) world tour... so I need to ideas on how to explain going off to cycle around the world... The CV is only +10 years out of date

to summarise I had been in the previous position 7 years (which in IT is a very long time)... dead-end job, no further prospects for promotion/advancement without leaving IT completely... quit my job after 3rd manager (wasn't getting on with him and job was making me ill)...plus a few family/friends deaths, went off to cycle around the world - only did 12 months, 22 countries and 9,000 miles on the road before disaster struck... bad leg injury meant had to abort tour completely. rehab took a while. family commitments/ill health meant taken a while to get back to being fit enough to work... back at college part-time (learning Spanish, into 2nd year now).

can't think of anything else that could be relevant to the waffle...

anyone think of a much better way of explaining it please?

 

[Hacienda71]

Have you done any freelance work more recently than your last full time job? Could be worth including that sort of thing.
I would also avoid saying left last job as didn't get on with manager or for health reasons. I would say your ambition was to have a career break and cycle around the world at that point in your life. It is a pretty impressive reason for not working and should be viewed as a real positive. You are now back and ready to take the employment world by storm.

 

[Markymark]

Ok, as someone who has read many CVs can you please ensure it is not full of spelling mistakes. This will put you in the top 25% without trying too hard.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

nope, done nothing (legally at least) since leaving that post... was a touch too busy cycling... still support family and friends pc's so not out of IT completely...

 

[Dave 123]

Mention that you offer therapy and entertainment to a bunch of weirdo cyclists via the internet!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Ok, as someone who has read many CVs can you please ensure it is not full of spelling mistakes. This will put you in the top 25% without trying too hard.

will try hard, but being dyslexic does not help matters. goes off to check OP

 

[classic33]

"Saw no progression in current position, and training people who were my superiors, took it toll on me.
Deaths within the family around the same time, as I was training the third superior, also added to the strain encountered at this time.
With family matters finally sorted out. Trip that had been "planned" during this period as a means to help take my mind of matters seemed ever more inviting. Fewer family commitments meant that it was now a possibility."



Why did you decide this would be a good time to set off around the world?

 

[classic33]

nope, done nothing (legally at least) since leaving that post... was a touch too busy cycling... still support family and friends pc's so not out of IT completely...

You've been working illegally in this country! You never applied for a permit?
You could remove that part, just in case any employer does decide to check social media.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

You've been working illegally in this country! You never applied for a permit?
You could remove that part, just in case any employer does decide to check social media.

I'm a UK resident*... any IT engineer will tell you the job does not finish at the door, or in my case as it was the school gates... out of hours calls happened and donations (never monetary) were accepted... don't worry I won't mention it either! I also have had a CRC check done in the past having worked in a school... not to mention the OSA for one of my past jobs... . we did managed to get my OH his clearance back but it was hard work... for some reason they wanted to know where he had been each and every night he had been out of the country and proving this when camping wild is rather difficult!

*born and bred or at least whilst Scotland remains part of the UK that is...

 

[classic33]

Include the fact that some of your work has required the OSA to be signed.
Always sounds a bit shady & you're not allowed to say what it entailed. Make them wonder.

 

[John the Canuck]

make the first [cover] page of the CV an attention grabber, with all the highlights of

Personal Details..........name, age, address etc, phone
Education
On-going Studies
Experience
Hobbies - if relevant to Job

outlines only to get the viewers attention
too much waffle and it will be put aside
expand Cover page on pages 2 [and 3 max]

put these 3 pages in a coloured slip-binder

then submit with a 'personal' letter to the recepient stating '' why i am suitable for this post'

GOOD LUCK..........

 

[Luked1980]

I work in IT recruitment! Send it through to me and I will have a look through and see what I can do! Luked@arm.co.uk

 

[User269]

Make a big thing of your 'gap year' or sabbatical; you would have developed your project management, planning and time management skills along with improving your communication & negotiation techniques with those you met en route. You may well have also increased your tolerance and understanding of others, as well as developing a higher level of empathy towards them. Think about it , there must be many other skills and personal qualities which were enhanced by your trip, not to mention your persistence and application in IT, a business which is notoriously associated with instabllity, change and reorganisation.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

well I guess one thing can be said about sleeping in a different place each night, not knowing when and where I will actually end up - you can hardly say I am resistant to change!
I'm also very good at assessing wild stealth camping opportunities and looking at the inside of my leg and knowing that it needed more help than I could give it!

still working on it... thanks folks

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

......and your are not tempted to do a 'Brian May' and complete the thesis?

nope - being raided by the drugs squad once was more than enough thank you!
(for those not in the know, I dropped out of a PhD in Organic Chemistry and when my credit card details found their way on to a dodgy website related to drugs (after they were stolen from another site) the police decided that an organic chemistry drop out who lived in the middle of surrey with no neighbours and loads of woodland to hide anything in was worth raiding in full force... shame they found me in the veg patch with a very sharp outdoor knife wearing a rather skimpy dress and no underwear, with only my wellies on as anything else... at least I can laugh about it now!)