DON’T PANIC, JUST REACH OUT — EVEN AT 2am
A CV-writing service is running a 24-hour online helpline to support graduates having a late-night panic about their job applications.
Purple CV started the 24 hour CV advice web chat service in response to demand from young jobseekers, who often turn their attention to job hunting in the small hours. The firm’s founder Andrew Arkley told Graduate Fog:
“We’ve noticed a trend for young jobseekers in particular wanting out-of-hours assistance with their CV.
“Sometimes that’s because they already have a job so they’ve been at work all day. In other cases it’s because they’ve been procrastinating, or because they can’t sleep because they’re worried about their future.”
The most common queries come from graduates who feel they don’t have any experience, or who have experience in a different field from the one they want to get into (for example, they want to be a lawyer, but have only ever worked in Primark or Pizza Hut).
Need help with your CV? Purple CV have a special 10% discount for Graduate Fog readers – see below for details
Graduates with CV gaps from long periods of unemployment also have questions about how this can be hidden from prospective employers.
Happily, Andrew says Purple CV has never had a customer they couldn’t help. “Writing a CV isn’t always easy but whatever the problem we can always find a way around it,” he says. Their prices start at £25 (or £22.50 with the special Graduate Fog discount – see below).
Purple CV won’t start work on a graduate’s CV in the middle of the night (get a grip, people!) but they will explain exactly what services will be right for you, and assure you they can help. Work will start on your CV the very next morning, and the first draft will be with you in under 48 hours.
Graduate Fog thinks Purple CV are definitely on to something — it’s clear they understand the graduate mindset well. Like them, Graduate Fog has also noticed higher-than-expected activity on this website late at night. Job hunting can be a lonely business, and moments of crisis can strike at any time. So it’s nice to know there is always someone out there who can help, even at 2am!
NEED HELP WITH YOUR CV?
We’re offering a special 10% discount for Graduate Fog readers who want to try Purple CV’s CV-writing services. Just click here and enter the code ‘GFOG10’ on the checkout page
As regular readers know, we don’t offer lots of deals like this — and we don’t promote any old rubbish to our fantastic Foggers.
Purple CV has been personally recommended to us by the graduate recruitment agency we partner with on the Graduate Fog Job Board. Cary Curtis, founder of Give A Grad A Go, says:
“We were really impressed with the standard of the CVs and covering letters that Purple CV produced. They were definitely good enough to go straight to one of the employers we work with, without any further changes.
“The market is flooded with CV providers who use one-size-fits all templates, so it’s great to find one that offers a top quality, affordable service that is genuinely bespoke. Purple CV’s quick turnaround and offer of free revisions for 12 months are a real bonus too.”
SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEW CV! Click here and quote ‘GFOG10’ at the checkout
Graduates may approach Professional Careers Advisers within the Graduate Careers Advisory Service of their local University, and seek considerable assistance (including subscribing to interviews conducted by Professional Careers Advisers), and this need not cost anything.Evem 10% off.
Perhaps rather than seek a quick fix at considerable expense, candidates should simply frequent their local Graduate Careers Advisory Service, review job search documentation, subscribe to self assessment, and if need be, arrange an interview with a Professional Careers Advisor.
Apollogies for throwing a spanner in the works of a CV Start Up company.
@Eowyn Thanks for you’re comment. You’re right that universities offer (free) help with CVs, but I hear from a large number of graduates who have made use of that and still don’t feel theirs is hitting the mark with employers.
In particular, I’ve heard concerns that uni careers staff don’t have specialist knowledge of every industry, or know the best way to present information for particular types of roles. They may also lack the most up-to-date expertise and insight. I have heard grads say they feel that their uni careers adviser has been trotting out the same advice for the last 10 years to everyone, regardless of whether they’re applying to be a waitress or a junior architect (!)
There is also an element of ‘fashion’ that goes into writing a CV – and personal taste. Should you put a personal statement at the top – and what should this be like? Private providers are in a stronger position to present you with options here.
It’s also worth making the point that it’s actually really hard to write your own CV objectively – and making sure you pull out all the things an employer will want to know (while minimising the less relevant stuff, without leaving it off!)
Personally, I feel that there is definitely a place for private providers of CV services, as long as they are affordable and good quality. If any GF reader asked me to recommend such a service, I would say Purple CV. So it makes sense to publicise them more widely, in case others are struggling with their CV and could make use of this offer too. Their prices start at £25 and they offer unlimited revisions for 12 months. I think that’s a pretty good deal, even without the 10% Graduate Fog discount! 🙂
I’ll ask Andrew from Purple CV to comment too. He may well have a different take from me.
I’m interested in this… Has anyone had particularly good / bad experiences with finding good quality CV help via their uni careers service? Have you had anyone independent verify whether the CV they helped you produce was good for your target industry / role?
One of the problems is that it can be very difficult to judge whether your CV is as good as it can be. The only test is whether you get invited for interviews… or not! If you’re not getting interviews, it’s tempting to start tinkering with it… but then isn’t there always a risk that you’re actually making it worse…?
Though certain aspects such as clear formatting, spelling, being succinct and not on too many pages etc. It’s apparently largely down to the personal likes/pet hates of the person who is screening them I’ve read from a lot of advice.
I used a template/proof reading service, and it worked pretty well as long as you made sure you tailored the content to demonstrate you had the suitable skills for the role/met their person specification.
Hi @Eowyn – some great tips for Graduates to get advice on writing a CV, and to get career assistance. Here at PurpleCV we get many Graduates reaching out to us even if they know there is free help available.
From personal experience career advice and interview coaching are areas which tend to be orientated to a generic standard. E.g. ‘how to answer competency based questions’ – which regardless of intended sector or role follow the same format. A CV however needs to be tailored and unique which is why we use only Writers who at the very least have experience in the sector. Additionally the CV is in a completely different step of the job application process – the most important one (some would arguably say) which is the one that gets you in front of your prospective employer.
That all being said and rightly as you allude to there is advice and its free! However, always seek to ensure your CV is unique – all of which can be achieved with effort, time, and a great understanding of what makes a CV go to the top of the pile! This is something we look to take away for as little as £22.50.
Have a great evening!
Andrew
Hi @JC – a great point. There is a fine balance between being too unique and too ‘black and white’. Unfortunately, and for as long as the CV exists it will always be a subjective document, which only reaches its full potential if the Reader actually reads it.
This is where a consideration is needed on the sector and role you are applying for. Just received a degree in Graphics Design? – great, let the world know you can design, and design your CV in such a way which is engaging visually to show off your new found skills (within reason of course). However, applying this design effort to an Accountants CV will no doubt send the Reader running for the hills!
Pet hates from being a ‘Reader’ myself on many occasions are down to the basics you say; spelling, grammar, use of content which is not at the level you are applying for. Objective and honest is the way to go, but with a full consideration of how to catch the Reader’s attention. Some tips we always use here at PurpleCV:
1. Only important information in bold
2. Good use of bullet points
3. Personal information at the top. Many requests we get have it at the bottom!
4. An informative professional profile, not one which is full of personal traits, but more so with actual skills – ‘experienced in using Adobe Photoshop’ rather than ‘good with design software’
I have a gap of six months on my CV. I just don’t know what to put. Employers are VERY unforgiving of unemployment and I understand why. If you have 50 applicants for a job it is an easy way of filtering people out.
Sure I graduated at a bad time but frankly that only washes for so long. I’m currently volunteering in two roles which gets me references. Even if I fudge the dates there volunteering for an extended period of time also screams “long term unemployed” to me.
I need some kind of water-tight lie as to what I was doing for six months between July and December 2014.
The honest answer is I came back from a gap year and spent far too long applying for jobs I was never going to get. The months of rejection meant I ended up on the antidepressant Sertraline.
In some sense I’ve been the author of my own misfortune but I feel like I’ve dug a hole for myself and don’t know how to get out now.