Disclosure of unpleasant information on a CV

by Yeukai
(South Africa)

How do you present things like resignation under duress, and a dismissal on your CV.

Reply by Peter Fisher

The simple fact of the matter is that you don't!

The CV is not the place for disclosing anything negative or unpleasant, that will have to be faced in an interview and so needs careful preparation.

Your CV should focus entirely on what skills, experience and knowledge you have that is relevant to the job application you are making.

When you are making a job application, concentrate on the readers' needs; think, what do they absolutely need to know and what can be left out. If you are applying in response to an advertised vacancy, then the advert itself has all the clues you need, use the requirements they describe as a checklist and show in your response how you meet their needs.

When responding to an advert, it is too easy to avoid answering the questions because you know (!) you can do the job.

Waiting until you get to the interview to show them how good you are is a much too risky tactic.

Read between the lines of the advert and identify the employer's subtle requests. What personal qualities is the company looking for?

What skills are identified as essential?

What factual information has been requested? Identify the employer's requirements not yours.

Does your CV answer the how, what, where and when questions? If not it will be put to one side so try to make sure yours is the best there is! Make good use of my CV and resume builder to be sure - if you trust my advice and would like me to carefully build your CV for you go to my CV Writing Services page at CV Writing. I also suggest you make use of the FREE Personality Test to help build your CV.

The first page is the most important part of the CV. The reader needs to see immediately what you have to offer and how they can get hold of you.

What skills have you put up for sale on your CV?

Have you clearly identified your level of expertise and competence?

A short section of “Key Skills & Achievements” can cover a lot of ground for you.

Have you done everything you can to convince and reassure your reader that an investment in your skills is a good choice?

If you have an impressive but meaningless job title – change it to convey its real meaning. At interview you can explain “my actual job title was…”

Too many job hunters hide their contact details at the end of the CV and others often omit details like age and marital status.

Qualifications are vital because they help to convince the reader of your credentials but you have to remember that employers are looking as well for candidates who possess commercial awareness.

So keep this section to the factual details and demonstrate your commercial value in the skills and capability section. Otherwise just give the qualification gained, the educational establishment and the date.

The interview is where you face up to any unpleasant revelations and an exit statement or leaving statement, allows you to explain your reason for leaving and it helps to protect you from the emotions of a difficult job loss that may have happened because of redundancy or downsizing.

Even if you left your previous job of your own accord and it was your own decision, you should still make sure you can explain what happened; they almost always ask you about this at interview, so you need a 'reason for leaving' statement ready and prepared.

If there was a redundancy or downsizing that cost you your job, the danger in being reminded of it by an interview question is that the emotions can surface inappropriately and instead of appearing confident and in control at your interview, you look unsure or confused.