Writing about myself…
… I hate it! What I mean is that I’ve been struggling with updating my CV. Over the years my CV has just sort of grown and grown. Largely I’ve only used it for internal job postings within my company where a lot of the time I’m already known to the recruiting manager anyway so there is less need for a snappy, attention grabing, sexy CV.
Now there is a need. On Wednesday a job fair is being set up for those of us at my work who are at risk of redundancy. Largely I think the focus will be on people with scientific skills not numpties like me. However therefore all the more important I have a snappy, sexy, etc. etc. CV as most likely it’ll be a case of “I’ll pass this on to see if anyone back at base is interested”.
So I’ve done battle with the CV and now asked a couple of colleagues/friends to give me their opinions. I’ve managed to get it pretty much onto two pages, if you ignore the list of education and publications/speaking engagements on the last page. Given I joined Liz’s facebook group I’m rubbish, I am and given you have read (or at least are now reading) this blog, you can get the drift of the difficulty…
1. I think I’m useless – It is a predisposition of mine anything new I will fear that I will not be able to be the best at it, if not the best therefore it’s not worth doing, so I don’t start and that plays in my head that I’m lazy etc. Ergo – I am useless
2. I’m too verbose, why use 1 word when 47 will add colour.
Why is life so flipping complicated at times?
Current status is that I’m still “at risk” of redundancy at work. The urgency to get us out the door seemed to back off a bit in the last couple of weeks and my boss seems happy to let me continue to drift along at the moment. I can’t moan and have to chuckle he actually gave me notice of my payrise last week, and it was better than I expected given the climate and I got some “long term incentive” stock options. Oh the irony…
There were a bunch of jobs that I could have applied for but frankly I’d done all of them some years back and really didn’t see the point of doing them again so I didn’t apply at all. This really does hasten the exit however I then applied for a “not local job” but which is based in the same site I currently am. It’s a reporting thing, I’d look like an American, i.e. report direct into the USA not with Europe. Aren’t large companies fun trying just to figure out what group is what etc. The applications close this week with interviews before the end of the month so I’ll know by then. I might be having a lot of time on my hands come Easter maybe…
Now there is a need. On Wednesday a job fair is being set up for those of us at my work who are at risk of redundancy. Largely I think the focus will be on people with scientific skills not numpties like me. However therefore all the more important I have a snappy, sexy, etc. etc. CV as most likely it’ll be a case of “I’ll pass this on to see if anyone back at base is interested”.
So I’ve done battle with the CV and now asked a couple of colleagues/friends to give me their opinions. I’ve managed to get it pretty much onto two pages, if you ignore the list of education and publications/speaking engagements on the last page. Given I joined Liz’s facebook group I’m rubbish, I am and given you have read (or at least are now reading) this blog, you can get the drift of the difficulty…
1. I think I’m useless – It is a predisposition of mine anything new I will fear that I will not be able to be the best at it, if not the best therefore it’s not worth doing, so I don’t start and that plays in my head that I’m lazy etc. Ergo – I am useless
2. I’m too verbose, why use 1 word when 47 will add colour.
Why is life so flipping complicated at times?
Current status is that I’m still “at risk” of redundancy at work. The urgency to get us out the door seemed to back off a bit in the last couple of weeks and my boss seems happy to let me continue to drift along at the moment. I can’t moan and have to chuckle he actually gave me notice of my payrise last week, and it was better than I expected given the climate and I got some “long term incentive” stock options. Oh the irony…
There were a bunch of jobs that I could have applied for but frankly I’d done all of them some years back and really didn’t see the point of doing them again so I didn’t apply at all. This really does hasten the exit however I then applied for a “not local job” but which is based in the same site I currently am. It’s a reporting thing, I’d look like an American, i.e. report direct into the USA not with Europe. Aren’t large companies fun trying just to figure out what group is what etc. The applications close this week with interviews before the end of the month so I’ll know by then. I might be having a lot of time on my hands come Easter maybe…
So if the 'at risk' doens't come to anything, will you now be happy styaing where you are? It seems lots of options have been tossed into the pot. Go for it!
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely not useless (though you may be long-winded!!) How many people have congratulated you on a job well-done? I remember a story from a long time back when someone was introduced to you and he recognised the name as being the person who'd done a good job 'doing' something. (I don't remember the details.) Hang on to those things. Take courage. And tell the world of your achievements - only in few words!!
I'm a great one to say this: I always make a joke rather than accept praise! (Although I don't get it very often ...!)