skivvy Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I prefer CV's to be emailed to me, where then they are directed to a folder on our server. The system seems to work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drsound Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I would just be happy to receive a CV. Often we receive emails from "freelancers" - ranging from chancers just out of school to genuine 30 years man 'n' boy with 50 world tours under their belts - along the lines of: "Got any work going?". No CV, no decent covering letter. A message to any prospective freelancers or employees out there: An email asking for employment of any sort is a formal communication and must be treated as such. Proper English will get you an awfully long way. Would you send a covering letter in the post with not a single capital, riddled with spelling mistakes and written informally? So write the emails the same way! And for heaven's sake learn the correct use of "Yours Faithfully" and "Yours Sincerely". It's not difficult, really it isn't. It would also be helpful if people got used to including the key information in the email or covering letter. It doesn't do anything for their employment chances when we have to spend time emailing or ringing to ask basic information like where they live or what experience they have. To answer the original question, I'd prefer email with a PDF of a good quality CV attached. The reason being that it makes it easier for us to pass it around the company in a manner compliant with the DPA, enter the details quickly onto a spreadsheet and to archive any communications for future use. Also don't be coy about including a rate - you might not get it but it gives us a useful benchmark as to whether it's worth approaching somone for a particular job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanhill Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I wholeheartedly agree with David. An email with a CV attached (attached with a file name that includes your name hopefully!) should be considered as a covering letter with all the formality and spelling and punctuation correctness that it entails. Inexcusable really when computers have thinks like spell-checkers on them. I always send documents (invoices, CV's, lantern schedules etc.) as PDF's just so people cannot steal/alter/murder my work. OpenOffice has a great 'Export as PDF' function in its tool bar. And it is free! When I was in the market for employing people, I much prefered a hand written covering letter with the printed CV. It shows that you can write (important) and it shows that you are willing to hand write something (impressive). Which ever method you are required to apply for a job, be it CV and covering letter, or application form, you must be articulate, neat and be able to spell correctly. Such errors do not inspire confidence in a prospective employer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Inexcusable really when computers have thinks like spell-checkers on them. I guess this was inevitable :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanhill Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Inexcusable really when computers have thinks like spell-checkers on them. I guess this was inevitable :D The egg's all over my face... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Another echo to David's post. Please, if your going to send a CV get the spelling, punctuation and grammar correct. We have our regular guys that we will call first when we need people. We will only go the people that then randomly send in CV's when we're desperate, and at that point, we will be looking for the best fit to the job. If you can't string a written sentence together, then chances are we won't bother to call you. Pete. (Who's currently seeing at least two poorly written emails with CV's a day) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drsound Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Right on cue, just received an email entitled "Current Work Opertunities". QED my friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcoppard Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 I know I'm not anyone recieving CV's, but we've just done work experience, so all this was required in setting it up. To cut a long story short, we are still taught to post them, and then follow up with a phone call, approx. one week later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Where's the both option? We tend to file paper copies of CV's for future use, whether they get to us via e- or snail-mail. Good SPaG is recommended if the CV is to reach the paper file and not the recycle pile. The biggest peeve of mine are CV's that aren't tailored for the job. I don't just mean the ones with a flowery border (though I do ask why?) but the ones where someone who has been working in retail for several years decides that the single theatre show they worked on in school will be the basis for a new career and they contact every theatre they've heard off. They seem to forget that, like every other industry, you need to work your way up. We deal with international companies in one of our three venues as well as producing new works - we don't employ people even as casuals who worked one show once upon a time. It goes back to the research thing - a hire company may well hire someone with retail experience and an interest in theatre but a medium or large scale theatre won't. I'll raise my hand here and say that we have had one or two CV's that do get passed around just for the chuckle - take a moment to think objectively about your CV - does it look like a professionally produced document or does it look like a school project in use of Word Art. Another peeve that occurs to me are CV's that have gaps. Gaps are suspicious and the recycle pile is always hungry. If you can't produce a CV that explains why there's a two year gap between leaving school and the first listed job - you need to examine if applying to that company is a good idea.It may be something that could be explained in the cover letter but it's going to have to be explained somewhere. A quick note on electronic formats - it needs to be standard. Pdf, rtf, txt or doc are all fine. Mention what the format is in the cover letter and mention that alternative formats can be supplied. Don't use ANY formatting, fonts, pictures that don't load in most WP programs. Remember that the company you are applying to may have older versions of software - the current version of Word saves files as .docx which older versions can't open. And send emails as plain text only - I for one automatically strip HTML coding out of emails in most circumstances. Newsletters with HTML coding are as likely to be binned as for me to display HTML. I think that's enough griping from me. Next ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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