# CV/Resume Questions



## zeus127 (Oct 22, 2008)

I am in the process of looking for work in Dubai. I was researching a particular website which had resume/cv tips for obtaining work in Dubai. Here is the information it stated that should be on a resume/CV:

_ * Full name
* Date of birth
* Nationality
* Marital status
* Gender
* Address
* Contact information (including telephone numbers and an email address)

NB: There is no requirement to include information about your age, marital/parental status or religion. _

In addition, the following statement was made regarding length of the resume/CV:

_Keep it brief. Few people have time to read a 20-page resume, be efficient with your information. A six page resume is often sufficient._

I have 10 years experience and have done a lot of recruiting/interviews for my company. I have yet to come across a resume that was over 3 pages. Most are 1-2 pages. 

My question is: *Is this common or something specific to finding work in Dubai? *Any other thoughts/comments on this? Thanks, in advance for yoru responses.


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## cphoenix (Sep 23, 2008)

Hey there,

Your questions are answered by the top hits in Google, here: dubai cv writing - Google Search

Best,


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

If you are using a recruitment agency to find employment, I would just use your normal 3 page CV (that's what I did anyway). They normally edit your CV and reformat it in any case before they send out. If you are targetting an employer directly, the important things would be your skills, qualifications and experience and those should be the main focus on your CV and tailored to the position that you are applying for! I think that as long as those information are included and the CV is not excessively long, it should attract the attention of the employer and hopefully get you the job.

6 pages in my opinion is way too long and the employer will probably stop reading after page 2!! (20 pages will just get recycled). However, things are done differentlyin Dubai, so maybe some employers love 6 pages!!!

Just checked out that link in the post above! Strange but true. I do love how they tell you to glamorise - anywhere else, a CV full of flowery language would just get recycled!!


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## zeus127 (Oct 22, 2008)

Thanks to both of you for your responses! I really appreciate it, they are very helpful. 

Do either of you (or anyone else) include a photo of yourself on your CV? What is your thought on that?


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

zeus127 said:


> Thanks to both of you for your responses! I really appreciate it, they are very helpful.
> 
> Do either of you (or anyone else) include a photo of yourself on your CV? What is your thought on that?


I've never included a photo on my CV and I have never been asked to provide one either. I would understand the need for a photo if you are applying for a job in the modelling or film industry but in any other industry, I don't think that there is a need for a photo. Saying that though, I have come across ads that have specified that a recent photo needs to be attached to the CV!!


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## VS1 (Dec 8, 2008)

Hi there! I thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

I work in financial recruitment and receive over 200 cvs a day. I don't have time to even read most of them. I probably spend 20-30 seconds per CV at most. You need to remember that a CV is designed to do one thing and one thing only: generate an interview. It is not supposed to be your autobiography. No one has time or even cares. Your CV should make someone want to interview you and find out more.

Here are some useful guidelines:

1. Biggest mistake people make is having one generic CV they send out to 15 people. You need to tailor your CV for each role you apply for, highlighting the areas they are looking for. If you are applying for the role of Internal Auditor, you need to make your CV show them that you have all the skills they want. Minimise all the irrelevant stuff. No one actually cares that you play hockey twice a week and enjoy classical music. Make your CV sound like you are the best Internal Auditor on the planet.

2. Learn to keep your CV sharp and higlight relevant things in bold, such as professional qualifications, good companies you have worked for or anything urgent that you can't afford for them to miss when they do their 15 second glance over.

3. Design your CV nicely. I don't mean fancy artwork, I mean presentation of the facts. Those bog-standard MS Word CVs are all over the place. Remember, you need to stand out from the 200 other CVs that are competing against yours.

4. If you get a telephone interview with a recruitment agency/line manager: make an impression. Sound enthusiastic and happy. No one wants to interview boring people. I place senior accountants all day long (they are supposed to be very boring) and the ones that always get the Big4 jobs are the ones with good experience and good personality. Please don't underestimate this point. Make sure you get the recruitment consultant on your side, they can be good for you or totally useless... that depends on you.

5. As for what should be on the CV:

Name, DOB, marital status (yes this is important so we know if you have a wife and kids and whether that ties you down and makes you less likely to accept a job offer), current location, international exposure (if you are coming to work in Dubai from outside UAE, it is good to know you have worked abroad before), what level you speak Arabic to (not essential but if you state you are learning to speak, this helps), all your relevant work experience, your promotions and education (university, postgrad and professional qualifications), any other vital skills, and make sure your contact details are AT THE TOP AND EASY TO FIND (name, telephone number -- mobile and home, email and address).


Please don't write too much fluff, because it won't get read. Remember you have 20seconds to 2 minutes before someone decides whether you are worth calling or not. In the GCC right now there are a TON of people applying so you need to be special to stand out. You should realise that in circumstances where your skill set is rare and you would be a commodity, use my guidelines to stress even more why you should be paid more.

Hope this helped in some way. If yes, then "rep" me.

Good day


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## zeus127 (Oct 22, 2008)

Wow! Excellent and very thorough response VS1, well done! I really appreciate you taking the time to be so detailed. This is some extremely helpful information. Thank you!


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## ahmad_quran (Jun 27, 2008)

thanks VS1


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## VS1 (Dec 8, 2008)

No worries guys. If you need help with your CVs, let me know. I will be happy to serve this forum in any capacity I can.


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