My perfect CV free?

He was a guy, he was selling us intelligence, he didn't have a sample on him! (Coluche, The student)

What is the credibility of the sites that sell you a Perfect CV ? Rather than trusting testimonials blindly, I invite you to find out whether the promises made are tenable.

The idea of the perfect CV, Wege - nicht Werke.

If you put your trust in a model when you are specifically advised to personalise your application, you will have to balance between the straitjacket of a structure imposed on you and the richness of the content represented by your background.

So deviate from the model, yes, but within reasonable limits! Show too muchoriginality and you'll be left out in the cold. Be too compliant and you'll stay in the middle of the pile. These limits are at the recruiter's discretion, more so than yours if you think about it. In any case, it will always be up to you to decide what information is worthy of the recruiter's interest. Buying a CV template won't help you - or anyone else - in any practical way. Demand a method, not an example, and ask to be shown the way rather than the top!

Spelling and grammar

We're not all champions of spelling. And when you have the modesty to admit it, you have the wisdom to entrust a third party with the task of scrutinising your curriculum vitae and the cover letter which accompanies it. Before you do that, however, you should have taken the trouble to proofread your text over and over again, and even to use an online spellchecker and grammar checker, such as Cordial or Scribens. If a website is selling you spelling skills, don't hesitate to take it at its own game and put it through the mill. A quick copy and paste of the text on the home page, one click and you'll know for sure. As you will see, what you are being sold very often has nothing to do with reality: spelling mistakes, syntax, grammar and other breaches of typographical conventions. Try it again and again and you'll quickly form an opinion about the credibility of the promise you're being made.

If you liked this article, others are available in the section Advice to read and reread.