To that end here are some examples from real CVs.

Hobbies: i like hanin’ with my mates

Hobbies: Playing video games and listening to music

I’ll not go on as most applications and CVs had lines like this. A job application or CV is a professional profile. It’s not an invitation for a party. I’m not your mate. I’m not your friend. I’m a business person who requires a new staff member. To be blunt about it; you need to work once you’re here and I in turn will pay you. That’s the deal no matter how much legislation and spin is created. If you can’t work you won’t get paid.

So what should you do to get a job. Be specific on your application or CV. List the work you’ve completed as it relates to the position you’re looking for. Don’t list your hobbies no matter what anyone tells you as it helps the decider make a final decision based on your choice of hobby. A good example would be someone who lists loads and loads of sports on the CV. If the eyes looking at your CV isn’t a big sports fan it may in fact hurt your chances. And DO NOT list hangin’ with me mates, or ‘wii expert’ as it is irrelevant to anything you might be applying for.

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John Duchesne was my boss when I was a teenager fresh out of school. Well, not that fresh. I left school a year before graduation because ‘I thought I knew everything.’ Who needs an education? After a myriad of degrading jobs it turned out that I needed an education. Unfortunately I had burned my bridges behind me and there was no going back. As luck would have it my salvation was just around the corner.

John managed a small builder’s merchant and was looking for someone to work in the warehouse and lumber yard. It seemed like just another bad job on a treadmill of bad jobs. The work was hard most days and the rewards seemed few at the time. Looking back however I can see that I was slowly being trained in all aspects of the business. I was already pretty handy with tools and my experience grew as John taught me the trade. He was a master craftsman and his woodworking skills were second to none. I learned how to estimate any type of job, learned about the materials and products we sold, learned to drive a forklift truck, learned about book keeping, daily cash reports, bank deposits, stock control, ordering, and eventually became the assistant manager. I have always been keen to learn and John continued to feed me with knowledge while always keeping me in line when I tried to push a bit too hard.

I can honestly say that without John I would have had a tougher time in my early work life. John left that job a couple years later. I too moved on and our paths crossed again when we both worked for a larger builder’s merchant. He stayed on there until he retired and I moved on to bigger and better things several thousand miles away. It was many years later when I was mature enough to realise what he had done for me. I decided to look him up while on a business trip. I found him working hard and except for more grey hair he was the same man I remembered. I thanked him for everything he did for me. We had a coffee and a catch up before he got back to work and I too had to do the same.

I never saw John again and heard that he passed away a few years later. Not a day goes by that I don’t use something John taught me. Whether its business or trade related he lives on in me and my work. I hope I can return the favour and pass on my knowledge someday too.

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