No one would disagree with the fact that making the correct decision at the recruitment stage is both time and money saving, yet very often, the process of sifting through CVs can be the point at which mistakes are made.

Apart from the fact that some CVs are somewhat liberal with the truth and prone to exaggeration, there is the converse where skills are undersold to such an extent that they all but disappear on the page.

Then there comes the unconventional CV, the one that can confuse and even alarm employers, which fails to address the set criteria on which the judgment will be made. Almost certainly, unless the employer is a lateral thinker and can see beyond the predictable job experience and team-building/leadership-creating hobbies, the CVs that do not follow the norm are quickly removed from the pile of eligibles.

John Alexander fits into that category. His CV reads like an adventure story, listing his places of employment as the Alps, the Himalayas or the Sierra Nevada rather than the city firm.

He has spent the best part of 20 years scaling the world's heights, acting as a guide and instructor, doing what many employers dream of doing on retirement but few ever achieve.

Throughout his climbing career however, he has been aware constantly of the limitations of climbing as a long term proposition, and the need to plan for the future.

Following a five-year spell working as a guide in California, he took an HNC Business Studies in 1987 at Glasgow College of Commerce, a qualification which he saw as being advantageous.

After a few months climbing in the Karakorum in Pakistan, including K2, he returned to Glasgow and studied for a BA in Economics at the then Glasgow College of Technology, followed by a postgraduate qualification in operations management.

He continued to climb at every opportunity during the degree and postgraduate programmes, working at the International School of Mountaineering at Chamonix, in France, and after graduation he went climbing for a few months in Patagonia in South America.

''It was a wonderful experience but I kept on wondering how long I would be able to do it for,'' he said. ''I was aware that I was not amassing any great fortune, certainly not enough to retire on.

''Climbing is like deep sea diving, there's a limit to the times you can do it. I wrote several articles about climbing, published in the US, but there is no money to be made from writing.

''I returned to Glasgow, applied for hundreds of jobs and ended up working with Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries as a glorified security guard.''

Frustrated, he took another guide job, then spent a year as an administration officer with a DSS office in Glasgow before going to Israel where he lived on a kibbutz and worked as a researcher in the Department of Social History at the Israeli National Museum in Jerusalem.

Alexander retired from mountaineering two years ago following the death of his best friend on Annapurna.''I watched him fall and he died in my arms, and I decided that climbing was not worth the risks.''

He was unemployed for six months following his return to Scotland, and decided to try a Graduate Into Employment scheme with STS, Specialised Technical Services, which arranged a work placement at the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies, in the ESF office.

The work has given him some experience in word processing, spreadsheets, database and graphics packages in Windows, but it is now time to start the job search once again.

He has no regrets about following his dream but admits that the consequences have made his life difficult. He would advise those contemplating a university degree to take a long term view.

''I did my degrees in something I was interested at the time, but I had not carried out any research into what job opportunities there were. I would advise anyone to see that there is a job opportunity at the end of the degree.''

He is focused on pursuing a career in people management, having gained experience in project organisation through his climbing. He would also like to find a way of utilising his international knowledge and experience.

Reaching the top of the world physically has given him a different perspective on life, has allowed him a glimpse of its fragility and preciousness. He sees that as being useful in the workplace.

''It makes you realise that there is more to life and it helps release stress because you know how to leave the job behind when you go home,'' he said.

''If you are committed for eight hours to the work you are doing, to the company you are working for, then that really ought to be enough.''

He accepts that may be something that some employers will not understand.

''The problem is one of perception,'' he said. ''They see me and think that I might just disappear again in a couple of months time, despite the fact that I have been retired from professional climbing for the past couple of years.

''Nevertheless, I hope they will see that I have been trying since then to transfer the energy and motivation I used for climbing into the workplace.''