CVs should never be completely standard and should reflect your experience, qualifications and personality.
However there are some things that each and every CV should always contain.
Below we outline some general guidance and advice to help you put together the very best possible CV, read on…
Personal details
• It may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people forget to include their name, email, contact phone number and address. To avoid any awkward moments, make sure these are clearly presented at the very top of your CV. ‘Curriculum Vitae’ is an unnecessary title – your name is not.
Personal statement
• As it’s the first thing that’s shown on your CV, a personal statement is an essential part of standing out from the crowd. It explains who you are, what you’re offering, and what you’re looking for. Aim to prove why you’re suitable in one short and succinct paragraph.
Work experience
• This section should include all of your relevant work experience, listed with the most recent first. Include your job title, the name of the organisation, time in post, and your key responsibilities.
Achievements
• This is your chance to show how your previous experience has given you the skills needed to make you a suitable candidate. List all of your relevant skills and achievements (backing them up with examples), and make it clear how you would apply these to the new role.
Education
• Your educational experience and achievements should be listed here, along with dates, the type of qualification and/or the grade you achieved – although the specific parts of education that you include in your CV will depend on your individual situation. For example, if you have more educational achievements than work experience, placing an emphasis on this section is a good idea.
Hobbies and interests
• You don’t always need to include hobbies and interests in your CV, but mentioning relevant ones could back up your skills and help you to stand out from the crowd – not to mention give you something to talk about at an interview. Just don’t say you enjoy socialising with friends just for the sake of including something. If it’s not going to add value, leave it out.
Any extra information, such as reasons for a career change or reasons for gaps in career history should also be included as required.
• Keep it short and sweet. The most effective CVs aren’t just informative, they’re also concise. Try and get straight to the most pertinent points, and ideally take up no more than two sides of A4.
• Choose a professional font. A professional font ensures that your CV can be easily read and simply scanned. Remember: Comic Sans is not your friend.
• Present things in a logical order. Use sufficient spacing, clear section headings (e.g. work experience, education) and a reverse chronological order to keep things clear and easily legible. And always make sure you highlight your most recent achievements.
• Play to your strengths. Format your CV to maximise the impact of your application. For example, if you feel a lack of experience is holding you back, lead with education instead. As long as you can relate it back to the role in question, how you order the sections is up to you.
• Use bullet points. They’re a great way to draw attention to any key facts or relevant information, allowing a hiring manager to skim the document easily and find your significant achievements without having to wade through the hyperbole.
• Other things to do: Include contact details, keep email address professional (CrazyDave@email.com does not count), maintain consistent formatting, ask someone to check for common spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Be afraid of white space. Don’t fear the gaps. Even if you think your CV looks quite bare, as long as you’ve included all the relevant information and applicable, quantifiable achievements, you needn’t worry. Remember: Sometimes less is more.
• Try to include too much. The ideal CV should be a checklist of all of your accomplishments. It should not be your life story. Tailoring your CV to the role is a great way to skim some of the fat and keep all waffle to a minimum.
• Include irrelevant information. Before including any points in your application, ask the same question: will it help you get the role. If the answer is no, take it out. Hobbies and interests are a great example. If they don’t help you stand out, don’t waste valuable space.
• Forget your cover letter. Although it is often seen as a different entity all together, your cover letter is attached to your CV and both are vital in helping you clinch the right role. Utilise yours properly, and your CV becomes the perfect document to reinforce your talent. Oh, they didn’t say include one? Still do. Every extra opportunity to sell yourself should be taken.
• Experiment with size. You may think that changing font size is a great way to fit your CV onto two pages. But whether you’re using large font to make your application seem longer or you’re using smaller font to make sure everything fits; you’re not fooling anyone. See also, margin size.
• Other things not to do: Use crazy colours, use crazy fonts, include unnecessary references, include a selfie(Unless a photo is specifically requested).
Once you’ve got through to interview stage with the help of these CV writing tips then its on to the next step, the job interview.
A lot of people are nervous about interviews because they don’t know what to expect or how best to prepare and to represent themselves.
We have put together a page of help and advice to help you ACE any job interview, click on the button below.