CV WRITING
A CV is short (usually a maximum of two sides of A4 paper), and therefore contains only a summary of the job seeker's employment history, qualifications, education, and some personal information. It conveys your personal details in the way that presents you in the best possible light, A CV is a marketing document in which you are marketing something: yourself! You need to "sell" your skills, abilities, qualifications and experience to employers. It can be used to make multiple applications to employers in a specific career area.Personal details
Normally these would be your name, address, date of birth, telephone number and email.
Work experience
- Use action words such as developed, planned and organised.
- Even work in a shop, bar or restaurant will involve working in a team, providing a quality service to customers, and dealing tactfully with complaints. Don't mention the routine, non-people tasks (cleaning the tables) unless you are applying for a casual summer job in a restaurant or similar.
- Try to relate the skills to the job. A finance job will involve numeracy, analytical and problem solving skills so focus on these whereas for a marketing role you would place a bit more more emphasis on persuading and negotiating skills.
- for example....All of my work experiences have involved working within a team-based culture. This involved planning, organisation, coordination and commitment e.g., in retail, this ensured daily sales targets were met, a fair distribution of tasks and effective communication amongst all staff members.
Interests and achievements
- Don't use the old boring cliches here: "socialising with friends".
- Don't put many passive, solitary hobbies (reading, watching TV, stamp collecting) or you may be perceived as lacking people skills. If you do put these, then say what you read or watch: "I particularly enjoy Dickens, for the vivid insights you get into life in Victorian times".
- Show a range of interests to avoid coming across as narrow : if everything centres around sport they may wonder if you could hold a conversation with a client who wasn't interested in sport.
- Hobbies that are a little out of the ordinary can help you to stand out from the crowd: skydiving or mountaineering can show a sense of wanting to stretch yourself and an ability to rely on yourself in demanding situations
- Any interests relevant to the job are worth mentioning
- Any evidence of leadership is important to mention: captain or coach of a sports team, course representative, chair of a student society, scout leader:
- Anything showing evidence of employability skills such as team working, organising, planning, persuading, negotiating etc.
Skills
- The usual ones to mention are languages (good conversational French, basic Spanish), computing (e.g. "good working knowledge of MS Access and Excel, plus basic web page design skills" and driving ("full current clean driving licence").
References
Normally two referees are sufficient: one academic (perhaps your tutor or a project supervisor) and one from an employer (perhaps your last part-time or summer job)
What are the most important aspects of CV that you look for?
| 45% | Previous related work experience |
| 35% | Qualifications & skills |
| 25% | Easy to read |
| 16% | Accomplishments |
| 14% | Spelling & grammar |
| 9% | Education (these were not just graduate recruiters or this score would be much higher!) |
| 9% | Intangibles: individuality/desire to succeed |
| 3% | Clear objective |
| 2% | Keywords added |
| 1% | Contact information |
| 1% | Personal experiences |
| 1% | Computer skills |
If you are applying for more than one type of work, you should have adifferent CV tailored to each career area, highlighting different aspects of your skills and experience.
There is no single "correct" way to write and present a CV but the following general rules apply:
- It is targeted on the specific job or career area for which you are applying and brings out the relevant skills you have to offer
- It is carefully and clearly laid out: logically ordered, easy to read and not cramped
- It is informative but concise
- It is accurate in content, spelling and grammar. If you mention attention to detail as a skill, make sure your spelling and grammar is perfect!
Emailed CVs and Web CVs
- Put your covering letter as the body of your email. It's wise to format it as plain text as then it can be read by any email reader.
- Emails are not as easy to read as letters. Stick to simple text with short paragraphs and plenty of spacing. Break messages into points and make each one a new paragraph with a full line gap between paragraphs. DON'T "SHOUT": WRITE IN UPPER CASE!
- Your CV is then sent as an attachment. Say you'll send a printed CV if required and it should mostly be in PDF form.
10 tips on writing a successful CV by the guardian
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