CV Tips
Creating an Effective CV
- Always remember to “Check and double check for SPELLING and GRAMMATICAL ERRORS
- Your CV is your personal sales pitch. It’s a little piece of you left behind to impress a potential employer. Your CV should create an interest about you in whoever reads it.
- Generally speaking, your CV needs to stand out from the crowd. It must include just enough information to stimulate interest, but not so much that you bore the reader.
A good CV should contain the following details:
Personal Details
Provide your prospective employer with as much information as possible, in as little words as you can. The important information to include is;
- Full name
- Address
- Contact details – telephone (maximum two) and professional email
Personal Profile
Your Personal Profile is a brief summary of you as a professional. It should summarise your career status, areas of expertise, what sectors previously worked in, area of interest and what sector you are looking to go into and why. You can also include what motivates you about the industry and how you will help the company achieve its goals.
Remember, do not write too much! Fifty to eighty words should be just fine.
Skills
This list spells out what you can do. It is a summary of applicable skills of different types. The skills you list can be soft skills or technical skills or both. The skills you list must be relevant to the position you are applying for. For example, you can list the international languages you speak if you are applying for an international role, or your expert driving skills if you are applying for a related role. Generally, skills such as Microsoft Office proficiency can be listed regardless of the role.
Work History
Your work history is best written reverse chronologically (i.e. start with your current or most recent position). The level of detail you include should depend upon the length and relevance of the positions you held, but in general terms, the last 10 years should have the most detail. We recommend this should include the following:
- Dates of employment (from mm/yy to mm/yy)
- Job title and reason for leaving
- Name and location of employer
- Nature of Business
- Purpose of Role
- Key responsibilities (include any relevant information that is measurable or can be quantified and related to role being applied for)
- Key achievements
When completing this area of your CV, it is important to specify the nature of the work (e.g. temporary or permanent). Also, any ‘gaps’ should be highlighted and appropriate reasons given (e.g. working holiday abroad/bringing up children etc).
Education and Training
This is a summary of your educational and academic background. Again, use reverse chronological order. It’s best to include the following information:
- Dates (from mm/yy to mm/yy)
- Establishment
- Level / qualification
- Grades achieved
- List any other relevant qualifications –e.g. professional qualifications, NVQ levels, training courses attended
- Do not list the courses you did.
Hobbies and Interests
- Listing personal interests can be helpful, particularly if they are relevant to the position you are applying for. Include team sports, club memberships, voluntary work and evening courses etc.
Sample CV
If you would like to see a good template for a typical CV please click here to download a copy.
For an in-depth and practical session to get a better understanding of how to create your CV or review and ensure you stand the best chance of being selected for an interview, please click on the button below and book an individual session with our career consultants who have the necessary experience to help you present yourself in the best possible light.