Whether a potential employer asks to see your Curriculum Vitae, CV or Resume they are all looking for the same thing - a document that proves that you are the ideal candidate in which to invest their time and money.
In today's competitive and fast-moving recruitment marketing, you only have a limited time to impress a potential employer with your CV.
To give yourself the best chance of securing an interview, you need to make sure your CV works for you. By following a few simple rules, you can maximise your chances and ensure that you stand out from the other applicants.
Your CV is essentially a sales brochure which pinpoints the unique selling points of your product -You!
Your CV should not be a document that you throw together in the last minutes before an application deadline, but rather it should be carefully planned to ensure that it is clear, concise, and professional - it is even possible that you will need to produce more that one version of your CV for different roles and applications.
CV Content
There is no universally accepted format for a CV, but by following our simple tips you should be able to produce a CV which not only covers all the essential elements a recruiter will be looking for but that also dramatically increases your chances of securing that all important interview.
Here we have listed the essentials which will make up your CV in the order it is suggested that they appear in your document.
Your details
Ideally your details should be at the top of the first page - afterall you want to make sure that it is easy for recruiters to contact you. Make sure that you include:
- Your name
- Your address
- Telephone numbers - your home number and a mobile if you have one, although be careful about adding a work number particularly if anyone else has access to your voicemail.
- Email address - again it is advisable that this is a personal address rather than your work email.
Optional information such as your nationality, age or date of birth and driving licence can also be added. If you are not a national of an E.U country but are applying for a role based within the E.U it is advisable to add onto your CV your working visa status.
Personal Statement
A personal statement is a paragraph at the top of your CV which summarises you and your key skills. It is designed to be an attention grabber to make your CV stand out from the crowd and entice the reader to read more - like the blurb on the back of a book. Be careful not to cram in too much. Instead you should take your main skills and experiences and relate them to the role you are applying for to show employers and recruiters how you meet their needs and the needs of the job.
Work experience/work history
Your work experience should take up the main body of your CV and should be listed in reverse chronological order - starting with your most recent role and working backwards through time.
When listing your employment history make sure for each role you include:
- The dates of your employment
- Company Name and location
- Your job title
You will then need to highlight your main responsibilities and achievement in the role. Use bullet points wherever applicable to highlight important information and to make it easier for the person scanning your CV to see all the facts about you.
Identify your achievements. You may be able to show concrete evidence such as percentage increases in sales or accounts generated or you may be able to demonstrate the influences you have had on a project or task.
Try to pick one specific example for each job and explain how you improved the business. Business people generally have the same objectives: profit, bigger market share, development of their business and creating new products for their customers - you need to show then how you will help them achieve this.
Mind the gap!
There are many reasons why you may have gaps in your employment history but you shouldn't try to hind them in the hope that no one will notice.
Unexplained gaps can be suspicious so make sure that any gaps in your CV are explained with a positive spin - for example:
- Extended holidays - many people travel when they leave full time education. What did your trip teach you? Did you pick up any languages on your travels?
- Family issues - there is no need to go into great detail if you have had personal reasons to take a career break. A three of four word description will be sufficient on a CV, if a recruiter wants to know more they will ask.
- Nothing on the market - whatever the reason you found yourself unemployed, try to suggest on your CV that you were waiting for the right opportunity to come along - employers may even get the impression that you were in demand!
- Prison Time - This is a tough issue. At present there are no laws regarding the discrimination of ex-prisoners when applying for a role and certain roles may require a Criminal Records Bureau check so it is always best to be honest. Employers may be more understanding if you used your time to gain a new skill or qualification.
Skills
Over the course of your career to date and during your education you will have picked up a large selection of skills. Again it is advisable to use bullet points to make your individual skills stand out from your CV.
- Languages. Additional languages are a valuable skill and should be listed. Make sure you include your competence level for each language.
- Computer skills. Here you should list the programmes you are skilled at using. Common programmes do not need to be listed in great detail, but if you are particularly skilled in particular programmes no matter how common you should add this to your CV - for example ‘Advanced Excel user'. If you are a typist you should also add to your CV your wpm average. Again this list can be changed according to your application. For example for a marketing or design role you should highlight you ability to use graphic and presentation programmes such as Photoshop and PowerPoint, while an analytical or finance role will need demonstrable skills in data programmes such as Excel, SAGE or SAP.
- Skills such as project management, communication skills and people management are harder to substantiate but are still important so if you are going to add them to your CV make sure you back them up with examples.
Education
Again this should be in reverse chronological order and should give brief details of both your academic and professional qualifications.
It is acceptable to go back as far as your secondary education qualifications but advisable to only include grades for your further education. If you have completed a lot of courses then you may wish to narrow down the list to the courses that are most relevant to the role that you are applying for.
Make sure that you include dates and the name of the institution where you studied.
If you are looking for your first role since leaving full time education, then you should put your most recent course higher up in your CV before your work history.
Hobbies and Interests
These are more of a space filler on a CV rather than anything else but they do provide a little insight as to what you are like as a person.
When adding your interests and hobbies try to think about what they say about you and if they provide you with additional skills that may be useful to potential employers. Consider this section carefully - if you have a hobby or interest that would be considered unusual do you really want to share it with your future boss?
You should also add any voluntary work that you do and your motivation for participating in voluntary activities.
References
It is not necessary to list references on your CV - in fact it is advisable that you do not particularly as one of your references should be your current employer. Instead you should simply finish your CV with ‘references available on request'.
If this is your first job then you should nominate your tutor or mentor to provide you with a reference along with your employer if you have a part time job or completed any work experience.
You can not be provided with a negative reference but nominees can refuse to provide a reference or provide just the basic facts of your employment. Make sure that whomever you nominate will provide you with a full and positive reference and that they are easily contactable.
A Clear and Simple Layout
It is strongly advised that you try to keep your CV to two A4 pages (single sided). It should be clear to anyone reading your CV where to find the information they are looking for so section headers are important.
The purpose of your CV is not to get you the job, but to get you an interview so you do not need to list everything in minute detail - all sections of your CV will be expanded on in person. Always remember that you are not writing you CV for yourself, but for the reader. Try to put your self in their shoes - keep it short, to the point and above all interesting.
Due to the high volume of CVs that recruiters receive, a recruiter typically spends about 20 seconds initially reviewing each document, so it vitally important they you get it right. If you follow the outline above, you're on the right track to presenting the information in a clear, concise, and persuasive way.
Things to watch out for
Time spent making your CV as crisp and relevant as possible for the role applied for is time well spent. There are plenty of simple mistakes that are often overlooked that will turn your readers off before they have gone much further than your name and address.
Don't
- Over ‘design' your CV with images and colour. Most CV's will be printed in black and white so colour is pointless and can work against you - light colours such as yellow for example don't print very well in greyscale. Images take up precious space and are often irrelevant.
- Add a photograph of yourself. Photographs on CV's usually attract attention for all the wrong reasons, play safe, and leave it off altogether.
- Use long paragraphs - short and snappy is easier to read.
- Over do the bold type. Careful use of bold can be very effective, but use this sparingly or the effect will be lost.
- Use a font smaller than 11pts, employers won't strain their eyes to read your CV.
- Don't use txt speak and only use abbreviations if they are universally known.
- Don't waffle - use bullet points to highlight the key elements you want to get across.
Do
- Use simple type fonts like ‘Times New Roman' or ‘Arial' - not only are the easier to read but they are universal fonts and are available on a majority of computers so if you are emailing your CV you can guarantee that the font will be compatible.
- Try to keep your CV to 2 sides of A4 paper
- Use a CV template if you are unsure of layout. Many CV templates can be downloaded for free from the internet.
- Use white space to break up your CV and make it easier to read. A block of text will be jumbled and important information will get lost.
- Have several copies of your CV for different roles and applications.
- Save your CV in more than one place and call it something professional.
- Consider your audience. This is particularly important if you are seeking a complete change of career. While your current CV got you your existing job, it may not be relevant for a different industry. Do your research into the skills required for your dream role and highlight these on your CV.
To err is Human?
When it comes to your CV, nothing but the best will do so check it thoroughly for spelling, grammatical and typographical errors. Any mistakes are your responsibility and checking for mistakes, however small, is one of the first ways employers weed out weaker candidates.
It is irrelevant if the role you are applying for requires a high level of literacy or not, spelling errors indicate a lack of care and attention to detail, both of which are undesirable qualities in a potential employee.
Do not put your faith in a spell checker. Many computer spell checkers are automatically set to American English, meaning ‘U's get missed out of words and ‘Z's are added where ‘S's should be. Any words you are not sure of should be checked in a dictionary.
Before you send your CV to anyone ask another person to read it for you. The human brain has a way of reading what it believes is written rather than what is actually on the paper so check, and check again.
Grammatical errors are harder to spot but one good way is to read your CV out loud. If it doesn't sound right - change it!
Check your dates - do you have any gaps or overlaps and if so have these been explained.
Most importantly check your contact details - is your address, phone number and email address correct?
Now that email is the most common method of distributing CV's you may want to reconsider that novelty email address. Many email addresses are free of charge so make sure you have a professional address and if necessary set up a new account for your job applications. You may also want to make sure that you have voicemail on your mobile and that your message is professional and clear.
Finally never be tempted to lie on your CV. While it may seem like a good idea to embellish your achievements, responsibilities, or qualifications, you will eventually be caught out and if you are successful in your application, it could cost you your job.
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