Your CV is the first impression that a prospective employer has of you. You should look on it as a tool to impress and interest potential employers enough to arrange an interview. It should be clear, well structured and use positive, precise language.
Sections should include:
Personal Details - Full name, date of birth, contact details including phone numbers and email. You should avoid using unnecessary details such as children's names.
Education - Including names and addresses of institutions and dates attended, along with grades and awards attained. Include computer and foreign language skills and any other development, training or qualifications.
Employment History - Should be in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent role. Achievements, targets, actual performance and responsibilities should all be included. More emphasis should be put on more recent roles.
Skills – A comprehensive list of all the skills you have to offer. This is often the section employers will look at first. Use all relevant ‘keywords' to make your CV stand out. This could include products or services sold, turnover achieved, customers dealt with, software packages you are familiar with, equipment you have received training on etc.
Hobbies and Interests - Should be kept short.
References - Can either be full or ‘available on request'
General CV Hints:
- The layout should be neat, clean and uncluttered.
- You should try to restrict your CV to 2 or 3 pages.
- Photographs of you are not required.
- Never lie on a CV.
- Always explain any career gaps.
- Be concise, don't write lengthy paragraphs.
- A good covering letter should always be included with any application.
- Your CV should be tailored for individual job applications.
- Carefully check for any grammatical/spelling errors. Try and get somebody else to check it for you too.
- Do not rely purely on a spell checker.
- Your CV should be laser printed in black ink on plain white/cream A4 paper. Print covering letters on the same paper.
- Decorative patterns and borders should be avoided.
- If sending by post, write the address clearly on a suitably sized envelope and ensure that you affix the correct value stamps.
- If sending by email make sure it is properly formatted by sending to yourself first.
Example CV:
We are currently developing this section to include a number of downloadable CVs on which you can base your own.