CV HELP
What Makes a Strong CV?
The purpose of your CV is primarily to sell you and your abilities to a prospective employer: it is a thumbnail sketch not an autobiography!
Use it to draw attention to your strengths. Your aim is to get in front of an employer at an interview: it is at that point you can go into detail.
It needs to:
State what you can do and why they should talk to you. Include your educational and occupational background and explain your ability to perform the job for which you are applying. Indicate your potential for future success by evaluating your past successes.
Follow these rules:
Keep it simple: don't clutter it with irrelevant facts word process it, ensure it is free of errors and avoid duplications keep it honest
Start points with purposeful verbs such as: Achieved, Gained, Learned, Served, Responsible for, Arranged, Encouraged etc
The basic elements in a CV are as follows:
Personal Details
Your name, address, phone numbers and email address.
Personal profile: this is your opportunity to 'sell' yourself. Make it clear, concise and dynamic. State your skills and competencies; what you can offer as opposed to what you want. Make frequent use of active verbs, ie: Achieved, Set up, Managed, Attained, Responsible for, Led.
Achievements:List up to 5 achievements, remember you want to add value to a company. Define and explain the skills like this:
Customer Service: Developed Customer Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to enhance customer experience for new and existing customers, which led to a 3% increase in renewals and a 2.5% increase in value of units sold.
Use bullet points to emphasise the key successes in your life.
Education
Emphasise the highest levels achieved by showing grades (and some detail if relevant): e.g. if you have achieved an HND then the number of passes in lesser qualifications such as GCSEs is all that is required.
If you have been in the job market for less than two years, give equal attention to other achievements while at University etc. Captain of the debating team, student union rep, set designer for the university play all show you to be enthusiastic, a self-starter and full of initiative.
Career Summary
Focus on the skills and experience that you have from present and previous employment that support your skills list above. List your employment history in reverse order, starting with your most recent job first. List your employment history like this:
Job Title From-to dates Company Name
Include full and part-time jobs, academic research, work placements and volunteer work. Use bullets to list accomplishments, skills and duties.
Do not leave any gaps in time. If you were not working for a while, state why and what you did during that time. If you are looking for your first job, list any RELEVANT work experience, paid or unpaid.
Qualifications and Training Courses attended
List all significant training courses that you have participated in. Where they were in-house make this clear, and indicate grades where appropriate (eg Credit, Distinction etc.). Forward thinking employers are looking for candidates who take responsibility for their own personal development - no training is a waste of time. IT languages or software that you are experienced in using should also be briefly listed.
Activities and awards
List professional, academic or community awards or organisation memberships (especially if you've held a position of responsibility). If you have more than one point in a specific field e.g. music or sport, then give sub-headings so it is easier to read.
Keep the structure of your CV simple, details can be discussed at interview stage.
Further Hints and Tips
Tailor your CV to the individual company
Research your target company - look at their website. Recruiters can spot a mass mailing a mile off.
Be honest
Lying on your CV is a waste of your time and that of your prospective employer. Adding six months to your time in a job can seem like a good idea, but if you are caught out you will have lost the job. Be positive and accurate: if you think the three summers you spent working for a charity in France show your knowledge of the country and its culture - then say so.
Don't overcrowd your CV
Make sure your CV is well presented and readable. The prospective employer needs to be able to find the key information quickly. Bullet points can help in summarising achievements that can be expanded on at an interview. If your prospective employer has to work hard to read your CV, they will quickly lose interest.
Spelling
Typing mistakes and grammatical errors can mean your CV goes straight in the bin. No employer will want to hire someone who can't be bothered to check their own work. Don't rely on the spell check to pick up any mistakes. Read it over thoroughly when you think you have finished.
Two pairs of eyes
A fresh eye is useful to spot mistakes or offer suggestions. Ask a trusted friend to read through the CV when you think it is ready. Do not expect to complete your CV in one sitting - always go back to it after a couple of days.
References
Check with referees before you use their names. Ensure that the person has not moved on and will say positive things about you. The best people to use for references are your most recent employers. If you have recently left college a professor or teacher at your college/university can be given - choose someone who knows how you react in a working environment.
Project experience can be more important than employment history
The rate at which people change jobs in the new economy is increasing all the time and this has affected how employers measure experience. Project experience is now more important than employment history for some employers. Employers are looking for people who have worked on projects from conception through to product launch and, in doing so, have demonstrated the flexible skills that many companies now value most.
As a candidate, you have to react to the changing focus of recruiters. Instead of submitting a classic, chronological CV - structured around employment dates and position held - try restructuring your CV around the most important projects you have worked on. This can be particularly effective if you have been a contract or temporary worker. You could even attempt to 'brand' yourself with the projects or experiences you have found most fulfilling. By using your CV to promote the importance of projects you enjoyed, you increase your chances of finding similar work in the future.