It is a personal document which will market your skills to potential employers. The aim of a CV is to convince an employer that they should invite you for an interview because you have the skills that are required for the job. The reality is that you have less than 30 seconds to make an impression with your CV. Here are some simple guidelines that will help make your CV stand out:
Headings should be clear and accurate. Use white spaces and bullet points to help the prospective employer find all the key areas of your CV easily. Do not use borders, patterns, extravagant fonts or photographs.
2 pages is a good guide. If it is too long it may not be read. Include minimal detail for IT experience that is over 5 years old. By cutting down on quantity the quality of experience should improve.
There should be no spelling mistakes, typos or bad grammar. Run your document through spell and grammar checks, then get a trusted third party to proof read.
Take time to think about the content of your CV. Be concise and honest. Personal details full name, address, email address, daytime/ evening and mobile numbers and nationality. Your nationality is vital to establish whether you are likely to need a work permit.
This will frame the reader’s impression of you as it is the first thing they will read. It should be a brief outline of your professional status with career highlights and ambitions, no more than 3 or 4 lines in length.
Put your schooling in reverse chronological order. List your qualifications, grades, where and when they where achieved. For those with degrees and above, O Level/ GCSE subjects are immaterial but the number should be listed.
Professional qualifications, memberships of professional bodies’ etc. should be included.
List any appropriate training courses you have taken and any qualifications resulting from them.
List in reverse chronological order with most recent position first. Your CV should focus on your last two positions and your responsibilities and achievements in them. Home in on concise and specific descriptions of skills but leave out IT literacy for a separate section. Try to quantify your achievements. Concrete facts come across much better in CVs than generalisations.
You should include all operating systems, programming languages, platforms and software languages you are familiar with, and the depth of expertise that you have in each.
Include a brief list of your main hobbies and interests including any leadership or team experience outside of work. If you have language skills include fluency level.
By simply stating ‘available on request’ you can save yourself space for other sections of your CV.
Please contact us if you would like more advice or help with your next career move. Call Refreshing Recruitment on 01297 631777.