Your CV

How to put Together a CV

What should a CV be?

Your CV or Curriculum Vitae is a way for you to introduce yourself to prospective employers and document the personal qualities that you have to offer to them. As well as providing an insight into your previous qualifications and experience, it should show the employer the skills and qualities you have that will match the role being applied for. Additionally, it should act as a guide to where your aspirations lie for the future. This document is only a guide, the key is to incorporate all of the necessary elements, follow the conventions, and then incorporate your own individuality.

What to Include

The categories listed below are often included in CV's or resumés but you don’t have to include all of them and you can add other categories that are not listed here. The basic rule is that your own unique educational and work experiences should be presented to best effect.

Personal details

• Name, home address, college address, phone number (a daytime phone number is most important, include your mobile number if you have one), email address, date of birth.
• Date of birth and nationality: employers are not allowed to discriminate, but putting these details down saves them having to ask you. If you are not a citizen of the country in which you are applying special arrangements may have to be made.

Introduction

• Sum up your key qualities and include your aims.
• Write a positive objective statement clarifying where you want your career to go, avoid any negative language in your CV.

Previous employment

• Write in reverse chronological order, including starting and leaving dates for each position. Include concise details of what the job entailed, your responsibilities and what you achieved in the role. Make sure that you mention skills which may be useful in the job for which you are now applying
• State the company’s name maybe a brief description of what the company does if it’s not obvious. You might give a title for your job (and perhaps a department name) on another line.
• Use active verbs to describe your achievements, for example "I have experience in… I am trained in… I managed... I developed, I co-ordinated etc. Bullet point these at the start of a sentence for maximum impact.

Education

• In reverse chronological order (most recent education first) list all of your grades with the name of institution and date they were awarded. Include any special project, thesis, or dissertation work. List only the academic centres where a qualification was earned.
• There is no need to list all of your O-Level/GCSE subjects, simply write e.g. 10 GCSE's A-C including Mathematics and English.

Work experience

• List your most recent experience first. Give the name of your employer, job title, and very important, what you actually did and achieved in that job. Part-time work should be included.

Interests

• They will be particularly interested in activities where you have leadership or responsibility, or which involve you in relating to others in a team. Team events indicate that you are a team player, a one-person hobby may be of less interest to them unless it connects with the work you wish to do. Other activities such as Scouting, CCF, Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme show commitment and the fact you are not adverse to a challenge. Give only enough detail to explain.
• If you have published any articles, jointly or by yourself, give details. If you like reading say whom you favourite author is.
• If you have been involved in any type of volunteer work, do give details.

Skills

• Ability in other languages, computing experience, or possession of a driving licence should be included, if it’s clean, say so. For computing skills make sure you mention the packages you have used such as Microsoft Word.

References

• Two names are usually given - one from your place of study, and one from any work situation you have had. Or if this does not apply, then an older family friend who has known you for some time. Make sure that referees are willing to give you a reference. Give their day and evening phone numbers if possible.

CV Format

• Use a word processor to write your CV, make sure its well laid out and printed on a good quality printer with good quality paper.
• It should be no longer than two sides of A4 and the most important information ought to be on page one. Do not print on both sides of the paper.
• It is crucial to keep things concise because you will probably find that two pages provide not a lot of room to include all of your details, intelligent formatting is required. Make the layout clear, logical and not cluttered, use sensible margin spacing.
• Bulleted paragraphs are a good way to save space and add impact to statements, as are bold and underline print for headings. Do not use lots of different font types and sizes.
• Titles are required so that an employer can instantly see just what he/she wants to read. But try to avoid using formulaic titles such as Skills, Objectives, Profile, Introduction etc. Instead use a few sensible broad headings, 'Career', 'Personal', 'Professional'.
• Tailor your CV to each separate position when possible by carrying out some research into the company (the easiest way to do this is to look at their website).
• Look at the job(s) that you are applying for. Consider how your skills, education, and experience compare with the skills that the job requires. How much information do you have about the job description? Sometimes employers do not give enough information. Ask for more detail if needed.
• Work out what qualifications, experience, and skills are required for the job and think of what you have done that matches those attributes.
• Get someone else to read your CV for a second opinion; you may have missed some grammatical or spelling errors. What you have written may seem simple and obvious to you, but not to an employer!
• Use the spell check.
• An employer is going to be less interested in someone who has apparently drifted from job to job, perhaps across sectors. There should be some consistency and progression so that your career seems planned. Employers prefer candidates who are targeted and focused who know what they want and where they are heading. Your CV should reflect this considered progression
• Always be honest, do not write anything in your CV that you would not feel comfortable talking about at an interview.