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CV essentials guide

 

An appealing CV is your access key to the job market. It's your personal marketing factsheet, designed to win interviews and launch a great career! 

 

It's built from two key life experiences - education and work. Your skills and mind-set resulting from these two events are what the hirer mainly wants to know. So, written with that reader in mind, the most effective CV's are easy to follow, informative and limited to two pages!

 

Before you "go live", websearch the "how to write an effective CV" guides, prepare a draft and get a second opinion. 

With CV's, "near perfect" is good.....and always remember, you only get one, (brief) chance to hook the hirer! 

 

The essential three elements in a CV are:

  1. Personal data

  2. Education/training/IT skills

  3. Career experience 

 

All three need to feature on page one, with additional education (if relevant) and career experience detailed more fully

on page two. Page One needs impact to create reader interest and tempt them to turn the page! 

 

CV essentials include:

 

  • White A4 paper, black type, consistent simple font, readable line spacing, free "white space", no "selfies!"

  • Be consistent, use 11 or 12 point type, 14 for headings, use italics and bold more than underlining.

  • Use full name and gender as title, not "Curriculum Vitae"......that's fairly obvious! Bold type, 14 point.

  • Personal detail - full address, postcode, contact numbers (mobile + landline), emails (simple/sensible). Nationality.

  • Profile - a thumbnail sketch of key skills, qualifications, experience, achievements, aspirations, availability.

  • Education - GCSE's, then A levels, then Degree. Dates on left, school and location centred, results on the line below. Graduates need not list all GCSE's, just A levels and main Degree course units and dissertation if relevant.      Use a similar format  for post-graduate and professional studies, further qualifications, CPD etc.

  • IT skills - list of software/hardware/systems/languages etc. and degree of competency.

  • Career profile - listed in reverse chronological order, dates on left, company and location centred, job title on the line below. Use bullets, be descriptive, use verbs. Focus on tasks and competencies, achievements, detail how you met deadlines and delivered, effected change, improved processes, cut budgets, raised revenues, added value etc.

  • Consider leadership, supervision, team motivation, workforce planning, recruitment, training, performance reviews.

  • Highlight experience relevant to the new job search and edit JD's more than 10 years old. Use the space for more current and relevant roles to improve the chance of interview success.

  • Aim to create "I made it happen" impact and a "buy now" factor, use positive language for a more inspiring read.

  • Most importantly, check spelling and grammar...then double check it! Then have a friend proof-read it.

  • Hobbies - ideally, team based, interactive and safe - i.e. not those that involve regular hospital stays! 

  • References - "available on request". Do not offer full referee details until asked.

 

We think you'll find the following career related links useful too - highlight the link, right hand click and select Go to.

 

  1. for career planning, CV's & cover letters,  interview technique:

 

   2.  for job search:

 

  3.  for travel connections and maps:

 

call us now and boost your chance of career success!

 

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