CV Tips & Advice

Your recruitment consultant can offer personal advice on setting out your CV to provide maximum impact and a positive impression,  for each of the employers you are applying for, but here are some general tips on preparing your CV.

CV Do's

·     Communicate your strengths, your achievements, your initiative and your personality; in short, your credibility and suitability. 

·     Put the greatest emphasis on your most recent positions. Summarise older roles. Include dates and months of employment for each. 

·     Include your competence in foreign languages (basic, good, fluent), but be honest. So, if you only have 'O-Level French', then you have 'basic French'. 

·     Be positive - don't be too modest and don't lie about your experience. Positive thinking is vital to secure your next position.

·     Tailor your CV to each job application. Tailor your CV to the company/department and position whenever possible.

CV Don'ts

·     A badly prepared CV undermines the credibility of its contents - you.

·     If you cannot produce a professional document about yourself, an employer may conclude that you are unlikely to have the competence to fill an important job.

·     Don't make false/exaggerated claims: honesty is always the best policy. If the interviewer spots inconsistencies in your CV you won't be successful.

·     Don't enclose a picture. 

·     There is no need to include your 'hobbies'. If you have some outstanding achievements, then mention them

·     Do not include a salary - could hinder your negotiation ability after an interview.

Length

A CV should be as short and relevant as possible, and ideally a maximum of 2 pages. Make sure that every sentence is there to add value and there are no 'fillers'. Ask yourself, Why would they want to know that? If you cannot give yourself a good answer, then they probably don't.

 

Content

Clearly laid out CV's are best and can be split into key sections for easy reference - Personal Details, Career History, Education/Qualifications, Interests and References.

·     Personal Details - make sure you provide all your contact details, especially if you are moving in the near future. A mobile number is an advantage. 

·     Career History - don't just give the job title. Explain each role and the responsibilities it involved. Don't leave any gaps as you will be questioned on these in an interview.   Also a brief overview of what the company does is useful.

·     Education/Qualifications -start with the most recent, and only give relevant qualifications. 

·     Interests - as with the Career History section, expand on activities to show the benefits you have received. 

·     References - ensure that an employer can contact a referee quickly, especially if they are in another country. Just giving an address can lead to a significant delay - give fax, phone or email details if at all possible

General  tips

1.  These days you can write your CV in the first person (i.e. I have) or the third person (i.e. he/she has). However, you do not need to use 'I', 'he' or 'she' in a CV because its use is implied.

2.  Do mention things you are good at, but do not go over the top. You can oversell yourself.

3.  Don't mention things that you are bad at or say negative things about yourself in your CV.

4.  Make sure that the CV you write conjures up the right image of you and your skills, capabilities and achievements. If you do not match the picture you have painted with your CV at the interview, then your application will not be taken further.

5.  Be careful when you use abbreviations - they can be misunderstood.

6.  If you are not happy with your CV or you only seem to get rejection letters then please get a professional CV writing service to write it for you. Yes, you will have to pay for it. But, it could save you a lot of time, lead to you getting less rejection letters and hopefully you should get an interview that much quicker.

 

Personal Details

Your full name, address, home telephone number, date of birth, marital status (put only single or married down on your CV, if you are divorced then put single, if you are separated you are still married. Nationality (you may want to include this if you are applying for jobs abroad or if you are a British/EU national and your name does not sound British). Do you have a full driving licence? Is it clean?

Education / Qualifications

List your qualifications and education history, for example:

·     BSc (Hons) 2.2 in Biochemistry at the University of Warwick, 1980 - 1983.

·     GCE A Levels: Maths [C], Biology [B], Chemistry [C] at Farnham School, 1978 - 1980.

·     GCE O Levels (or GCSEs if you did them): Maths [B], English Language [C], History [C], Geography [C], French [C], Chemistry [C], Biology [C] at Farnham School, 1973 - 1978.

If you have a degree you probably will not need to list all your O Levels/GCSEs; just listing the number is probably sufficient.

Professional Qualifications

List your professional qualifications, membership of professional associations and professional ID numbers.

If you recently completed a college or university degree or HND or Diploma, etc, then you may want to list the courses you studied if the subject you studied was relevant to your target job.

Training Courses

List any work related training courses which you attended, including company courses and any you attended on your own initiative. If you obtained a qualification on any course please list it. You only need to list the important courses you attended.

 

Work Experience

If you have been working for a number of years you probably do not need to include any part-time jobs, vacation jobs, voluntary work or unpaid work experience. Charity work could be included in your interests. However you might want to include these jobs if they covered a period of unemployment, or a time when you were not working for any other reason, or you feel that some of the experience you gained will be useful in your next job. You should normally concentrate on your two most recent jobs (unless you were only there for a short time), because employers are usually most interested in these.

 

Start with your most recent or last job and work backwards. For each position (treat internal promotion as a new job and record the dates separately) list your job title (e.g. Manager, Supervisor, etc), the job title of the person you reported to (e.g. Director, Manager, etc) and when you started and finished in each job. Give the name of the company and include a brief description of the service they provide (using the terms they would use to describe themselves). Set out your main responsibilities, achievements, duties, and skills that could be transferred to another employer. Be specific and positive about your skills, e.g. 'good written skills' may be a better description of your abilities rather than 'good communication skills'.

 

Include your level of responsibility if any, e.g. 'responsibility for departmental budget of £100K and managed 10 staff'. In particular list any achievements you had in each position, including increases in sales/productivity and cost savings made. Quantify your achievements if possible. 'Increased sales by £100K' is more interesting and positive than just saying 'Increased sales'. You should try to include some achievements such as meeting deadlines, budgets, etc, and any information that may be relevant to your next job.

 

Major Achievements

When you are listing your achievements in this section, only list 3 to 6 of your most important work achievements; your other achievements can be described under the work experience section. You should only list achievements which are relevant to your next job and indicate how you achieved them.

This section is very important as an employer will only invite you for an interview if they can see a benefit in doing so. Your achievements may sell you to an employer and make them choose you for an interview rather than someone else. For this reason it is vital that you think carefully about your achievements.

Other Experience

List any computer skills you have, including the make and type of equipment you are familiar with, the software and operating system used, e.g. IBM compatible PC, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Office 97.

If you have foreign language skills which may be relevant for any jobs which you are applying for, please list them and indicate whether your skills are spoken, written, business or technical. Please also indicate your level of fluency: fluent, good working knowledge, etc. You should only list these skills if they are relevant to the jobs you are applying for as no one really wants to hear about a French language course you did at school a long time ago.

If relevant to your next job please include your typing or shorthand speeds.

Interests / Hobbies

List your interests, hobbies and any sports you play. List any positions of responsibility you hold or have held in any club or organisation, and say what your responsibilities and achievements were.

References

You do not normally need to list referees on a CV, but it is a good idea to think about whom you could ask now. For some professions however it is normal to list referees; these include the teaching and health service (NHS) professions - your referees in these professions are often asked to provide you with a reference before you are even asked to an interview.

Summary

List your major skills, strengths, personal qualities and achievements. Be specific, e.g. good team player, excellent written skills, versatile, able to motivate others, etc. Look at your staff appraisals or at your references

 

 

What should you leave out of your CV?

1.  Photos - the only people who need to include these are models, actors, actresses and possibly air cabin crew.

2.  Any sort of failure - exams, marriages, businesses, etc.

3.  Reasons for leaving each job.

4.  Salary information - this can only be used to reject your application. If an advertisement specifically requests this information you can always include the information in your cover letter.

5.  Fancy patterns/borders - these detract from your presentation

6.  Title pages, binders and folders are usually unnecessary and can be off-putting (though if you are doing a special presentation, enclosing your CV in a binder may look more impressive)

7.  Do not include a list of publications if you are a scientist, unless they are asked for.

8.  Leave out age (put in date of birth instead), weight, height, health, or any other personal information that is irrelevant to your application.

9.  Do not use poor quality photocopies of your CV - they make it look as though you are sending off your CV to lots of companies and that you may not be too bothered who you work

Selecting your CV format

 

To get yourself noticed it is important to use a CV format which will best represent you in the jobs market. There are any number of ways of laying out a CV, but these can in fact be reduced to 5 basic examples: Chronological CV (traditional approach - superseded by the Performance CV), Functional CV, Performance CV (an updated form of the Chronological CV), Targeted CV and Alternative CV. Each of these formats has its advantages and disadvantages (see below).

In general the Performance CV works best for most people, assuming that you are staying in the same field. If this format is unsuitable for you then you could try either the Functional or Targeted CV formats and see which reads/looks better for you. Even if you create a Performance CV for yourself, there are times when a Functional/Targeted CV may help you secure an interview when a Performance CV would fail.

Performance CV

In a Performance CV your employment history is shown in reverse chronological order, with your most recent job first. Job titles and company names are strongly emphasised and duties and achievements are described under each job title. You should use a Performance CV when you are seeking a job which is directly in line with your past experiences or your last employer was a household name. The only difference between a Chronological CV and a Performance CV is that the Performance CV highlights a list of your major achievements near the start of your CV.

Advantages:

1.  If you are planning to stay in the same field/work area.

2.  If you want to show-off your promotions.

3.  If the name of your last employer is highly prestigious.

4.  Most people prefer this format to the other formats listed here because it is easy to see who you have worked for and what you did in each particular job.

 

Disadvantages:

1.  If you are planning to change career direction.

2.  If you have frequently changed employer.

3.  If your work history has been patchy in recent years, either through unemployment, redundancy, self-employment, ill health, etc.

4.  If you do not have many achievements (you could just leave out the achievements section as in a traditional Chronological CV) or your achievements are not in line with what you want to do now - either leave out the achievements section or consider using a Functional or Targeted CV.

Functional CV

This type of CV highlights the main functions/achievements of your whole career and it can therefore be very useful if you have had a varied career or you are seeking a change of career direction. In this format, job titles and company names are given less dominance or even omitted in some cases.

Advantages:

1.  If you want to emphasise abilities and achievements that have not been used in your most recent job(s).

2.  If you are changing career direction.

3.  If you have had a large number of jobs and you would prefer to describe the experience you have gained in total.

4.  If you want to include voluntary/unpaid experience.

5.  If your work history has been patchy in recent years, either through unemployment, redundancy, self-employment, ill health, etc.

Disadvantages:

1.  If you want to highlight promotions/career growth - you could include this sort of information on the second page of your CV, but it would not be as prominent as on a Performance CV.

2.  If your most recent employer is highly prestigious, because their name will not be prominently displayed on the first page. You can get round this by putting their name in both the profile and cover letter.

3.  If your job has only a limited number of functions.

4.  Unusual CV format - may not be liked by everyone.

Targeted CV

This type of CV emphasises your abilities and achievements which are directly relevant to a specific job target. It is best used when you are planning a change of career direction.

Advantages:

1.  If you want to emphasise abilities and achievements that have not been used in your most recent job(s).

2.  If you are changing career direction.

3.  If you have had a large number of jobs and you would prefer to describe the experience you have gained in total.

4.  If you want to include voluntary/unpaid experience.

5.  If your work history has been patchy in recent years, either through unemployment, redundancy, self-employment, ill health, etc.

6.  If you have several completely different job targets and you need a CV for each.

Disadvantages:

1.  If you want to highlight promotions/career growth - you could include this sort of information on the second page of your CV, but it would not be as prominent as on a Performance CV.

2.  If your most recent employer is highly prestigious, because their name will not be prominently displayed on the first page. You can get round this by putting their name in both the profile and cover letter.

3.  Unusual CV format - may not be liked by everyone.

Alternative CV

This sort of CV is suitable for creative careers in, for example, writing, public relations and fashion designers. It is not suitable for senior managers/executives who would be better advised to use the Performance CV.

Advantages:

1.  If the job requires exceptional talent in either the written or visual mediums.

2.  If you will be applying directly to the person you will be working for.

 

Disadvantages:

1.  Not to be used if you are seeking a management position.

2.  If you are planning to apply through normal channels such as advertised vacancies/the Personnel Department.

3.  This CV format may fail utterly if your ideas are not well received by the recipient of your CV.

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