Writing your CV
On average you have 20 seconds to make an impact with your CV. It's important, therefore, to grab the reader's attention quickly. The following tips are designed to help you make a great first impression and give you the best possible chance of success.
As well as some general tips on writing a CV you'll also find free CV templates to help you decide on the format and layout.
General Tips
1 Personalise - reflect your personality through your CV, let the reader know who you are, try to stand out from the crowd.
2 Clarity - Keep it clear, concise (2 pages) and relevent to the position you are applying for. Be prepared to adapt your CV to the job or company in question. Address the prospective employer's needs and wants.
3 Paper - Use good quality paper (100gsm) if submitting hard copy.
4 Layout - use bullet points, headings and spaces to present the information clearly. Leave good margins for the reader to make notes. Make sure all important information is to the left of the page and keep dates to the right.
5 Accuracy - it goes without saying that the content should be accurate and truthful, and that grammar and spelling should be correct.
6 Sell yourself - keep your CV positive, focus on your strengths, avoid negative comments, or anything that could be construed as negative i.e. don't mention reason for leaving, don't show gaps in employment, don't refer to weaknesses
7 Focus on Skills and Achievements - give examples of where you have demonstrated your skills and quantify the benefits of your achievements. Focus on specific skills, competencies and achievements that are relevent to the job.
8 Personal profile - consider including a brief profile describing who you are and what you offer. This should be backed up with evidence elsewhere in the CV. eg if you claim to be customer focused then include an example of where you have demonstrated this in the main body of the CV.
9 Action verbs - use action verbs for greater impact at the beginning of sentences eg Completed, Developed, Implemented, Increased, Managed, Reduced, Trained.
10 Avoid jargon, cliches, vague or lengthy statements and anything that cannot be substantiated at interview.
Additional tips on selling yourself online:
- Don't send your CV as an attachment - paste it into the body of the email. Employers often ignore attachments because they worry about viruses and don't want to waste time with files their computer can't translate.
- Include a subject line, which may include the reference number of a specific job, or a description of your skills, if you're submitting information to a database.
- Use nouns - online information is often scanned by computers to comb the text for words that indicate job titles, technical skills and levels of education or experience. Most of these words are nouns rather than verbs.
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Use buzzwords - they are the key to an online application. Computer
screening systems often rank CVs by the number of buzzwords in them,
so don't forget to include them.
Find
out more
For more help and support call 020 8546 4012 or email us at info@deniseparker.com
"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Free CV Template - chronological