CV Surgery

Writing a great CV

Your CV is the key to getting an interview - so it needs to be bold, concise and clear. Don't feel the need to cram it full with your life history as you’ll hopefully be given the chance to expand on it in the interview room. Keep it to two sides of A4 and use bullet point lists to keep it snappy and to-the-point.

Here are the main sections to include-

  • Personal details - include your name, address, and contact details. Make sure you have a suitable email address and not one based on an embarrassing nickname.
  • Career profile - a few lines to describe your career so far, any achievements in your current job and your aims. This should be written to appeal to the employer, so think hard about the job and where you hope it may lead. If you are not yet too sure about your hopes for the future, then talk more generally about the area in which you hope to work.
  • Employment History - list your previous employers, beginning with the most recent, and include your job title and the dates of your employment. You should also include a few bullet points about each job to list your responsibilities or any particular targets or success that you achieved - try to be as specific as possible with each job.
  • Education and skills– again list your education history in order, beginning with the most recent school, college or university. Don’t feel you have to list every single exam result back to GCSEs, but instead think about which elements of your education will be most relevant to the job.  If you have any particular qualifications that are vital for the job then make them easy to spot.
  • Referees - You should choose two referees who you know are willing to give you a glowing reference. Ideally, one should be your present or most recent boss and another could be another former employer or a tutor from school, college or University.

Check, double-check, then triple-check your CV. Then ask someone else to check it. There’s no excuse for mistakes and computer spell-checkers only do half the job.

Finally... be honest. If there are gaps, half-truths or suspiciously impressive qualifications, then employers are bound to notice them and put you on the spot.