Jan 17th, 2012
Preparing your CV
A well presented CV should detail your experience and skills and it’s important to take the time to get it right as it could mean the difference between you getting the job want or not. So give your CV plenty of thought before sending it out.
Structure
Your CV should be no more than 2 pages long, easy to read, with headings that represent the content that follows them, printed on standard white to good quality paper, and have the following sections included:
- Personal Details
- Employment History
- Education and Qualifications
- Key Skills/Strengths
- Referees/References on Request
While 1-2 pages may not seem like a lot, it’s as much as more companies will entertain. Also, it’s a good exercise for you to try and condense your entire CV down to fit that length, as it helps ensure you don’t leave in unneeded text.
Format
- Ensure your CV layout is easy to read and leave plenty of white space so it does not look too busy.
- Make sure you are consistent with the font and different font styling you use. Potential employers are seldom impressed that you managed to use five different fonts, with fancy effects, all different sizes and colors. Keep it simple, and keep it professional looking.
- Use a standard font size, which is easy to read, such as Arial 10.
- Keep it simple, don’t include anything in the format that is not required, like photos of your kids or pets, or whatever.
Content
- When possible, it is advisable to include only information that is relevant to your own career goals and the specific job you are applying for.
- Use concise and understandable. Do not over exaggerate your skills or experience, and avoid using a flowery writing style.
- Do not make false claims.
- Use Bullet points to emphasize your relevant skills and experience. This also helps to make the CV easier to read and break up continuous text.
- Include your past accomplishments, and mention the skills you used to get the results.
- Put your highest level of education first.
- Put your most recent job first and work backward.
- Ensure all dates are accurate and where possible include months as well as years.
- If you are making a career change, highlight what skills are transferable to support your new career objectives.
- Explain any long career gaps.
- Keep to the same tense.
- Customise your CV for specific vacancies to improve your chances of being called for interviews.
Final Notes:
Thoroughly proof-read your CV and ask someone else to do the same. These days, many CV’s are emailed to potential employers, but before doing so make sure you print out a copy for proof-reading. I have ALWAYS found typos or grammatical errors in my own CV’s and those of others when printing it out. For some reason they become more obvious in printed format.
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