CV Help

Competition for jobs is tougher than ever. Many vacancies receive over 100 responses and a recruiter will spend an average of 30 seconds considering your CV.

So in order to make an impact it is crucial that your CV immediately highlights exactly what the recruiter is looking for. Your CV is your personal sales brochure. It is your opportunity to show yourself in the best light to a potential employer and convince them that you are the right person for the job.

So how do you ensure your CV makes the right impression?

As a professional CV writing service, CV Studio are experts in the preparation of well written CVs. We have used this wealth of experience to provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to write a winning CV. This includes the dos and just as importantly the don’ts that we advise you to consider when writing your CV.

Length

A common mistake when preparing your own CV is to make it too long. When asked, employers will emphasise the need to keep a professional CV as short as possible and in most instances no more than two pages.

Appearance

Recruiters want your CV to be both professional and inviting to read. To do this you should include plenty of white space and use a suitable font and font size. Arial and Times New Roman are a safe choice and a font size of 11 or 12 works best. Only write in black and ensure your CV is printed on a good quality white paper (laser printed if possible).

Content

CVs should include most or all of the following sections:

• Professional Profile
• Objective
• Career Summary
• Education
• Other Skills
• Interests

And usually in that order. Only write what is necessary and relevant – if you cannot prioritise the information on your CV how will you be able to prioritise in your job?

Ensure essential items such as your contact details are clearly displayed at the top of your CV. Make sure all your contact details are up to date and correct.

So what should each section of the CV include?

Professional Profile

The professional profile is an overview of your key skills and attributes to be expanded upon throughout the CV. If you are targeting your CV towards a certain position or industry it can be very useful to highlight the specific skills you hold that relate to the required criteria for the role.

Objective Statement

The purpose of an objective statement is to state the type of position you desire and your career goals. To really make the most of this section try to look at the structure of the statement from a “what’s in it for the employer” angle.

Career Summary

In the career section you must back up key skills and abilities with actual achievements. By supporting everything you say about yourself with evidence of real life successes your CV becomes far more credible. Recruiters hate “CV Jargon” – use of descriptive phrases without any hard evidence to back up your claims!

Employment history should be listed before education unless you are a graduate or school leaver with little or no career history.

You should list your most recent job first and always include the employer’s name, your dates of employment and the position held.

Education

Include the type of qualification, place of study and the year the qualification was gained. Try to keep this section relevant. If you have A Levels don’t list all your GCSEs/O Levels or if you have a degree do not include your A Level grades unless the grades are all A-Bs.

Interests & Activities

Do not fall into the trap of writing too much in this section. Trends are moving more and more towards American style Resumes which omit this information altogether.

References

Do not include details of references on your CV. Create a separate sheet for this information and indicate whether the referee is in a personal or professional capacity.

Tailor your CV to a specific role

A common error is to send identical versions of your CV to multiple employers. Targeting your CV to a specific job (even if it is in the form of a speculative application to a company you would like to work for) can reap far greater success. The key is to research as much as you can about the employer and role you are applying for to ensure you highlight the specific skills, experience and personal traits they are looking for. Try to gain an understanding of what they like and don’t like and if possible use relevant key words in your CV that you have picked out from the job description you are applying for.

Remember: keep it short, concise and clear.