Career Advice - CV Writing

Having an effective CV is crucial. This is the key to getting yourself an interview. If you consider that a recruiter is likely to look at your CV for no longer than 20 to 30 seconds, the content of page one will almost certainly decide whether or not you get an interview. First impressions count.

CV dos and don'ts

Preparing your CV may seem a daunting prospect, but if you do it well it is one of the best investments in time and effort that you can make.

Before writing your CV, think carefully about your unique strengths and where you think they would be best applied. This exercise will boost your confidence and give you an insight into the career you want to pursue.

Remember: the purpose of the CV is to get you an interview, not the job. You do not need to tell the recruiter everything at this stage. Concentrate on what is absolutely relevant to the job or organisation you are applying for.

Do:

• Think about the attributes the employer is looking for. Commonly quoted attributes are team-working, problem-solving, analysis, self-motivation, organisation, leadership qualities, communication, interpersonal skills and IT skills. You may find a list of the main attributes quoted in the job advert. What others can you think of that apply to you?
• Assess your skills, achievements and experience
• Give examples of how you have used these strengths and relate them to what the recruiter is looking for
• Think about key achievements in your career to date; think about what you did, how you did it and the result – your achievement
• Use a format that is tidy, easy to read and clear; you should prioritise your key skills and achievements on page one of the CV, as these are your main 'selling' points
  Get someone to check your grammar, punctuation and spelling – you only get one chance to make a first impression!
• Keep your CV regularly updated with key points and achievements

Don't:

• Use elaborate fonts, overlarge text or lots of bold and underlining – many companies scan CVs these days and you do not want to make yours unscanable; unless you are a graphic design whizz, limit yourself to two sides of plainly and simply presented white A4
• Be over modest – if you will not 'sell' your achievements how is the recruiter supposed to discover how great you are?
• Be over boastful either – some people feel that referring to yourself in the third person softens the message and makes you sound less of a bighead
• Lie or exaggerate under any circumstances – the truth has a habit of outing and if you get caught lying you will find it very hard to live down
• Include irrelevant pieces of information – for example, strip out very personal information or references to skills with no relevance to your target job; your perseverance with your paper-round through a terrible winter may show character, but has no real bearing on whether you can actually fill that management post
• State your salary expectations – at this stage you only want to demonstrate why they should interview, not to try and find out what's in it for you

So, in light of the above, ask yourself these questions about your CV:

• Are you being invited to interview regularly – once or twice a week?
• Is your CV good enough to allow you to apply for jobs for which you lack the relevant experience?
• Have you included all relevant information on your CV whilst still keeping the document to two pages?
• Are you able to write a CV that will do justice to your skills and achievements?

If you answered 'no' to any of the above, you may benefit from accessing the Online Career Service or speaking to an Advisor at Fairplace. The team at Fairplace is dedicated in providing you with a first class CV-writing service. Our model of an effective CV really works, as shown by the improved application-to-interview ratio of our clients and feedback from members.

The Online Careers Service is available to members only - click here to join now

Related Links

• Job Hunting
• CV Writing
• Applications and Covering Letters
• Interviews
• Top Tips