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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I see 100s of CVs a week.
There are a lot of job sites with templates.
DON'T write your DOB on your CV and I wouldn't include your references either, put "references available on request.
Begin with your contact details and then I'd have a section marked "profile" and write about yourself eg I am a hard working, reliable and mature individual, blah blah
Then go onto your employment history most recent first, start with the date, your job title and the name of the company, followed by a brief outline of your duties.
I wouldn't go on to much about hobbies and interests for this reason, someone I work with HATES dogs so people who put " spending time with my dog" gets a big no from her."
Bifemlincs has some very good advice.
I have owned a recruitment agency for more than 20 years. I am not claiming a better insight than anyone else but here is my perspective for what it's worth. This mostly relates to private sector CVs.
Use classic fonts such as Ariel, Helvetica or Times New Roman. NEVER use Comic Sans or handwriting-style typefaces.
Use the title Curriculum Vitae, not CV
Emailing: If possible, produce and send a PDF version as well a Microsoft Word version, a PDF is better as preserving your CV's layout on other computers
Postal version: Cover letter can be hand-written or printed.
If you are sending a CV speculatively rather than replying to a job advert, I personally would advise you find out the name of the relevant department manager and send it to them. rather than sending to HR in the first instance. Others may disagree.
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BIO
Don't call this section Bio!
Name, Address, telephone number, email address, driving licence,
Do not include date of birth, sex, religion, marital status or nationality because companies do not want to run the risk of being sued for discrimination if they reject your CV.
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PROFILE
Call it Profile or Introduction
Probably the only issue I would disagree with Bifemlincs is the use of the phrase "hard-working" etc in the profile section. *Everyone* says they are hard-working and thrive on a challenge. No employer would want to see anything other than these things in an employee so they have become cliches.
Be a bit more specific about your particular strengths and don't be afraid to big yourself up; what sounds like a boast when you say it, actually just looks confident when on paper.
Make the profile more specific to your job search. In effect the profile acts as a covering letter
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EMPLOYMENT
Call it Career Progression
An employer is buying your skills and experience, and especially the last few years of that experience so the bulk of your CV gives info on this with less detail as you work back in time.
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Start with most recent role, employer and dates of employment (if you are still in a job put date started to Present) and work backwards. If you have had several roles in one company, list them as well.
List your main responsibilities in bullet-point format, and then list some achievements in bullet-points.
Use "proactive words" such as:
control
manage
negotiate
plan
achieve
minimise
maximise
effective
analyse
Avoid acronyms if there is a chance they are not easily understood by the HR person
Achievements can be easily quantifiable things such as "reduced overheads by 23%" but they can also be less quantifiable, e.g. "encouraged a greater team sprit" etc etc.
If you have been working for a more than a couple of decades it is perfectly fine to simply list your very early jobs/employers/dates without descriptions of duties and achievements.
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QUALIFICATIONS
Start with professional qualifications then highest level academic details downwards.
If you have a degree, state the degree, grade, college and date attained. It is OK to just state how many A levels and O levels or equivalent, you do not need to name them.
If you finished at A, then name your A levels and grades, and how many O
If you finished at O, give the number you gained, e.g four, including Maths at grade B, two, including English at grade C.
HOBBIES
Call it Interests
Personally, I hardly pay any attention to this section but some HR bods think it's important. Again, avoid a cliched list and bear in mind Bifemlincs's advice.
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People say a CV should be no more than 2 pages. I disagree. If everything on the CV is informative, interesting and not repetition it is OK to go to 3 pages
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As an aside, In my experience the worst CV offenders are Italians and Yanks, the Italian versions are usually ridiculously brief and the US versions are so often full of business buzz-phrases that seem very impressive but actually tell you nothing.
Having spent time and effort on your CV be prepared for the employer to ask you to fill in an application form that asks for precisely the same information again!
Good luck |
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