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What you should remember is that your CV is an advert for you! So here
are 10 basic rules that should help you make it a real seller.
 Decide
on the best format
Keep
the presentation simple
Start
with a brief profile of yourself
List
your key skills
Deal
positively with career breaks
Include
buzzwords
Be
creative, but stick to the truth
Don’t
mention your current salary
Limit
personal information
You
don’t need to include references
1. Decide on the best format.
The traditional CV is arranged chronologically – you start with
your present or most recent job and work backwards giving names of companies,
job title, employment dates and a summary of your main duties.
A functional CV is where you divide your work experience into different
headings such as ‘administration’, ‘information technology’
and ‘customer services’ etc. This format may work better
for you if you have moved around, had career breaks or worked in different
fields.
If you’re applying for a specific kind of job, you might choose
a targeted CV where you focus mainly on your relevant experience in
that area.
2. Keep the
presentation simple.
Clean and simple presentation allows employers to concentrate on what
you have to say. Avoid fancy typefaces and complicated layout. The different
sections of your CV should be well spaced with wide margins to make
it quick and easy to read. Don’t make it longer than two pages.
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3. Start with a brief profile of yourself.
The best CVs start with a short (just a couple of sentences) ‘profile’
or ‘mission statement’ just below your contact details at
the top of your CV. This summarises what you have to offer, and sets
the tone for everything else in your CV. It should include your main
talents and aspirations for the future. Begin by listing your main strengths,
attitudes and plans and imagine you were reading them as a potential
employer. What would your first reaction be? Write in the third person
(as though you were talking about someone else): ‘An experienced
service adviser with a reputation for good communication skills…etc’.
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4. List your key skills.
Your profile can then be followed by a short list of bullet-pointed
key skills. This should show how your skills make you the perfect match
for the type of job you are going after. Use three of four snappy phrases
to highlight your most important responsibilities and achievements.
Include more information for your most recent posts. It is best not
to mention reasons for leaving past jobs on your CV. Even saying that
you left for better pay or prospects could make you a potential risk
as an employee. In case you are asked in an interview why you left jobs,
prepare answers that paint a positive picture.
If you have already left you last job, say something positive on your
CV such as ‘available immediately’.
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5.
Deal positively with career breaks.
Gaps in employment are a fact of life and should be handled positively
by drawing attention to what you have done rather than what you haven’t.
If you’ve had a career break to bring up children, say so on your
CV and mention any transferable skills you gained in the home or in
voluntary positions e.g. membership of the school PTA. Likewise, if
you’ve taken a career break to pursue a dream – such as
travelling the world or taking part in an archaeological dig –
identify how this has given you new skills and experience that could
benefit a prospective employer. If you’ve had a period of unemployment
remember that you don’t need to account for every month of your
life, so stick to years not months when giving employment dates. Prospective
employers don’t need to know about short periods of unemployment.
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6.
Include buzzwords.
Including carefully chosen professional jargon and industry buzzwords
can help to make your CV a winner, so long as you don’t go over
the top. Choose words that are positive rather than passive. Winning
words with employers include: accomplished, achieved, created, delivered,
demonstrated, generated, increased, initiated, negotiated, planned and
promoted.
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7.
Be creative, but stick to the truth.
It is a known fact that many CVs contain lies. If, however, you get
caught claiming qualifications you haven’t got etc your employment
contract could be terminated and you could even be taken to court. So
avoid lies and be cleverly creative with the truth instead. You can
mention the skills and experience you gained from a course even if you
failed some of the final exams. Likewise, you don’t need to mention
that a period with a top firm early in your career was voluntary work
experience! If you have been job-hopping, never staying long in one
place, this may not look good on your CV. An employer will think you
lack staying-power or the strength to face challenges and learn from
them, and would therefore be likely to leave again. The best thing to
do is stress that there was actually some continuity in what you were
doing. Try to emphasise that there was a career progression, or that
you were gathering the skills you needed, and are now ready and equipped
to make a long term contribution.
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8. Don't mention your current salary.
Employers don’t tend to pay people more than they have to. If,
therefore, you mention your current salary in your CV you could ruin
your chances of negotiating a good employment deal. You can only negotiate
your starting salary from a position of power – and you don’t
have any when you’re one of a long list of candidates applying
for a job. If you’re short-listed you are in a stronger position,
so leave salary discussions until as late as possible. It’s worth
remembering that your current salary may appear lower than your real
worth because you haven’t included your benefits - company car,
mobile phone, pension etc. You should add up the value of all these
benefits when deciding what overall package you want to achieve. You
will need to mention your salary or, at least, what you want to earn
to recruitment agencies or headhunters. But do this in a covering letter
rather than in your CV as the latter may be passed to employers.
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9. Limit personal information.
Should you mention your marital status and/or whether you have children?
Ask yourself the question, ‘Do they really need to know that at
the CV stage?’ The answer is only ‘yes’ if it would
affect the job in question. For example, some jobs involving a lot of
travel might best suit a single person. Always think about the worst
possible inferences of anything you include in your CV. You may think
that including details of your three children aged 6, 8 and 10 is a
good idea because it shows you’re multi-skilled and can work under
pressure. But an employer might worry about what will happen if there
are problems when the eldest comes to change schools. Similarly, it
isn’t necessarily relevant to mention a disability at the CV stage.
If your disability is visible, a good time to mention it is if you’re
invited to an interview. Otherwise, there is a danger you’ll be
remembered for your disability rather than your skills and experience.
Telling a prospective employer that you’re pregnant may mean your
CV ends up in the bin. While it’s unlawful for an employer to
take your pregnancy into account when deciding whether or not to offer
you a job, the earlier you tell them, the more difficult it is to prove
that pregnancy was the reason for rejection. If you’re obviously
pregnant, you may feel you need to discuss it at interview. Any personal
information you do include should be listed under ‘Personal Information’
on the back page of your CV. And don’t forget to use this space
to help the employed get a more rounded picture of you. Be imaginative
and specific in your hobbies section. Mentioning that you’ve been
a member of a classic car club for 10 years sounds much better than
‘I’m interested in old cars’.
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10. You don’t need to include references.
References can take up valuable space on your CV and may be seen as
irrelevant at this stage. After all, no one mentions a referee unless
they are likely to give a glowing report. Also, the referees you want
to include may well change depending on the jobs you apply for. So -
unless an employer has specifically requested references at the outset
- you can simply state, ‘References available on request’.
If you are offered the job, it will probably be on the condition that
references are satisfactory and the employer will ask for them at that
stage.
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