CVs

 

What is a CV?

A CV, curriculum vitae or resume acts as a sales document. Its job is to sell you to an employer. In its most basic form, it’s a list of your achievements including your education, qualifications, work experience and skills. It can be a very powerful sales tool.  Its function is to secure you an interview, but its form can take many shapes depending upon the level of your education, the breadth of your experience and the depth of your skills. The order in which you present this information on your CV will vary, and is crucial in bringing to the employer’s attention, quickly and easily, the qualifications, experience and skills that are most relevant to them.

What should a CV look like?

There are many different styles you can use when writing your CV. The ' right' style for you is the one that sells your skills and experience in the best way to an employer, and is appropriate for the job you are applying for. The three most common styles of CV are: traditional (or chronological), skills-based, and academic. Looking at different formats will help you understand the ground rules and general principles of designing your own winning CV. But because job hunting is an “organic” process, you don’t have to stick to these particular styles. You can create your own style which could be a hybrid of, say, a chronological CV and a skills-based CV (see the examples). The main thing to remember is to ensure that any relevant information is placed on the first page. The minimum amount of information you should include on your CV is:

• name
  
• contact details
  
• profile
  
• education and qualifications
  
• work experience
  
• skills
  
• leisure interests
  
• referees
  

Additional pieces of information such as voluntary work, achievements, training courses or positions of responsibility can be included. But remember that you only have two pages, so you really only want to include information that is relevant to the duties of the job and the employer. So, one page or two? Generally in the UK a two page CV is the accepted format but there are exceptions to the rule. Sometimes an employer requests a one page CV, and recruitment agencies often prefer a one page CV due to the large number they receive each day. 

Styles of CV

Chronological

A traditional approach that lists educational and work achievements in reverse chronological date order. Relevant skills can be added to the employment section. This format shows progression through education and employment, and is useful for new graduates with work experience relevant to the job they are applying for. Use this for more traditional types of occupations, such as accountancy or law. If you have gaps in your employment history or a lot of information that might not be relevant to the employer, then the Skills format might be better to use.

Skills based

Skills based CVs can be particularly useful for students who do not have lots of relevant experience or for those people who are changing career direction. You normally list some of the skills that the employer is looking for, with your education and work experience following on. You then evidence the skills using examples from all areas of your life, including University, part-time work, gap year, voluntary work and leisure activities. This format does not normally follow date order and can therefore "hide" any periods of inactivity that a traditional CV might highlight.

To see a list of the top ten skills employers are looking for click here.

Academic

Are you thinking of applying for an academic teaching post, research post or for a post-graduate qualification? If the answer is yes then this is the style of CV you would use. The important thing is to highlight your academic-related activities. This is done by first listing your education and qualifications followed by teaching experience, research activities, publications and conference experience.

Of particular importance in relation to this type of CV:

• List relevant degree modules you have studied and/or taught.
• Describe your thesis or dissertation in detail. What did you do and how did you achieve it?
• Mention any special features of your course, for example, industrial visits, placements, IT packages, group work or presentations.

CV Wizard: 7 quick steps to building a CV

1. What should I put in it?

Analysing the job information is crucial to knowing what the employer wants from you. For example, what sort of experience are they looking for? Which skills are most important to them? What personality traits do they want? These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself in order to write your CV in the most appropriate style. The answers to these questions are in the literature provided by the employer, e.g. job advert, job description, or person specification. If this information is missing then use Prospects to search for the profile that best matches the job you want to apply for. 

2. Profile your USPs (Unique Selling Points)

After reading your CV employers will summarise it in terms of the key points. They will not necessarily read the whole thing, but scan it to pick out the relevant points of interest. In their own mind this creates an image of the CV owner. If this image fits with what they are looking for then you’ll be in with a good chance of an interview. A quick and easy way to pre-empt this image is to do the job for them. That is, create your own image. To do this, include a profile after your contact details. This will be one of the first things an employer reads and is very important. Again, you need to consider what the employer is looking for in terms of skills and experience. So your profile must be short and to the point, no more than 4 lines. Briefly explain: your current situation and what post you are applying for, any relevant experience and/or skills, and a little about how your personality fits in with what they are looking for.

3. Target your CV

Knowing the experience, skills, and personality traits the employer is looking for you can now start to “target” your CV. Make sure any experiences that match their requirements from University, employment, voluntary work, leisure interest etc. are on the front page.  This is something you will have to do for each and every job you apply for! It is hard but unavoidable work if you want to be successful in getting an interview. The order in which you present the information will change depending upon how relevant is to the job you are applying for. 

4. Impress the reader

When describing your work experience, avoid simply listing your duties. Add an extra dimension by describing results and accomplishments. For example, did you meet any sales targets? How large were the teams you worked in? How many customers did you serve in a day? Did you work with any well known clients/companies? You may not be able to provide exact detail but you could give a sense of scale, for example, served up to 300 customers a day, worked with some major high street retailers, or always exceeded sales targets by at least 10%.

5. Stimulate the reader

Start your sentences with action verbs to stimulate the reader's appetite to learn more about you. For example:

Inactive style:
My duties included serving customers at the bar. I had to handle cash and keep the area tidy. I had to work under pressure.

The above sentence is weak and vague. It has greater impact if rephrased using the style below, which highlights the skills used;

Active style:
Demonstrated good customer care skills by increasing number of regular customers
Received bonus payment as a result
Initiated happy hour promotion, resulting in 30% increase in sales
Took responsibility for supervising new temporary staff
To see a list of “action words” click here.

6. Get your CV checked

Once written, get someone to look over your CV. Don’t rely upon the spell checker as this won’t deal with spelling mistakes such as “their” when you mean “there”. Also, get them to summarise the key points and ask yourself “is this the message I’m trying to send?” 

7. Uploading a CV

This is a relatively new phenomena but one which is growing in popularity. When uploading your CV to a job hunting website, try and be as specific as possible about the type of job you want. This means you will be able to highlight the experience and skills that are required for this particular type of job.

CV hot tips leaflet.

Ten most common CV writing mistakes

CVs can suffer from some simple errors, here are some to avoid:

1. Too long: preferred length is two sides of A4 for an Employer or just one page of A4 for a Recruitment Agency.
   
   
2. Disorganised: information that is scattered around the page makes it hard to follow.  Remember that in the UK we read from left to right and top to bottom so the eye should be able to follow a logical pattern when reading your CV.
   
   
3. Poorly typed and printed CVs make them hard to read, creating an amateurish look.
   
   
4. Overwritten: long paragraphs and sentences take up too much room and can say too little.
   
   
5. Too sparse: giving only the bare essentials creates an impression of lack of experience.
   
   
6. Lack of results: gives the impression that the candidate has accomplished little.
   
   
7. Too many irrelevancies: a photo of yourself, your gender, your state of health, your marital status – none of these needed in the UK.
   
   
8. Incorrect spelling, typographical errors and poor grammar are common so make sure you get someone to proof read it for you.
   
   
9. Tries too hard: fancy typesetting and binders, photographs and exotic paper stocks distract from the clarity of the presentation.
   
   
10. Misdirected: ensure your application is addressed to the right person in the organisation.

 

That’s it for CVs. You should now be in a position to write your own winning CV. If you require any further help then try the Prospects website, or contact the Careers and Employment Centre staff directly.