Writing a great CV

For most hiring manager’s your CV is their first glimpse of you and this document is normally a major part the decision as to whether they interview you or not. It is worth spending your time ensuring it’s a true reflection of you and your career history. You should have a core CV that can be used for all roles you apply for, occasionally you may want to tweak bits when applying for specific roles, or include a covering letter to highlight different skills for that particular role.
 

Things your CV really should include:
 

Contact Details

Ensure that you have full contact details:

• Full name
• Phone number
• Address - this doesn’t have to be your full address but at least the town you live in.
• Email address - a professional sounding one is recommended.
• Linkedin link - make sure your CV and profile role dates match, an up to date profile picture, if you can get recommendations from former employers this is a great way of providing a reference in advance.

Company Information

It’s always good to add a little company information, what they do, services and products they provide, size of the company, it gives the reader some insight to where you are coming from and the environment you are working within. Never give away any confidential information.

Overview of Roles and Responsibilities

A summary of what you do or did in your day to day role, plus any notable achievements. Teams you may have managed, projects you were involved in, include anything you think a new hiring manager may need to know, but don’t give away anything that may be confidential.

Don’t let the reader assume from your job title your responsibilities and skills gained, be specific, for example - if you are a supervisor how many people reported into you, did you have to do regular appraisals, training etc?
 

If your work is project based, did you achieve the project on time within budget?
 

Qualifications and Training Courses

List all the qualifications you have starting with your highest to lowest, clients will normally want to see your highest and most relevant qualification first - don’t hide your degree half-way down the list.

• Level of qualification i.e. HNC, B-tech level 3
• What subject and be specific i.e. Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical or Dual
• Dates of the course
• Where you attended, whether that’s college, university or a working apprenticeship
• List all your relevant training courses and dates you have achieved

Hobbies, Personal Interests and Volunteering

You don’t have to include this section at all if you don’t want to, however, if it adds value to your application then include it.

For example, if the company you are looking to work for support a certain charity which you are involved with or a similar organisation this can be a discussion point to build rapport at the interview.

If you are applying for an engineering position and you have a passion for fixing old steam engines, this again will add value. If you do add additional information to your CV always think about what message you are trying to convey and if it is relevant for the purpose of applying for that specific job.

Other things to consider:
 

Length

CVs are generally 2 to 4 pages long depending on where you are in your career and the amount of qualifications you have. Your CV needs to be interesting and informative for the reader to want to read more.
 

Trying to cram 30 years’ experience and your qualifications into 2 pages is really difficult so if it goes over a little then don’t panic. On the other hand, don`t go into lots of detail on every role ending up with 6-8 pages. The reader will get bored and switch off from the CV.

Layout

Unless there is a need for you to showcase your creativity for a new job i.e. a graphic designer, keep the layout simple and easy to follow.

We would suggest following the layout of the advice given:

• Black and white font
• Titles on each section
• A good font Calibri or Arial and a letter size of 10-12.
 

Should you include a photo?


This should come down to personal preference, if you do want to use a photo make sure it is professional, you in the pub with your mates won’t portray the right image for most companies.