Your CV is an employer's first impression of your personality, skills and ability. Its content and presentation, and how you convey your experience and qualifications, says a great deal about you.
If it is difficult to read, too short or too long, doesn't make sense or looks irrelevant, you probably won't get an interview. So, how do you get noticed? Some very simple hints for you, whatever your level or position..
Essential information
99% of CV's lack all the information required by employers. Pay great attention to this area first! Always include the following:
Biographical details:
Name, address, contact numbers, (mobile/email/home tel.), age (optional), nationality, marital status (optional).
Qualifications/skills: Secondary school and Further Education establishments and dates; qualifications and grades; trade qualifications; training courses and skills; other skills such as driving licence, typing speeds etc. Ensure date order where possible.
Work experience: Dates of employment (month and year); position/title; duties/responsibilities; salary and reason for leaving.
Present employer first, followed by other companies in reverse date order. Go back a maximum of 10 years.
Hobbies and interests: Include social positions of responsibility, e.g. captain of local team, treasurer of PTA etc. Be relevant - for a travel position, list the countries you have visited, for example.
Referees: Full contact details of two previous employers.
Don't bother with irrelevant information such as passport, height, weight, pets etc (it happens!). Present information in logical groups - don't, for example, mix college qualifications with work experience (again, it happens).
CV's should be informative, concise, to the point and truthful - references and other details will be checked. Don't add gaps in employment on to the next job. Don't miss out long lengths of employment. Don't lie about your age qualifications. You could tie yourself up in knots trying to explain away any discrepancies and leave the interviewer with a poor opinion about your integrity.
Ever left a company on bad terms, or been dismissed? Don't leave this employment out of your CV. You may well find that you don't get as bad a reference as you imagine. Employers would prefer to give non-commital references than vindictive ones. What you miss out could be discovered some day. Carry skeletons and someone is bound to rattle the closet!
A CV riddled with spelling or typing errors gives the impression of illiteracy at worst and sloppy work at best. Always proof read before sending. Always update your details properly. Bits and pieces added in pen do nothing for your image.
Pay attention to the quality of paper. If it is thin and ragged, so is your image. Paper needn't be white. A different, but discreet, colour could help your CV stand out.
Presentation
It's not just what you say, it's the way that you say it. If you have moved positions frequently, there are ways in which you can play it down in your CV. If you've temped intermittently at various companies lump them together, for example:
Jan-Aug '02: Temporary employment through New Frontiers working in Business Travel assignments for prestigious companies such as American Express and The Travel Company.
Write more about your good points and play down your bad points!
If you've been on some excellent courses or gained valuable experience in a certain position, highlight this by elaborating on it. Remember, a CV is not just an information document, it's a sales document - selling you to a future employer. It should ideally contain no more than 3 pages, regardless of experience. Any more and it's unlikely to be read at all. For employers speedreading CV's in volume, a small, 3 line summary of your experience and skills will provide the appetite to read on. For example:
Curriculum Vitae - John Smith
Business Travel professional with 5 years experience, ticketing to advanced level and CRS skills
A CV is not a letter, so don't write it like one. The following chatty resumé, for example, is clearly not appropriate:
Responsibilities: 'I really enjoyed working for this company if it wasn't for all the travelling to the city everyday. When my husband's business expanded, we had to move up North and I was relocated to their Manchester.....
Don't waffle! Give clear accounts of your Duties and Responsibilities and leave the 'other bits' to the interview.
Do you have a winning CV?
Key points to check before sending:
- Speed read your CV by quickly glancing through all pages of the CV
- What stands out?
- Were you drawn to the positive aspects of the CV?
- Did the CV make you want to go back to the beginning and read it more thoroughly?
- Was it easy to read?
- Now give it to a friend and ask their opinion about what immediately catches their attention
- Capital letters, bold and underlined words shout out to the reader.Use of these should be used only to highlight your strengths. Check to see you haven't highlighted negative areas.
- Make sure you have spell-checked the CV and that it is grammatically correct.
- Check that the overall appearance of the CV is tidy and looks professional.
Letters of Application
Employers who have specifically requested a letter are looking for the following:
- how you construct a letter
- how you use words - your standard of grammar and spelling
- your handwriting (neat/illegible)
- and of course, the contents of what is written.
The letter brings the CV alive and may finally determine whether you get an interview.
Look closely at the job description in the advertisement so that you can make your letter as relevant as possible. Make sure your letter is well constructed with a beginning, middle and ending. Don't forget that Dear Sir ends Yours faithfully and Dear Mr Smith ends Yours sincerely. Pay attention to whether the company is asking for a handwritten letter or typed. They usually have a reason for asking.
Have you completed our 'Unique Career Profile' questionnaire?
Take just 15 minutes to answer 24 questions about work and this will highlight your work personality traits such as your communication style, motivation, decision making and organisational abilities. The 6 page report has a 2 page summary to compliment your CV. New Frontiers are using this new technique to help you to improve the effectiveness of your application. We have pioneered the first "3D-CV" to bring your CV alive by highlighting what qualities make you the best person for the job. The questionnaire is free to complete. There is a small administration charge of £5 if you require a copy of the full report.
