 Does
your CV make a recruiter want to invite you to that all-important
job interview? Because if it doesn't your CV will just be thrown
in the bin - hence no interview and no job offer. Your CV is your
sales pitch and you only have one chance to make a favourable
impression.
So, what makes a good CV?
One that attracts a recruiter's attention in the shortest amount
of time and makes them really want to meet you. The average
recruiter only spends about 20 to 30 seconds glancing at a CV,
which means that you have to grab their attention very quickly
indeed.
You should therefore highlight what you have to offer at the
start of your CV, rather than hiding your main attractions at
the end. An attention grabbing summary and a list of major achievements
at the start of the CV should help stir a recruiter's interest
in you and make them really want to meet you.
Summaries
The summary should be short and sweet, no more than four or
five lines of text and should highlight your key skills and
attributes. This should paint a highly favourable picture of
you and indicate your strengths which are relevant to the position
you are applying for. Your summary, however, must be completely
truthful, because if your description doesn't live up to your
performance at an interview you will brand yourself as a 'liar'.
Major Achievements
After the summary you should list three to six major achievements
that are directly related to the job you are applying for. It
is important to pick achievements that are relevant as this
shows that you have understood what the recruiter is looking
for.
If possible you should mention facts and figures, although
you may feel that these are confidential and you may not want
to disclose them. They do however make the CV more interesting
and give the recruiter a better idea of your capabilities.
Work Experience
Your work experience should come next and should describe your
responsibilities, skills attained and achievements in each position
that you have had. This should always be in reverse chronological
order, starting with your most recent position and working backwards
from there.
You should concentrate on your two most recent jobs, unless
these are not relevant to the position you are applying for
or you were only in these positions for a short time. Mention
budgetary responsibilities, number of staff managed (if applicable)
and try and give a good picture of where you fitted into the
organisation and what interactions you had with other companies
and departments.
Education / Qualifications
Obviously if your education is in the dim and distant past
then you should not waste too much space on it, because your
work experience will be far more important to the recruiter.
It goes without saying that you must actually have all the qualifications
you have claimed for yourself.
IT Skills / Training / Other Skills
You should list your up-to-date IT skills, training and other
skills (such as language skills and typing speeds if relevant).
For IT skills you may want to include hardware (PCs, Macs),
operating systems (Windows 95/98) and applications (Microsoft
Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
Personal Details
This should include your date of birth rather than age, driving
licence if relevant, marital status (optional) and nationality
(optional).
Hobbies/Interests
Hobbies and interests are generally not considered very important
on a CV. However they may be able to tell a recruiter a lot
about your personality, leadership potential and team working
skills. So they should not be overlooked completely.
References
References do not generally needed to be included on a CV unless
specifically asked for.
Format
Generally, when you are writing a CV you should keep it to
two or three pages. One-page tends to be too short and more
than three pages may not be read. If you are emailing your CV
you should send it in Microsoft Word format.
Interview-winning CVs
You will have to devote a fair amount of time to writing and
producing an interview-winning CV. But, once it is finished
you will have a CV that will really make an employer sit up
and take notice of you and invite you to that all-important
job interview!
Paul Bradley, BSc, Cert. RP, MREC.
Bradley CVs.
www.bradleycvs.co.uk
Interview-winning CV writing service by Bradley CVs
www.alec.co.uk
Alec's free advice on CVs, resumes, interviews & job hunting
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