Writing a CV

...why not put some CV writing advice into my own words?


'''WHAT IS A CV?'''

The acronym CV is short for Curriculum Vitae also known as Resume (although the term CV is pretty much standard in the UK). It's a selling tool for individuals wishing to secure employment. It's a record of your academic and employment history, your key achievements and skills, as well as a chance to say what you want out of your future ...
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Well one would assume you're looking for a new job or even your first job or returning to work after a period of unemployment or after having brought up the kids. Your initial thought is to pick up the local paper and see what's going. You spot a job which looks like it's right up your street (not quite literally, but if it is on your street, then that's even better) and you give them a call. The first thing they'll ask you (99% of the ... more

I've been working in HR (Human Resources), Personnel & Training related roles for well over 10 years now and on top of that have been called upon by many relatives, friends and friends of friends to help them with their CVs or to write their CVs from scratch. So, I thought, why not put some CV writing advice into my own words?

WHAT IS A CV?

The acronym CV is short for Curriculum Vitae also known as Resume (although the term CV is pretty much standard in the UK). It's a selling tool for individuals wishing to secure employment. It's a record of your academic and employment history, your key achievements and skills, as well as a chance to say what you want out of your future career.

WHY WRITE A CV?

Well one would assume you're looking for a new job or even your first job or returning to work after a period of unemployment or after having brought up the kids. Your initial thought is to pick up the local paper and see what's going. You spot a job which looks like it's right up your street (not quite literally, but if it is on your street, then that's even better) and you give them a call. The first thing they'll ask you (99% of the time) is "Have you got a CV?" or "Can you send me your CV?"

If you've not got a CV ready to send/fax/email them, you're already in trouble. By the time you've gone out and created one from scratch, the job will most probably have gone. You walk into any recruitment agency these days and they too will first ask for your CV.

If, on the other hand, the role you're applying for calls for completion of an application form and submission of a cover letter to accompany it, DO NOT submit a CV instead! This will send you to the bottom of the pile or even into the bin…

THE ORDER OF THINGS

Use white good quality paper, don't use photocopies. Use a standard font such as Times New Roman, 11 or 12 point. This is fairly easy on the eye font on use and about the right size, although many people are using Arial 11 these days too.

Start off your CV with your full name - don't use nicknames.

On the next line, type your full address, don't abbreviate anything, such as Rd for Road, or Middx for Middlesex, Berks for Berkshire. Make sure you include your full correct post code.

On the next line, type your contact telephone numbers; if you use a land line or home telephone number, it makes sense to have an answering machine to catch any calls from potential employers or from agencies if you are out. Make sure your mobile phone has voice mail activated and make sure you have a clear and polite message asking the caller to leave their name, number and brief message. It really is not a good idea to have music on your voice mail message, I've lost count of the time I've tried to contact someone on their mobile and heard very loud rap music or the latest number one hit single and have hung up before leaving a message. Employers WILL do the same. No one wants to sit through 60 seconds of loud music just to leave a message, is it worth losing out on a job just to have what you might consider "cool" music for your callers to listen to?

Leave a few lines and then type a Personal Profile for yourself. An example of a Personal Profile could be "A confident, mature and experienced customer service and telesales individual with over 5 years experience in the industry wishing to secure a role with new challenges and the possibility of career progression." Don't lie in your CV, you'll get caught out, e.g. don't say that you're confident if you are very shy and don't say you have 10 years experience in a retail environment when you've only had 2 weeks work experience in Boots from when you were studying at high school!You could follow on from your Personal Profile with a summary of your Key Skills and Achievements listing things such as:

1. Increased branch profitability by 25% by suggesting and implementing cost cutting measures at Company ABC
2. 5 years recent supervisory and management experience
3. Ran a successful sandwich business for 3 years
4. Voted Salesperson of the year in 1999 at Company XYZ
5. Designed new corporate logo for Company AAA in 2002
6. 6 years experience as a Chef

Try to avoid listing things which are irrelevant to the job (or type of job) you're applying for such as "My last boss said I make a lovely cup of tea" or "I know how to use a photocopier and fax machine"

If you don't want to list your Key Skills, move on to your Employment History now. List the employer name and the period you worked for the employer. Don't type 2002 - 2003 as that could mean late December 2002 to early January 2003, which amounts to just a couple of weeks to cover the Christmas sales. Employers are not stupid, they'll see through this ploy if you are just trying to cover up a few weeks work by making it seem you were there longer. They can also check up by contacting your referees too. Below the employers' name, state your job title and then briefly list your duties. Don't write an essay, it doesn't need to be an attempt to win any national awards for literary excellence. Keep It Short and Simple (K.I.S.S.)! Potential employers or recruiters don't want to read your complete job description for each job you've ever done listed in your CV. Your CV is a taster of what you're about. It's to get you in the door to that ever increasingly allusive interview. Oh and remember to start with your most recent position first and work your way down. Employers tend to prefer work history in this order.

Leave a blank line in between each job you list.

When you've finished listing your present and past jobs, you can start with your Education/Training. Here you need to list your most recent academic achievements such as training courses attended, evening classes, university qualifications, etc. Lastly put in your high school qualifications (if you have any), such as GCSEs, O' Levels, CSE's, GNVQs, etc.

Lastly you can list Additional Information, such as interests, date of birth, whether or not you have a driving license and/or car. Try not to list interests that indicate a negative character trait such as "I love getting drunk with my mates at the weekend" or "I enjoy having heated debates with people"… You'll come across as someone with alcohol dependency issues and/or an argumentative so and so!

By the way if you're applying for a job fresh out of full time education, it would make more sense to have your education listed before your work experience, especially if your work experience is just two weeks in a travel agency when you were 15 or 16 years old and 5 years ago.

It is not necessary to state your marital status or religion or how many children you have or height, weight, nationality, colour of your hair, parents' names, whether you're gay or straight. This information is totally unnecessary and any employer worth their salt would know it's illegal to ask most of these things or base a decision on whether or not to interview (or employ) based on any of these!

You might want to include your email address as a contact method at the top of your CV after your address and telephone number but you should really only do this if you intend (and are able) to check your email at least once every day. Another thing to remember about using email addresses is to try to use a sensible sounding email address, sexyhotcoochiemama@hotmail.com doesn't quite give off the right impression and nor does 12inchdickman@aol.com - nothing wrong with having a unique sounding email address but downright cheeky or offensive won't generally help your case.
Don't list your salary and don't give reasons for leaving jobs on your CV.

REFERENCES

I wouldn't recommend listing your reference details on your actual CV. It's not unheard of for recruitment consultants to pull these details off candidate's CVs to call them up to try to get new business. People who've agreed to be listed as your references will soon get rather hacked off if recruitment consultants are ringing them up ten times a day asking if they have any vacancies.

LENGTH OF CV

There really is no perfect length that a CV should be. Whilst it's not a good idea to have a 5 page long CV (people will rarely read the whole thing), a 1 page CV is not always sufficient to list the key information needed to get you to interview stage. As a guide 2 to 3 pages is about the right length. Don't use too big a font to "pad out" a CV and don't use a font so small that the employer has to get out a magnifying glass to read it. Keep it well spaced out and nicely formatted.

TO SUMMARISE

I've tried to keep to the point above with my advice whilst including things not to do in a CV. Above all, it's important to keep in mind that your CV is a "taster" and selling point for potential employers. When you get to an interview, you will have the chance to expand on your job duties and academic achievements. You don't stand much chance of getting a job if the interviewer has your CV in front of them and you rattle off word for word what is printed in front of them.

Although it's important to have an impressive looking CV, this doesn't mean you need to have sleepless nights because your CV doesn't look like the best one in the world. Just try to make sure your CV gets your foot in the door - REMEMBER the employer wants to know how you will be an asset to the organisation, not how perfectly laid out and detailed your CV is (although it's definitely a no-no to have a CV with spelling and grammatical errors - if you're not sure, get someone to proof it for you).

AND ON A LIGHTER NOTE...

Here's a selection of CV blunders I found at jobsite.co.uk - some awful goofs - which really need to be re-phrased!

1. Received a plague for Salesperson of the Year.
2. Reason for leaving last job: maturity leave.
3. Let's meet, so you can get really excited over my experience.
4. I was working for my mum until she decided to move house.
5. Marital status: Single. Unmarried. Unengaged. Uninvolved. No commitments.
6. I am loyal to my employer at all costs. Will consider anything, please feel free to respond to my CV and call me on my work number.
7. Unwilling to re-locate or travel as my previous job involved a lot of travel sometimes at short notice and it completely exhausted me.
8. My goal is to be a psychologist but since I didn't go to college and get a qualification, I suppose I should stick to being a personnel manager.
9. Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a National Retail Chain.
10. The company made me a scapegoat, just like my three previous employers.
11. Achievements: I was proud to win the Typting Award at secretarial college.
12. Personal Statements: I will give the job my all as long as it doesn't interfere with my busy social life. My social life is very important to me.

And if number 12 above made you laugh, I interviewed a chap a while ago who actually asked if we could consider making the job part-time instead of full-time as he had a very hectic social life and liked a few drinks with his mates most evenings! Beat that... Fairly needless to say, he didn't get the job.

I hope the above is of use to you. If you feel I've missed something important out, do let me know and I'll update accordingly. 

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