Writing a CV

Friday, 25 July 2008 9:28AM

Writing a CV

WRITING A CURRICULUM VITAE

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

Writing a job winning CV is not as easy as it might sound - in fact the statement is not entirely true, as the CV only secure's you the interview, and YOU win yourself the job.

With the volume of advice freely available from colleagues, friends, family, professionals, organisations, internet sites and books dedicated to the subject of writing that 'killer CV', it is not uncommon for jobseekers to be overwhelmed or misguided.

From our experience of working with Recruitment Consultancies, Employers and online Job Boards we aim to offer you genuine and candid advice and insider information on writing a CV that will secure interviews and Stand Out from the Crowd.

Your CV must grab the interest of the reader!

Start by breaking down your CV into the main categories to cover:

You can click on any of the above categories to gain additional information on what to include in each section.

Do's & Don'ts at a glance

• Make your Cover Letter professional and not personal.
• Focus on presenting a clear, concise and informative CV.
• Write your duties in bullet points.
• Make sure you add Month and Year on all dates.
• Use Spellcheck!
• Get someone to read your CV as a final quality check.

Don't
• Write a long Cover Letter.
• Put a Personal Statement in your CV. This is not subjective - everyone thinks they are great!
• Use fonts other than Times New Roman or Arial, ideally in 10 or 12 font.
• Use lots of different fonts - stick to one or two.
• Go overboard on using WordArt or graphics to make a CV stand out.
• Send out a CV with spelling mistakes.
• Misrepresent your skills and/or experience - it will come back to haunt you!
• Lie about your academic grades/qualifications, systems experience - it is possible to qualify your CV by taking references, checking qualifications and testing your systems skills.
• Use abbreviations, technical terminology or other jargon that the reader is unlikely to understand.
• Use an unprofessional email address when sending out Applications/CV.
• Include a photo with your Application/CV unless specifically requested.

Below you will find a convenient Best Practice Guide on Writing a CV to enable you to read the full document and print it out as required.