Careers
Your CV outlines your career and maps your career path to date. It is the tool that will get you an interview. Whether you’re writing your first CV or polishing one up for a career move, staring at a blank page can be daunting...
The good news is, there’s a formula you can follow. Make sure you add the following sections to your document and work from there. Before you know it, you are no longer staring at a blank page, but a document that will get you noticed by a recruiter or hiring manager.
Profile
The profile should make the employer want to meet you. It should be short enough to read quickly and concise enough to capture your skills and experience in a short paragraph.
Chronological Order
Most people list their most recent employment first, and the recruiter will probably appreciate you following this standard.
Key Information
Make sure your CV is easily readable. Three key pieces of information are titles, company names and dates of employment. Align all 3 so it is easy to follow and read. Keep in mind that most hiring managers will only take a minute to scan your CV. Make sure they can easily find your key information.
Personal Details
Your name, address, mobile number and email should all be listed at the top of your CV. We want to be able to contact you if a career opportunity arises! You may consider also listing a hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile.
References
There is no need to list referee contact details on your CV. In fact, many referees would prefer their contact information isn’t given out too freely! Generally we would recommend having your referee’s details to hand and to contact him/her to let them know your recruiter will be calling.
Technical Skills
An understanding of Microsoft Office is almost compulsory for all roles and you should indicate your expertise level and if you are an advanced user, intermediate, a beginner or somewhere in between. It is generally important to have skills in Outlook, Word and Excel but roles do vary.
Education
If you’re entering the job market then there is justification for listing your educational accomplishments at the beginning of the CV. If you’ve been working for at least 12 months then a company may be more interested in your work history than your educational path. However certificates, diplomas, degrees should be listed.
Additional Training and Qualifications
Readers are interested in your training but list it in such a way that it is easy to read. The training should be relevant to the role for which you are applying. You may also have professional qualifications or licenses and it is important to list these clearly on the CV. They are generally best positioned with or next to your educational details.
Volunteering, Hobbies and Interests
Some people choose to close their CVs with voluntary experience or examples of their hobbies and interests. While it’s not as popular to list these sections nowadays, if your volunteer experience or hobby relate to the job you want, by all means include it!
Artilce supplied by Anne-Marie Wallace of RecruitmentPlus