che_don_john
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 7 Nov 2011
- Messages
- 729
I second that. A good idea is to write out a sort of template base CV that includes everything you've ever done, and then edit it down and tailor it for each job you apply for. Also, you don't need to keep it to one side of A4 as others have said. Two sides is absolutely fine.
A mate and former colleague of mine used to, as his job, handle recruitment for MBA students at a top business school and now does it for Network Rail (so it's fair to say he knows his stuff). He once gave me a CV crash course and since then I've always been invited to interview for every job I've applied for, even when they've been a considerably higher level than for what I'm qualified for. A couple of years ago I met a careers adviser as I was considering a career change and she said that my CV was one of the best-written she'd ever seen, and recruiters have also complimented me on it, and I owe that to my mate sparing a couple of hours to properly teach me how to write CVs and covering letters.
The basic gist of his advice was:
Personal Statement
This needs to be strong and straight to the point as it’s the first thing they will read and will determine whether they carry on reading or not! You basically want to summarise your career, skills and abilities. Good things to include are management (not necessarily of people, but perhaps even managing projects), relationship-building and adaptability.
Key Achievements
Pick out 3 or 4 of your best achievements, preferably ones that are all quite different from one another so as to give you a good range, and bullet-point them.
Employment
It’s good to start with an introduction about the organisation – making your employer/s look good will make you look good! You will probably have experiences/skills/achievements that occur in more than one job, but you don’t want to repeat these over and over; you only need to mention them once. In which case, try to spread them across different jobs. For example, I “Developed brand” in every single role I had, but just kept this in the first job as it’s a low-key thing that doesn’t need repeating. Be strategic in what you include in each job – you want to show career progression, and that you have accumulated more and bigger responsibilities as you have progressed. In some cases I have omitted something from one job but included it in the next one to give the impression that I 'acquired' it (i.e. that I did well and my employer expanded my role). Again, terms/concepts like ‘managing’, ‘strategy’ and ‘influencing’ go down well!
Part-time employment
No need to detail what PT jobs you’ve had; just explain that you gained valuable experience, and try to show that you worked such jobs whilst studying as it shows hard work and sacrifice.
Volunteering
Volunteering is a great thing to have on a CV because, a) it shows that you are a good person and b) it is a chance to show experiences/skills/responsibilities that you might not have yet gained from employment (a good way of plugging gaps). If you haven’t got any volunteering experience yet then I suggest you go out and get some, and perhaps try to do roles/tasks that you’ve not done before.
Education
The detail of this section really just depends on the relevance of your education to your job. If it directly corresponds then you will probably need to show how; otherwise, it’s necessary only to list qualifications and modules, as well as any critical ones from school (for example, English, Maths and Science at grade C or above is very important).
Interests
A lot of people leave this out but it shows that you’re human and someone that people might be able to get along with!
References
Just write "Available on request" and create a separate document for yourself with 3-5 of your best references, ready to use when needed. You should have at least one academic, one from your current employer (can be someone in Human Resources if you don’t want to list your current boss) and one character reference.