Your Curriculum Vitae – most commonly abbreviated to “CV” is often the first impression an employer gets of you – so make it a good one!
Recruitment fulfils the basic laws of supply and demand and your CV is your marketing material. It should contain the information about you which an employer is going to find relevant.
You may need to explain more than you would back home because UK employers probably won’t be familiar with the academic system in your country, or the kind of work experience you have. Above all, your CV has to be clear and brief. Aim for 2 pages at the most, unless you are a professor with lots of publications to list!
Formatting
There are some templates available, which might seem like a good idea, but bear in mind that these templates often contain tables and frames. As many recruitment agencies and large employers use a database to store information on you, the formatting of the frames and tables gets lost and the CV looks a mess in their system! It might be better to have your CV in a simple Word format, or available in both formats.
Keep the format simple and be consistent. Use the same font throughout. Decide on the size of font for the main text and headings. Use bold and underline to highlight important information.
Sections
Put your CV into sections that are clearly labeled, e.g. Education; Work History/Experience; Additional Training; Contact Details etc. This makes it easy for the person reading your CV to find the information they are looking for.
Who is the CV for?
The person reading your CV is usually busy and wants to understand quickly and easily what you have to offer and how that matches the requirements of the job.
What are the requirements of the job? If you have a Person Specification and a Job Description you should look at what is required and present your matching experience. This is very important. Use some of the same terminology where possible and applicable. If you are writing your CV with no special job in view, write it with your own career goals in mind.
Don’t make assumptions about the things that you know well and others may not e.g. an organization that may be well-known your country may not be known here in the UK – in this case, the person reading your CV may find a one line explanation useful.
It may be useful to give your CV to someone who doesn’t know you that well e.g. a friend of a friend, and ask them if they understand your CV. Ask them to paraphrase the information on your CV so you can really check that it is clear.
The order
If you chose to have a large heading, make the heading your name. Many people make the mistake of writing Curriculum Vitae in large letters. A quick glance at a CV is enough to know that it’s a CV! And your CV is very likely to be in between other CVs, so you want your name to stand out.
It is standard to have your contact details at the beginning of your CV.
The order of the different sections on your CV is up to you. This order is very common:
Contact Details; Profile; Education; Work History; Skills; Interests.
You should write dates in chronological order, usually with the most recent first.
It is better to present information in bullet-pointed lists rather than paragraphs. Write the most important item first in the list and work your way down to the things that are less important.
When deciding what the most relevant things are to include in your list, think about what the employer is looking for. Are there any clues about this in the job advert or the job description? Remember, the person reading your CV is most likely to be busy and they will be searching for the information they need and want first.
Make sure there are no gaps in dates e.g. if you have been travelling for 6 months, then state that.
Don’t lie
Don’t do it. You usually get found out and honesty is something that any good employer will value.
Categories
Profile
This is a very succinct description of yourself, your education, experience, career goals and other relevant information.
e.g. A fully qualified Social Worker with 3 years’ experience in working with children and families, particularly statutory responsibilities and in residential settings. A focus and interest in substance misuse and child protection and desire to put skills and knowledge gained in Germany and USA to good use in the UK for a minimum period of 2 years. A team-player and able to work well individually. Full, clean driving licence.
This gives the person reading the CV a lot of information in a very short space.
Contact details
This should include your address telephone numbers and email address. Make sure people can reach you at the contact details you provide. Recruitment can sometimes move very quickly and if you don’t check your emails regularly, you may miss a great opportunity.
If you have a funny email address, think about the impression this may create e.g.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
may be OK if you are applying for a job as a party organizer, not so good if you are applying for an admin job…
Education
State what you studied, where for how long and your grades. You may need to investigate the equivalency of your qualification. This would enable a UK employer to understand the UK equivalent of what you studied or the training you have done.
Depending on how much experience you have, you may or may not need to include all your education e.g. it would not be relevant to include details of your education aged 16 if you have 25 years’ work experience.
The general rule is the longer ago something is, the less detail you need to provide.
Work History
Include any kind of work in this section e.g. practical placements, paid jobs and voluntary work. Always make it clear in what capacity you worked e.g. intern, volunteer etc if it was not fully paid work.
Show the exact dates of your employment e.g. September 2002 – March 2004; the name of your employer and a brief description of what they do; your job title and a list of your responsibilities. It is easier on the eye if you write a succinct list of responsibilities, rather than a paragraph.
The information you provide on your responsibilities is very important. When an employer hires someone they know only through an interview, this is a risk for the employer… Will you be able to do the job they have? Will you fit in with the team? Can you work to deadlines? The safest way for a new employer to assess whether or not you can do this job is by looking at the work you have done in the past.
And if you get to interview stage you may have a chance to show you have the competence to do the job if you don’t have exactly matching experience. This will depend on how you are interviewed. Some employers only want people who have direct experience, others are willing to consider your ability to do the job, even if you don’t have the experience. In this case you may have a chance to answer some situational questions in interview e.g. What would you do if a customer contacted you to say the delivery you promised them yesterday has still not arrived…
Skills
For any employer, there are going to be some general skills they will value e.g. you are punctual, you are reliable, you can handle pressure, you are honest, you work well with others and you can work on your own. The balance of how important each of these is will depend on the specific job you are applying for.
Often employers will be looking for transferable skills if you don’t have exactly matching experience.
Think about the skills needed in specific jobs. E.g. if you are going to work on the phone, you need to be a good communicator – which means you need to listen well, acknowledge what people say to you and be able to articulate yourself well, with no “ummm”s and “errrr”s!
You may need to be patient, assertive, focused… Ask some people what skills they think are needed in the job you are applying for. Then think of where you have used those skills in the past and make it clear on your CV.
If English is required in the job, think about your level of English and whether or not it matches the level required in the job. Do you need to specify your English level in Writing, Oral and Aural skills?
Does the job require you to drive? Do you have a driving licence you can use in the UK? Are you happy to drive on the left side of the road?
Team work is usually highly valued in most jobs. So, if you are a good team-player, say so!
Interests
Although it is usually irrelevant to your suitability to do a job, it is still quite common to have a section on your interests. Almost everyone likes reading, travelling and socializing with friends, so this is not usually that impressive. The “don’t lie” rule applies here, too!
The moment you say you are interested in kite-boarding to make yourself sound like adventurous and daring, you will be sitting in an interview with the boss who is a kite-boarding expert and will soon uncover your “creative” interpretation of interests… This is what we call Murphy’s Law.
Language
If your first language is not English, be aware the person reading your CV may not know your language and may even find place names or the names of organizations in your home country difficult to read. This may form a barrier to their overall understanding. They might not give up reading your CV, but it may be a difficult experience for them. And this is not what you want to happen… So use English translations where you can; make it easy for the person reading your CV to understand it!
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