As a recruiter, the most common question that we get is “how to write a CV that will actually get me hired”. Over the years we’ve seen some good ones but also some horror shows, so we thought we’d give you some do’s and don’ts to compile the best CV and get the job done!
Let’s start with the Do’s:
- Keep it simple: you don’t need to elaborate extensively on what you do in your day to day life at the workplace. List your time spent at the employer, job title, skills used, and an overview of the job. That’s all it needs.
- Reverse date order: this is a really important point. Recruiters go through 100’s of CV’s a week and don’t have the time to thoroughly read each one. If your most recent experience is at the bottom, it will most probably be overlooked.
- Keywords: recruiters use ATS to find you so be sure to use important keywords and industry related jargon on your CV.
- Showcase your skills: your skills enable us (as recruiters or potential employers) to find you. So be sure to list your top skills.
- Show some personality: chances are that most potential candidates have equal experience and qualifications as you, so we want to see what sets you apart. Be creative!
Here’s the don’ts:
- We don’t need an entire novel, 3 pages max: really, there’s likely many other CV’s that we receive for the same position. Anything longer than 3 pages isn’t going to be read or be relevant. Keep it short and sweet!
- Formatting: no one wants to download a special software just to open your CV. Ensure that you CV is formatted in such a way that its easy for us to view and open.
- Don’t over share: we want to see some personality not all of it 😉 its great that you can build a 5000 piece LEGO aeroplane but is it relevant to the job? I think not!
So, lets get into how to structure your CV. This is open to interpretation but I have seen many CV’s and this is what I think works best..
Personal details:
Name, Address, Telephone Number, Email – That’s it.
Overview:
In 3 or 4 lines, tell us about you: who you are, what you do and what type of position you’re looking for. Don’t do this in the third person, we all know that you wrote the CV by yourself!
Working history:
Starting with your latest job (obviously). Company name, Job Title, Start (and end) dates. Tell us about the job, a short overview of your responsibilities and what skills you used.
Only add the relevant positions and places that you’ve worked on you CV. If your first job was an Au Pair we don’t need info on that if you’re currently a Finance Manager.
Education:
In reserve order.
Key Achievements:
List 4 or 5 achievements that you’re most proud of.
Key skills:
Use bullet points or a table. List hard skills such as the technologies that you know and the core skills related to the position. Please don’t list Microsoft office and Facebook, we’re in the 21st century, if you don’t know how to use these I would be worried!
Hobbies, interests and personal information:
Tell us a little bit about you. What are you passionate about? Do you do charity or volunteer work? What makes your tick? This enables us to see if you would be a good fit in the organisation.
Be careful though, remember the LEGO 😊
References: Available on request.
Format:
Use a professional font. Use the same font throughout. Space it out.
So, there you have it. The perfect CV (in my opinion), its short, structured, to the point, highlights your skills and tells us a little bit about you. Is that not what a good CV is supposed to do? More can be elaborated in the interview.
If you’d like some help, please get in contact with us, or if you have any comments, questions, or queries, we’d love to hear them.
