How to write a CV

Your CV has just a few seconds to impress the reader and make them feel you’re the right person for the role. In a few minutes we will teach you using many years experience how other highly skilled individuals manage to secure jobs year after year using high impact CVs. Then you would be able to use the same technique to secure a job. At a very high level these are the things you need to put in a CV, grouped by page:

Front page

• Start the CV with a headline/heading – write your name, email address, address and phone number.
• Write your profile – this is a brief summary of your work experience and job goals.
• Outline your skills – list your work-related skills, such as knowledge of computer programs or foreign languages.
• List your achievements – here you write what business benefits you added by applying your skills for your clients.
• Describe your education – list the schools and universities you studied at and the degrees and diplomas you earned.

Second page onwards

• Outline your work experience – list names of previous jobs, dates of employments, role in each employment, and describe your tasks and achievements.

Last page

• Describe your interests and hobbies – show that you do other things besides work and have hobbies that you develop.

It’s very important that you keep your CV neat and clear, using simple and legible fonts and clear headings and paragraphs. Also, it’s very importatn to tailor your CV to the job advert you are applying for, so that you highlight your skills and experience in relation to the requirements of the job.

What is a targeted CV?

To created a targeted CV means creating a CV that is targed to each job application. This approach is how highly skilled individuals find work, e.g contractors. It’s common for one to have multiple versions of one’s CV depending on the type of role one is applying for.

How CVs are used – the filtering procedure

To help you write an effective CV, it’s very useful to undertand how CVs are used by recruiters.

When a recruiter advertises a job opening, there’re usually hundreds of applications responding to a single job advert, let’s say 200. The recruiter then has to trim this number down to say 10 for a full consideration before sending say 2-3 to the employer for consideration. Let’s assume the recruiter has just one hour to do this. Here’s what happens

Step 1. Quick glance at each CV

These CVs get discarded

• CVs that are too long. E.g. over 4 pages.
• No profile or skills on front page. Too much hassle to search for them.
• CVs with very long sentences. No bullet points. Again, too much hassle to read.

Let’s say there’re 100 CVs left. What happens next?

Step 2. 10 second glance at each front page

These CVs go into the bin

• Profile and skills on front page does not match the requirement very well.

Step 3. Building the short list

These CVs stay in:

• Profile and kills on front page match the requirements very well.

Let’s say there are now 10 CVs left and the employer will now look beyond the first page. These are some qualities the will be looking out for.

• At least the last 6-12 months experience are closely related to the skills required by the job
• The candidate has wored with blue chip companies
• The candidate can demonstrate in the work experience section how he/she has used the skills mentioned in the skills section.
• The candidate has a good academic background.

Any candidate that meets these criteria will potentially get interviewed. Then, if your CV is a true reflection of your skills, then the interview stage would be about whether you fit the organisation e.g. can they trust you? Do they like you? Would you get along well together?

What Not to put on the front page

As yiou can see from above, you only have one sheet of A4 paper to make the first 10 second impact. So if you do not put the right content on that first page, you stand a chance on missing out on a lot of job interviews. Here’re some things to avoid putting on the front page

• A list of hobbies and interests
• Your work history
• References

What Should be on the front page

The messag here should convey to the reader that you’re exactly the person for the job. You sould show that:

1. You have the skills they are looking for
2. That you have demonstrated use of those skills for other clients
3. That you have provided busines value to those clients by utilising those skills.

These are the 5 sections that should appear on the front page of a high impact CV

• Heading – name, address and contact details
• A profile of you
• Expertise – List of skillls
• List of achievements
• Education

How to create a CV step-by-step

1. Choose the right format and layout

Good CVs have a strict structure for a few reqestons.

1. To make it easier for recruiters to find the information they need
2. To make it possible for CV scanning software to do its job.

In the UK, the most commnly used format for a CV is the chronological format. Here you list your work experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent job and working backward.

The basic rules are:

• In most cases, a CV is a single A4 page documents
• It should be written in a common font like Arial or Times New Roman
• The layout should be clear. Try to make all the relevant information visible at a glance.
• List work experiene in reverse chronological order, meaning you start with the most recent experiences. If you don’t have any work experience yet, go for a skills-based CV that emphasizes your capabilities.

2. Write your CV heading

The first thing you need in your CV is the headline. Here you include

• your name
• your address
• your professional email
• your phone number

Here’s an example of a headline:

Joe Philips
Tel: 01234 5677889
Email: joephilips@pleasespamme.com
10 Bloggs House, London, E12 4LP

3. CV Profile

A CV Profile, CV Summary or Personal Statement is short note that acts as an introduction to your CV. It is meant to quickly introduce the reader to your professional profile. Make sure this statement is brief and straight-to-the-point and should emphasize your unique strengths and explain why you are a great fit for the job you’re applying for.

The profile usually comes just below the headline section.

Note that the profile is usuallywritten in the third person singular, not the first.

E.g. Instead of writing “I’m a mechanic with 5 years of experience in the industry.”, you write “Skilled mechanic with 5 yearsof experrience in the industry.”

How to write a CV profile?

First, we recommend writing this section at the end. Why? Because at that time you would already be warmed up in your CV writing and be up to date with all that is in your CV and what message you would like to put across to recruiters.

Focus on the job offer you’re responding to. Study each job advert in detail and make sure your Profile matches well with it.

Present yourself in the best possible way – but don’t lie. Use vocabulary used in the job advert.

Here’re some examples of CV profiles.

Personal statement for a senior analyst programmer
Highly proficient SENIOR ANALYST PROGRAMMER with 10 years experience building Financial Risk applications for major blue chip clients using OO, C++, Oracle, UML, ADO . Full life cycle knowledge, including RUP, SSADM, and PRINCE methodologies. Now seeking next rewarding opportunity to make a successful impact in a customer focused team.

Personal statement for a recent graduate
Dedicated student seeking internship opportunities. Ready to apply classroom knowledge into practical experience and support team. Quick learner prepared to develop industry knowledge and delve into challenging projects.

4. Expertise section

This section needs about 10 bullet points that prove that you’re the right person for the job. Highlight in bold the words that match the advertisement. Make sure you also show a broad range of skills rather than wasting too many lines on one area.

You can put multiple skills from the same area in one line. Rmeember to add personal qualities e.g. Meets demanding deadlines under pressure.

5. Achievement section

This section is very beneficial as it can make you stand out from the competition. Please take special care when writing Achievements in a CV as Achievements isn’t just a bunch of skills you quickly learnt and that benefited you personally. Rather, achievement is about how you applied your skills to benefit the business in a measureable way.

As such, a well-written achievement needs 3 things

• What set of skills (from the Expertise section) you used.
• Who it helped.
• A quantifiable measure of how the skills helped.

The illustrate the idea, the following list are not Achievements.

• Wrote unit tests
• Learnt Python and Java
• Trained some developers

These are not achievements. They’re just things you did. They don’t say who benefited from the activities and what the improvements were.

Achievements are about quantifiable benefits you gave your clients that justified your wages. Theyinclude things you did that saved them money, saved time, made more money, won more clients, etc.

Below is a good example of an achievement.

• Developed and implemented a bespoke spreadsheet application for the traders, which reduced the time to calculate financial forecasts from 3 hours to 15 seconds. This not only save time, but enabled the traders to become more responsive to market change, and resulted in a measurable increase in profit of 12% over 2 months.

6. Education section

The next important section of the CV is education. This can include details about the degrees you obtained or courses you completed as a way of providing potential employers with a summary of your academic background and qualifications.

We recommend presenting your education in reverse chronological order, that is, most recent education first. If you have multiople educational qualifications, present them in bullet points.

Include the degree or qualification earned, the name of the institution, and the date of completion. If you’re still in the process of obtaining a degree, include the expected graduation date. Be sure to mention any relevant coursework or certifications.

Below is an exaple of an education section.

Level 1 Certificate in Retail Skills, South Essex University, 2018

7. Work experience

Work experience is one of the most important parts of the CV because it provides potential employers inight into your professional background, abilities and skills. Employers want to know what you have done in th past, wht you achieved, and how you have developed as a professional. Make sure it is written properly.

Be sure to include experience that is most relevant to the position you’re aplying for. Look at the job description as a guide to provide examples of how your past experience aligns with the role requirements.

Use reverse chronological order. This means you should write your most recent or current position first and work backward in time. Include the job title, company name, location, dates of emplyment for each position. If you use certain tools or work with certain environments, add them. Complete it with your duties in each role to better highlight your skills and qualifications. Use bullets to break it down into easy-to-read statements. Ideally, each bullet should focus on verifiable achievements such as projects completed, sales results achieved or awards received. Here’s an example of work experience.

www.mlhsbc.co.uk – Merrill Lynch HSBC
Development Team Leader  – Retail Banking
Feb 2000 – July 2001

Environment: Windows, Linux, Python, Java.

What happens if you don’t have work experience yet or do not have experience matching the job? In that case, you can still highlight your skills, achievements and potential through your education, extracurricular activities and profile. Many employers value motivated people who are ready and willing to learn.

8. Hobbies and interests section

This is an optional section and should come after the required sections such as

• Contact details
• Profile
• Skills
• Achievements
• Education
• Experience

You can add Hobbies and interests to give the recruiter a better idea of what kind of potential employee you are. Hobbies can give an dea of what drives and motivates you. It helps them understand your work ethic, and thus see if you’re a good fit for the team. Furthermore, hobbies can highlight skills and experiences that are relevant to the job you’re applying for.

Use bullet points to briefly highlight your hobbies and interests.

9. References on a CV

References are not usually required on a CV. As such you should only add these if they’re requested in the job posting. You can do this by adding the contact details of your references such as their name, job title, company, phone number and their email address.

Note: If you’re adding references on your CV, be sure to get their consent and approval first to make sure they’re ready for possible contact with your potential employer.