How
to write the perfect CV
More often than not, your CV will be your first
introduction to a potential employer. It is therefore
one of the most important documents you will ever
write, particularly in the internet recruitment
era. Applying for roles via the internet makes
the process far quicker and easier, but it also
means that lots of other applicants can do the
same thing. Recruiters often have to deal with
a volume of applications by applying some basic
filters to reduce down to a core few for consideration
– make sure a simple mistake doesn’t
rule you out!
Some things certain to put
off a busy recruiter are:
· Unclear layout and
fonts which are difficult to read
· Spelling mistakes (especially
for roles requiring ‘attention to detail’,
or good copywriting skills!)
· Poorly produced e.g.
photocopied
· Too long or short to
prove relevance
Treat this as your opportunity to make a great
first impression, and take the time to design,
construct and word your CV to ensure you promote
yourself to your best advantage. As a marketer,
it is especially important that your CV illustrates
that you can do the role you are applying for
– and that includes proving you can market
yourself!
Whilst it is worth remembering that each recruiter's
idea of a 'perfect' CV will be slightly different,
we hope that the following guide will prove useful
to you.
Tips
for an easy-to read layout
- Keep
it simple and elegant. Don’t use
decorative borders and extra embellishments
– this is your CV, not a brochure! Photographs
of yourself are unnecessary and can make your
CV slower to download. Tables can lose their
formatting when scanned.
The exception to this may be for creative roles
such as Art Director, for instance, where a
beautifully designed CV may well be a selection
criterion.
- Make
your headings clear and accurate and
use plenty of white space. If the reader has
to work too hard to extract the information
they are looking for, they may not bother, so
make sure that they can find all the key areas
of your CV quickly and easily.
- Write
in the first person. Saying 'Seema is
an experienced brand manager...' removes you
a step from your target audience, whilst saying
' I am a fully qualified and competent Brand
Manager with 3 years commercial work experience'
is more likely to engage them.
- Fonts.
If applying by email, sans seraph fonts
such as Verdana read universally well on a computer
screen, whilst for printing, seraph fonts such
as Times New Roman are easy on the eye. Black
is never wrong. Avoid using unusual fonts for
the sake of it and never use blocks of capitals
or bold – it is extremely difficult to
read a lot of.
- Length.
There is some disagreement with regards to how
long a CV should be, with 2 pages given as the
ideal benchmark. This is probably fine if you
are in the first few years of your career,
but don’t be afraid to run to a couple
more pages if your experience warrants it, provided
all the information is directly relevant and
leaving it out would omit something important.
- Keep
everything relevant. Whilst it may be
a useful insight that you have written a book,
for example, or spent a year rescuing baby elephants
in India, if an interviewer is particularly
interested they’ll ask, so don’t
go into detail on your CV.
- Bullet
points. At Acuity, we love bullet points.
They present your skills, experience and achievements
in a concise, punchy way which is very quick
and easy to read.
Compare the following:
My current role involves many elements, from
planning the marketing campaigns, to budget
management and leading the marketing team to
deliver the all the elements of the marketing
plan on time and to budget.
with:
My current role includes:
· Planning marketing
campaigns
· Budget management
· Leading the marketing
team
· Delivering all elements
of the marketing plan on time and to budget
After a dozen similar CVs, which one would register
more clearly in your mind?
- Chronological
or functional? At Acuity, we tend to
prefer the chronological CV, as it’s the
most widely accepted and it is clear and easy
to read. Whilst a functional CV can sometimes
be appropriate, for example if you have held
a number of unrelated jobs, your career progression
and how and where you gained your skills can
be unclear with this type of CV.
- Gaps
in career history should be explained
(briefly) and falsehoods and inaccuracies avoided
at all costs, as you will be found out!
- As
a general rule, when printing your CV,
you should use black ink on good quality A4
white/cream paper. 100gsm is a good, professional
weight. If applying by post, your CV and cover
letter should be submitted in a suitable quality
envelope, clearly addressed, with a first class
stamp.
So
what should I include?
Remember that your CV is essentially a marketing
dossier on you and that a potential employer will
use the details provided to form the questions
for an interview. A fact which is also commonly
overlooked is that in this age of internet recruitment,
your CV is often scanned electronically for keywords,
so make sure it includes plenty of the ones that
will be relevant to the roles for which you are
applying!
Whilst your CV is an individual document, and
different recruiters may look for slightly different
presentations, there are some basic elements that
will be common to all. Remember though, that unless
you are applying for a generalist role, you will
stand a much greater chance of selection if you
ensure that your CV promotes those elements of
your experience that match the requirements of
the role.
- Summary.
This is an opportunity for self promotion! This
should be a short paragraph stating who you
are, what you’ve done, and what core skills
you bring to the mix:
e.g. A CIM qualified marketer with 5 years’
award-winning brand management experience in
the toy industry. A strong and motivating leader,
with excellent market analysis, PR and product
development skills and exceptional attention
to detail.
NB – this is a prime opportunity to pick
out all the most important elements of the job
description and leave the recruiter in no doubt,
in no time at all, that your CV is worth reading
in full!
- Essential
information. Remember that recruiters
often work in hectic environments where speed
is of the essence, so ensure that you include
enough contact information for them contact
you quickly and easily.
Personal details should include:
· Full name, address,
daytime/evening and mobile telephone numbers
· Private email address
(one that you use regularly!)
· Marital status -
include only whether you are married or single
· Nationality - vital
to establish whether you are likely to need
a work permit
· Driving licence -
if you don't drive, exclude any reference to
a licence.
Superfluous personal details such as children's
names, height, weight, health conditions should
be avoided. Any form of failure on your CV can
count against you in prospective employer’s
mind, so failed businesses, exams or marriages
should all be omitted, unless they leave an
obvious gap which needs explaining.
- Education
and professional qualifications. Whether
these go at the beginning or end of your CV
will really depend on how important they are
to the particular role you are applying for.
If you have exactly the qualification they are
looking for, then putting it first will identify
you as a good potential candidate, even if you
don’t have every single skill they are
seeking. If, however, the job description lists
as a requirement a qualification you don’t
have, then putting education at the end of your
CV enables you to list all the very relevant
industry skills and experience you have first,
selling you to the recruiter regardless.
- Employment.
This should be presented in reverse chronological
order and should focus on your last two positions
and your responsibilities and achievements in
them. Internal promotions should be treated
as separate positions, with the job title and
dates included. Within each position you should
include an overview of your main responsibilities,
transferable skills that you developed and all
your major achievements in that position. As
your career progresses, the part-time jobs,
work experience etc. becomes less relevant and
should drop off your CV.
How you format this will be personal choice,
but the following example is clear and easy
to read:
Company
Dates
of employment
A sentence about what the company does –
it’s not always obvious!
Current Job Title
Dates
Managing a team of x, my responsibilities include:
· x
· y
· z
· etc
Achievements:
If you don’t list your achievements, you
are just selling the features, not the benefits,
so try to list at least 2 or 3 key achievements
here that are quantifiable and have made a demonstrable
difference to the success of the company, e.g:
· Created and managed
a product advertising campaign which resulted
in a 30% increase in sales over 6 months
· Rationalised relationships
with suppliers, resulting in a cost saving of
£500k
Previous Job Title
Dates
Reporting to the x, my responsibilities included:
· x
· y
· z
· etc
Achievements:
· X
· Y
NB. There is no need to include your reasons
for leaving each job on your CV but be prepared
to answer these questions in your interview
- Training.
List any additional training courses you have
taken, and any resulting qualifications.
- IT
Skills. List all the packages that you
are familiar with and the depth of expertise
that you have in each.
- Other
experience. This is a good place to list
things such as language skills, leadership experience
outside of work etc..
- Hobbies
and interests. Try to include things
that demonstrate qualities that will help make
you a valuable employee. You should also show
that you are able to balance commitment to your
work with a life outside it! Good examples include:
team sports, charitable work and any activities
related to the industry the company operates
in.
- References.
By putting ‘References available upon
request’ at the end of your CV, you maintain
the control. If you give the name and contact
details for a referee, there’s a chance
that they will be called for a reference before
you’ve even had an offer! This may be
fine if you’ve already resigned, but even
if you have, it is much better to be able to
call ahead and warn a referee of an impending
call, so that you can remind them of any particularly
good situations and projects that you were involved
in that you know your new employer will be interested
to have confirmed!
The
Covering Letter
A good cover letter can bolster your application,
ensuring that a recruiter stops and takes those
few extra minutes to consider you against other
applicants. Although they should be personalised
not standard documents, following some basic guidelines
should help ensure you receive a positive response
from your initial contact.
- The name of the relevant
contact will often appear in the job advert,
so you should address them. Avoid Sir or Madam
if you can.
- Check and check again
for grammatical and spelling errors. Emails
should be written in the style of a formal,
handwritten letter.
- When replying to an
advert, mention the job title, reference code
and where and when you saw it.
- If a more detailed
letter is required, follow any specific instructions
and be sure to include information that is particularly
requested, such as current salary.
- Briefly outline your
experience, including your current or last job,
education level and professional training and
outline why you are seeking to change.
- Tailor your information
to demonstrate that you have properly read the
advert and that you have done some research
into the organisation. State why you are interested
in working for them.
- Highlight your achievements
and transferable skills; what you can contribute
and any personality traits relevant to the role
applied for.
- Do not offer any negative
information in your cover letter or your CV
(although you should not withhold relevant information
if asked e.g. points on your licence.)
- Close your letter by
expressing interest in discussing the opportunity
further and that you await a response in due
course.
And
finally
Mistakes can make or break your application, so
take a break, then email a copy of your CV and
cover letter to yourself and check it for grammatical
errors and spelling mistakes. It’s not enough
to use the spellchecker on your PC, as these can
often be wrong, especially with plurals. A good
proofreading trick is to start at the end and
work backwards, so that your brain finds it harder
to skip over the obvious. Then get someone else
you trust to check it!
Lastly, some of the most common errors are:
· Laison (US) instead
of liaison
· Apostrophe abuse, especially
with plurals:
e.g.
CDs not CD’s
Videos
not video’s
Referees
not referee’s
· The singular of criteria
is criterion
· The singular of media
is medium
Confidently using punctuation is becoming more
difficult, because of its increasingly widespread
misuse! If in any doubt, the editorial of one
of the broad sheet newspapers will provide a good
benchmark.
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sell yourself!
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