We are constantly asked by candidates for feedback on their CV’s and judging by client response some are a lot better than others, so what makes a good CV?
Firstly, always remember that a CV is a professional sales document; it may be your only chance to impress a prospective employer. To maximise its impact; keep it clear, relevant and concise. As a rule, most recruiters look for the following:
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Personal Details - Include your name, address, telephone and email contact details, marital status and date of birth.
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Education and Qualifications - Secondary or further education should be included, again keep it concise yet informative and include any professional qualifications, membership of professional institutes and information on your IT systems experience, especially business systems such as SAP, Mercia Lincs, Paragon etc.
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Employment History - Start with your current/most recent position and work backwards, putting your first role first will often rule you out of a job without the reader continuing down to your current position. Make sure you list your main duties and achievements for each role. The use of bullet points for these sections is common; remember to include quantifiable facts and figures in your achievements for demonstrating your capabilities. Include your dates of employment, your job title, the company name and address. A brief sentence about what the organisation does and its size in either turnover or employee numbers is also helpful.
Common mistakes candidates make are:
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Writing an autobiography – you may have literally seconds for the reader to capture the relevant information.
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Going into too much detail with their personal information - we recommend not putting height, weight, N.I number etc as this is not relevant for the reader.
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Providing referee details - employers assume these will be available on request, a short sentence reading “can be supplied on request” will suffice.
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Providing salary details - if you are required to give that information, include it in the covering letter not on the CV. Be aware your current salary may stop your application in its tracks.
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Finally, present your CV on white A4 paper and always include a covering letter to provide further details and highlight any relevant experience. Most importantly you must proof read the CV and covering letter - you do not want to destroy the effect of good content with typing errors or grammatical mistakes.
