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Delaney Ditchfield Recruitment –CV Writing - Hints and Tips
What is a CV (Curriculum Vitae)?
A Curriculum Vitae, better known as a CV, is Latin for “The Course of One’s Life/Career”. It is a document, detailing the skills and experience you have gained throughout your working life.
What is a CV for?
A CV is a document used to sell yourself to a prospective employer. Its main purpose is to make a prospective employer interested in finding out more about you, and ultimately invite you for an interview. Often, organisations receive a large number of responses to job advertisements so it is very important you make your CV stand out from the crowd. Employers often take under 20 seconds to read a CV so take time to consider what to include and how to present this information.
CV Hints and Tips
- Make sure your CV is well spaced out so that it is easy to read and understand.
- Ideally keep your CV to 2 sides of A4 paper.
- Use concise, clear sentences; avoid exaggerations and do not go over the top. You can oversell yourself!
- Honesty is definitely the best policy. Do not make false claims that can’t be substantiated.
- Make sure that the CV you write conjures up the right image of you and your skills, capabilities and achievements. If you do not match the picture you have painted with your CV at the interview, then your application will not be taken further.
- Bullet points are useful to highlight relevant skills and experience and help break up continuous text.
- Don't mention things that you are bad at or say negative things about yourself in your CV.
- Explain any breaks in your employment i.e. periods of unemployment, maternity leave, long term sickness.
- Focus on information which is relevant to your own career goals.
- If you are making a career change, stress your transferable skills to support your new career objectives.
- Be careful when you use abbreviations - they can be misunderstood.
- Ensure all dates are accurate.
- Check for literal or spelling errors as these will not give a good impression of your accuracy/attention to detail.
More information on FORMATTING a CV.
More Information on WHY CVS ARE REJECTED