What is a CV?
A CV, which stands for curriculum vitae, is a document used when applying for jobs. It allows you to summarize your education, skills and experience enabling you to successfully sell your abilities to potential employers.
How long should a CV be?
A standard CV in the UK should be no longer than two sides of A4.
That said one size doesn’t fit all. For example, a school leaver or recent graduate with minimal experience may only need to use one side of A4. Although not used as often, a three-page CV might be needed for those in high-level roles or for people who have gained a lot of experience or worked in multiple jobs over the last five to ten years. For example, some medical or academic CVs may be longer depending on your experience. While it’s important to keep your CV concise you should also avoid selling your experience short.
To save space only include the main points of your education and experience. Stick to relevant information and don’t repeat what you’ve said in your cover letter. If you’re struggling to edit your CV ask yourself if certain information sells you. If it doesn’t cut it out. If it’s not relevant to the job you’re applying for, delete it and if it’s an old detail from ten years ago, summarize it.
What to include in a CV
Contact details – Include your full name, home address, mobile number and email address.
Profile – A CV profile is a concise statement that highlights your key attributes and helps you stand out from the crowd. Usually placed at the beginning of a CV it picks out a few relevant achievements and skills, while expressing your career aims. A good CV profile focuses on the sector you’re applying to, as your cover letter will be job-specific. Keep CV personal statements short and snappy – 100 words is the perfect length.
Education – List and date all previous education, including professional qualifications. Place the most recent first. Include qualification type/grades, and the dates. Mention specific modules only where relevant.
Work experience – List your work experience in reverse date order, making sure that anything you mention is relevant to the job you’re applying for. Include your job title, the name of the company, how long you were with the organization and key responsibilities. If you have plenty of relevant work experience, this section should come before education.
Skills and achievements – This is where you talk about the foreign languages you speak and the IT packages you can competently use. The key skills that you list should be relevant to the job. Don’t exaggerate your abilities, as you’ll need to back up your claims at the interview. If you’ve got lots of job-specific skills you should do a skills-based CV.
Interests – ‘Socializing’, ‘going to the cinema’ and ‘reading’ aren’t going to catch a recruiter’s attention. However, relevant interests can provide a more complete picture of who you are, as well as giving you something to talk about at an interview. Examples include writing your own blog or community newsletters if you want to be a journalist, being part of a drama group if you’re looking to get into sales and your involvement in climate change activism if you’d like an environmental job. If you don’t have any relevant hobbies or interests leave this section out.
References – You don’t need to provide the names of referees at this stage. You can say ‘references available upon request’ but most employers would assume this to be the case so if you’re stuck for space you can leave this out.
For more help and advice on how to write a CV and to find CV templates, see example CVs.
CV format
Avoid titling the document ‘curriculum vitae’ or ‘CV‘. It’s a waste of space. Instead let your name serve as the title.
Section headings are a good way to break up your CV. Ensure they stand out by making them larger (font size 14 or 16) and bold.
Avoid fonts such as Comic Sans. Choose something professional, clear and easy to read such as Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman. Use a font size between 10 and 12 to make sure that potential employers can read your CV. Ensure all fonts and font sizes are consistent throughout.
List everything in reverse chronological order. Then the recruiter sees your work history and most recent achievements first.
Keep it concise by using clear spacing and bullet points. This type of CV layout allows potential employers to skim your CV and quickly pick out important information first.
Name the document when saving – Don’t just save as ‘Document 1’. Make sure the title of the document is professional and identifies you, such as ‘Joe-Smith-CV’.
Unless the job advert states differently (for example, it may ask you to provide your CV and cover letter as a Word document) save with a .PDF file extension to make sure it can be opened and read on any machine.
If you’re posting your CV, print it on white A4 paper – Only print on one side and don’t fold your CV – you don’t want it to arrive creased.
How to write a good CV
Use active verbs when possible. For example, include words like ‘created’, ‘analyzed’ and ‘devised’ to present yourself as a person who shows initiative.
A good CV doesn’t have any spelling or grammar mistakes. Use a spell checker and enlist a second pair of eyes to check over the document.
Avoid generic, overused phrases such as ‘team player’, ‘hardworking’ and ‘multitasker’. Instead, provide real-life examples that demonstrate all of these skills.
Tailor your CV. Look at the company’s website and social media accounts, look to see if they’ve recently been mentioned in the local press and use the job advert to make sure your CV is targeted to the role and employer.
Create the right type of CV for your circumstances. Decide whether the chronological, skills-based or academic CV is right for you.
Make sure your email address sounds professional. If your personal address is inappropriate, create a new account for professional use.
Don’t lie or exaggerate on your CV or job application. Not only will you demonstrate your dishonesty to a potential employer, but there can be serious consequences too. For example, altering your degree grade from a 2:2 to a 2:1 is classed as degree fraud and can result in a prison sentence. Take a look at this advice and guidance on degree fraud for students.
If posting your CV online don’t include your home address, as you could be targeted by fraudsters.
Always include a cover letter unless the employer states otherwise. It will enable you to personalize your application. You can draw attention to a particular part of your CV, disclose a disability or clarify gaps in your work history.
How to fill the gap left by the COVID-19 pandemic
The first thing to know is that COVID-19 has disrupted the career plans of thousands of students and you’re not alone. As a result of the pandemic, career-boosting activities such as work experience, internships and volunteering have been postponed or canceled. If this has left you worrying about the corona-shaped gap on your CV let us put your mind at rest.
Employers understand the challenges caused by lockdowns only too well and they won’t expect you to have completed a period of work experience in this time. That said you could still demonstrate to potential employers how you used this time wisely – showing yourself to be a proactive, dedicated and resilient candidate.
You could mention:
Details of online courses or Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) you’ve undertaken or webinars or online events you’ve attended
The acquisition of new skills, such as learning a language or learning to code
Volunteering work such as checking in on and shopping for vulnerable neighbors or caring for young siblings or elderly relatives
Charity work – perhaps you got involved with fundraising or raising awareness of a particular organization.
New hobbies such as starting to vlog, picking up a sport, learning to cook or setting up a community book club.
CV Preparation Tips:
If you want to grab the hiring manager’s attention and get your next job in no time, you will need to create a really compelling CV. But that’s easier said than done. Every job position you apply for has different requirements not only for your qualifications, but also for your CV design to be noticed. And while your CVs get outdated, and you have to update them regularly, there are some tips that are always relevant for any CV you would like to write.
Here, we are going to explore the 28 most important tips you need to remember and use in order to get the best results. So let’s not waste any more time and jump right into it.
1. Tailor your CV to every job you apply for
Even though your work experience and skills do not change when you are writing your CV, your CV should change depending on the role you are applying for.
You need to highlight different strengths, and really show the hiring manager that you know what job you are applying for and that you are qualified enough to take it.
A one size fits all kind of CV would not only get you the job, but it would most probably not even get you an interview.
So make sure you read the job description and get the best of all the qualifications and history you have.
2. Show your passion
Nowadays, the competition for every open job position out there is greater than ever.
There are hundreds of candidates for each job opening, and having all the right qualifications is no longer enough to get it.
That’s why you need to show your potential employer that you are not only qualified, but you also have passion for what you do.
If you have no experience, you can briefly explain that in your CV objective.
But overall, the best way to go is to list relevant side projects, and show in detail your passion for the job.
3. Be specific and show your impact
You have most definitely heard that tip before, but what does it really mean?
Basically, what it is trying to tell you is that you should ensure every bullet in your work experience section answers the question “What was the result of my work?”.
A while ago, these bullet lists were used mostly for responsibilities for every job position you have held, but in today’s competitive job market, you need to focus much more on achievements.
As much as 3-5 bullet points per job entry would do the trick, but you need to make them count.
To get the best result, you need to do three simple things:
• Start each bullet point with an action verb
• Use some kind of metrics to explain your impact
• Explain what actions you took to achieve that impact
4. Be confident
Your CV’s main goal is to present your professional experience in the best possible light for the hiring managers.
But if you want to get the best results, you need to show some real confidence in your experience and achievements.
Even though your CV is a professional document, it should still balance between the professional (experience, education, projects, skills, etc.) and the personal (passions, most proud of, life philosophy).
5. Talk in First Person
Never write a CV in the third person, unless you want recruiters to think that somebody else wrote your CV for you. Only use the first person, but leave out the pronoun “I”.
So, rather than saying: “I scheduled and organized client appointments”, say “Scheduled and organized client appointments”. It’s more brief and clear, plus, you avoid repeating “I” throughout your entire CV.
6. Use Active Voice Instead of Passive Voice
Language matters.
When you use an active voice, you deliver a more impactful and clear message. A passive voice, on the other hand, downplays your accomplishments.
Which of these 2 examples reads better?
Example 1: Recognized for proactive decision-making and responsibility.
Example 2: Responsibility and proactive decision-making were recognized as my strengths.
Yep, it’s the first!
As you can see, the first sentence is a lot more clear to read and understand. It directly conveys the message – you’re responsible and a good decision-maker. Using passive voice only overcomplicates the sentence and confuses anyone reading your CV.
7. Use reverse chronological order
While we are on the topic of your work experience section, you should know that all your entries should follow a reverse chronological order.
That means that your most recent entries should come at the top of the page, and the oldest one should go to the bottom.
That’s the format hiring managers expect in your work experience section, and if you provide them anything else, you might be dismissed before they have even started reading.
8. Proofread
One of the most important things you need to do before you send out your CV is checking it for any mistakes.
In today’s competitive job market, hiring managers use every chance they have to downsize the stack of CVs they have. You would not want to be dismissed just because you did not want to spend some time proofreading.
If you want to be extra careful (and you should be), you can ask a friend or a family member to proofread it for you as well, as they might spot some errors that you have missed.
9. Use keywords and power words
These two kinds of words are the most important step from tailoring your CV for the role you are applying for.
The keywords are most commonly skills that you find on the job description, and include in your CV to emphasize that you are a suited candidate for the job.
On the other hand, the power words are what makes keywords really stick out, when they are read by the hiring manager.
Power words emphasize your chosen keywords, and simultaneously tell a story of your greatest work-related achievements.
10. List your contact information correctly
No matter how impressive your experience, skills, and qualifications are, that would not matter at all, if your contact information is incorrect.
You need to carefully double-check it every time, so that you would be sure it is up-to-date, and any hiring manager would be able to contact you.
11. Don’t mention personal details
We already mentioned that it is great to balance the professional and the personal on your CV. But make no mistake, that does not mean any personal details have a place in your CV.
Any of the following personal details should at all times be omitted:
• Full address
• Date of birth
• Marital status
• Social security number
• Gender
• Sexual orientation
• Religious beliefs
• Political affiliation
12. Use a professional email address
Your CV should present you as a professional, and using anything less for your email address, can only backfire.
What you need to do is sign up for a well-accepted email provider, like Gmail, and use your first and last name in your email address. The best way to go is “firstname.lastname@email.com”.
13. Include your LinkedIn
A great way to give recruiters more insight into your networking skills, and offer extra details on who you professionally are, is by adding a link to your LinkedIn profile.
Before doing so, though, make sure that your LinkedIn has a professional profile picture, lists all of your top achievements and unique skills, and contains relevant skills for the position.
14. Provide proof and use hard numbers
One of the most impactful things on your CV are your achievements. But just putting them alone won’t do the trick, you need to provide some proof.
And what is more eye-catching for the hiring manager than numbers.
You need to find a way to quantify your achievements and use hard numbers to really impress the hiring managers.
A great habit to develop as early as possible is keeping track of your work, so that you would find it easy to implement this tip into your CV.
15. Make every section count
You might feel proud of all your experience, achievements and skills, but you need to remember that your CV should be at all times relevant to the job position you are applying for.
Furthermore, it should not be too long, as hiring managers have very limited time to go through hundreds of CVs.
If you want to increase your chances, make sure you cut out any irrelevant entries, or even whole sections.
The first thing you should consider leaving out is any old job experience that is no longer relevant, and you have gained a much more valuable one since then.
16. List all the right skills
Whenever you are writing a CV, it is important to make it all relevant. That specifically applies to your skill set.
To make the choosing process for your CV skills easier, it is a great idea to scan the job listing.
That’s the place where you can find all the required skills for the position, and you can start tailoring your CV with those which you possess.
17. Don’t talk about money
No matter how much passion you have shown for the job, if you start talking about money on your CV, you have negated any advantage that you might have had.
Talking about money on your CV would make any hiring manager think that you are only in it for the money, and that’s not what they are looking for.
There is a time and place to talk about money, and it is during your interview, once you play your hand right with your CV.
18. Be truthful
When you really want a job, you might be tempted to exaggerate the truth, but that is the worst thing you can do.
It is part of the job of the hiring managers to spot these exaggerations and lies, and even if you pass on to the interview, you will either be caught in a lie right then, or early on in your job.
Either way, you would risk damaging your reputation, or even facing legal charges in some cases.
So it’s best to stay truthful, and show them why you really are a great candidate for the job.
19. Create a compelling cover letter
A great way to compliment your CV is attaching a cover letter to it, and really making your application strong.
While your CV is all about your professional qualifications, the cover letter provides a more personal touch, and introduces your character to the hiring manager.
It is also a great way to emphasize even more on your most important and relevant skills throughout some more in-depth examples of your work.
20. Make sure you have enough white space
You have somewhat limited space to work with in your CV, so you should make every square inch count.
But make no mistake, if you go too far, you would only get a crumbled mess that no hiring manager would want to read, or even scan.
Make sure you have margins on all sides of your CV, and add 1.0-1.15 line spacing between text to get the best results.
Also, don’t forget that bullet lists instead of paragraphs are a great way to save some space and make your CV more visually appealing.
21. Make it ATS-friendly
More and more companies use some sorts of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to help them with pre-selection of candidates.
That’s where keywords are really essential, as that software scans for the most important ones for every position, so make sure you take a hard look at the job listing and get the best out of it.
Furthermore, you should stay away from any complicated graphs and images for important information in your CV, as ATS often can’t process that information, and your CV might get dismissed.
22. Avoid jargon/clichés
Last but not least, you should really be careful what words you write on your CV. Usually hiring managers cringe when seeing clichés, so if you have any, you should remove them.
Another way to go is with keeping them, but then you need to make sure they serve some purpose.
They should make you look better in the eyes of the hiring manager, and for that purpose, you should back them up with some examples and proof.
23. Try to Keep Your CV Under One Page
This one’s a classic – your CV should not be your life story.
Aim for 1-page max, 2 if you have a decade’s worth of work experience.
Having trouble fitting your CV on a single page? Here are some of tips on how you can do this:
• Skip over jobs you’ve worked 10+ years ago.
• Don’t mention work experience that isn’t directly related to the position you’re applying for. E.g. Don’t mention your summer job as a cashier if you’re applying for a role as a software engineer.
• Use a one-page CV template to make it easier to stick to the limit.
• Stick to only the most relevant skills and experiences. Ask yourself: will this specific experience/skill help me do the job better? If the answer is “no,” you can safely skip it.
24. Use the right font size
When listing all your greatest accomplishments, skills and work history, you need to consider one important thing – the hiring manager should be able to read it easily.
That’s why font size might be more critical than you think.
Luckily, there are just two rules here to make your CV look its best:
• Use between 14-16pt for sections’ titles
• Use 10-12pt for all other text in your CV
There is one exception, though, that you should not forget – your name should at all times be the biggest text in your CV.
25. Choose a professional font
But fonts are not all about size, you need to use a professional one, or the size would be of no importance.
In this case, the simpler – the better.
Consider one of the most common fonts:
• Times New Roman
• Arial
• Calibri
• Georgia
26. Name your file properly
Your CV name is the first thing a hiring manager would see before opening it up. And if the name of your file seems unprofessional, or in any way off-putting, it may never be opened.
What you need to include in the file name is:
• Your first and last name
• The type of the document (in this case – CV)
• The position you are applying for (optional)
Furthermore, if you also send out a cover letter with your CV, it would be easier for the hiring manager to connect the two documents with you, and your hard work would not be in vain.
CV name can be like this: Firstname.Lastname_Qualification_Experience.pdf
27. Use the right file format
Your file format is of great importance as well. You need to follow any instructions of file format that were listed in the job description, or your CV might again not be opened.
However, if there are no requirements about the file format, you should absolutely save your CV as PDF. This way you ensure that all your formatting would be preserved, and your CV would look its best.
28. Use online CV Builders
You can download the standard CV templates and edit in MS word. To get the best result, you need a greatly formatted, eye-catching CV, and you can build with online CV Builders.
Try it out, and make a great CV in no time.
Final top five tips
1. Use the right ‘keywords’ to ensure your CV is picked up in word searches
2. Explain any gaps in your CV, and be sure to highlight the skills that you have developed
3. Don’t include acronyms or organization related terminology
4. Include two forms of contact, email and mobile
5. Spelling and grammar check – ensure you check your CV thoroughly for any spelling and grammar errors. Perhaps even consider having a friend or family member check it over for you as well.
Takeaways
We are all done, now you know all the important tips that you need to make your CV great.
Read them carefully as many times as needed, time should be of no concern when it comes to getting your dream job.
And once done, start writing your next CV, that would get you all the interviews you have desired.
Best of luck! 🙂
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