Unless you write CVs professionally, writing or refining an existing CV will take longer than you think and don't be surprised if you find it quite challenging.
Before you start, think about the purpose of a CV. It tells the recruiter how your experience is relevant to their vacancy and how your skills match what they want for their job.
To help you understand what the recruiter might be looking for from your CV, it can be helpful to ask yourself the following questions:
- What kind of person would be effective in this job?
- What will they be doing?
- What skills will they need to do the job effectively?
You can use lots of different sources to help you with this, including the advert and job profile, the organisations website and any information they sent you with your application. If you know someone who works for that organisation, you can also speak to them.
Then to help decide what information to include, ask yourself:
- What am I most proud of in my career?
- When have I received good feedback from colleagues and managers?
- When have I used the skills I listed above?
- What have I achieved, improved, put in place, as a result of all of this?
There are many different websites that have free templates you can use and a number of them will help you build your CV into one of their templates. Remember, whilst there is no set template you have to use, there are popular guidelines that we would advise you follow.
- Your CV should be no longer than two sides of A4.
- It should be presented in a standard font such as Arial.
- Use bullet points to make information stand out.
- Focus on results.
- Put the 'most recent first' for education and training.
- Target the content of your CV to each job you want to apply for, using the language style of the recruiter.
Most common mistakes to avoid…
- Being descriptive, focus on succinct statements that say what you achieved (your output) and the skills you used.
- Increasing the margins and making the font smaller, it makes it hard for the recruiter to see easily how well you match their role.
- Putting everything you have ever done on your CV, tailor it to each specific role.
- Using long paragraphs of text, they are hard to read quickly and key skills and achievements are easily lost.
We have produced some more detailed guidance presented in the attached templates at the bottom of the page that you may find helpful. You may find template 2 more suitable if you have a lot of skills and achievements you want to reflect in your CV.
CV Writing and Interview skills one day course
There is also more comprehensive advice and guidance on CV writing on the Enhance your CV and develop your interview skills course which you can attend. This course is available to book now.
CV writing e-learning
For those of you who are unable to attend a course and take a full day away from work, this e-learning takes you through writing a CV and by the end of the course you will have produced your new CV.
Further resources available
There are also a number of websites with guidance on CV writing. The National Careers Service has a free CV builder, as well as advice on what to include in each section and different templates you can use.
I am a line manager wanting to support my team in CV writing
We have also prepared a 60 minute session on CV writing that can be used in a small group setting such as a team meeting to help team members get started.
