Seven Steps to Success with Your CV

Seven Steps to Success with Your CV

There are many schools of thought when it comes to writing a CV, and everybody has an opinion as to the best way.  I hope to be able to share my thoughts on here as to what I hope will help you get the most out of the document that is your first and sometimes only impression that you can make on a client or recruiter.

Get the presentation right!

A well presented CV will catch the eye, keep it simple, nothing too fancy, but keep it organised.  Obviously the content needs to be right for the role, but good presentation goes a long way.

Length of CV 

How long should it be?  The length of CV is a bone of contention for a lot of people with different schools of thought, 2 pages, 3 pages, more, which is best?  In my opinion 3 pages should be enough to get across the important career history, any more than this and it won't get read by clients.

Keep it punchy! 

When writing your CV put yourself in the position of the reader. break it up for them into bullet points to get your point across!

Keep it relevant! 

The Client is looking for relevant information that would suit the vacancy they are looking to fill, so tailor your CV to the role you are applying for with experience that they are looking for (obviously make sure it is something you have done in YOUR career! and keep examples to back these up in your head for when you get to interview).

Keep the reader informed!  

Sometimes CV’s come in with companies that the reader won’t know, the internet helps you find out nowadays, however a brief 2-3 lines below the job title on who they are is the best way of giving the reader a brief synopsis of what they do.

Use the full page! 

A lot of CV’s I see have a lot of blank areas, some lines start half way across the page leaving a big gap to the left and the CV then goes onto more pages to get the info on.  By using the full line you can get more info in about what you have done! as long as it is bulleted to break it up the reader will take it in and more importantly your jobs that are relevant sit higher up the CV.

Get the order right!

Most importantly in my opinion You need to get at least your latest two positions on the first page, a lot of CV’s either start with education, or start with the candidates first job and you actually get to the important part on page two or three.  If you can get your last two positions on that first page you have more chance of getting the interest of the reader!

The job market is getting more competitive currently with a larger number of applicants per role.  Clients will probably want to shortlist 5 candidates to meet and you have to imagine that they have already selected 4 by the time they get to your CV on the pile of applications.  What will make them put yours into the shortlist? Hopefully the pointers above will help you get shortlisted!!

To view our jobs and post me your updated CV, go and check out our website on www.peapodrecruitment.co.uk

Or email me us at info@peapodrecruitment.co.uk