Writing the perfect CV
How much time do you spend keeping your CV up to date? Your CV is a key element to the job hunting process and a few simple changes can be the difference between securing an interview and being added to the ‘circular file’.
A good CV showcases your education, skills and experience and should persuade employers you’re the perfect person for the job. Studies show that recruiters spend as little as 6 seconds scanning a CV before deciding whether to read it in more detail, so keeping it informative and to the point is extremely important.
The style and layout of your CV is up to you, however we recommend these 10 tips to our candidates to help them create the perfect CV:
- Ensure your contact information is correct and easy to find. Include your name, address, phone number, and email address, a link to your LinkedIn profile is also useful.
- Pick your font carefully. Using styles such as Calibri, Tahoma or Ariel makes your CV look professional and easy to read.
- Put yourself in the employer’s shoes; they will be looking to hire someone who is confident in their line of work so sell yourself and let the reader know why you’re good at what you do. You need to be the person who stands out above all the other candidates.
- List your work history in chronological order, with your most recent job first. Your CV will be a conversation starter in an interview so ensure the information and dates are correct. If you have any gaps in between jobs be prepared to explain why they are there.
- Your education should follow on from your work history. Generalise school qualifications to keep the content short and snappy i.e. 10 GCSEs Grade A-C. Specifics can be given at a later stage if necessary. Your most recent education needs to be the priority so if you’re short of space consider leaving your lower level qualifications off.
- Showcase your achievements. When you have hit or exceeded targets show evidence of how you managed this. Make this quantifiable, for example “I increased sales by 50%” sounds more impressive and authentic than just “I improved sales revenue”.
- Ensure your CV is relevant to the role you are applying for. If you want to be a Manager/Supervisor steer your wording in a direction which highlights situations when you’ve assisted others or been in charge of a team. If you’ve been a manager before then mention how many people reported to you and the results your team achieved.
- If you’re uploading your CV onto a job search database put yourself in the position of the recruiter. Think of the key words they are most likely to search for when looking for a candidate then include the relevant words in you CV. Include words that reflect the role you are looking for i.e. Customer Support Engineer or IT Project Manager.
- Conclude your CV by giving employers an indication of your personality. Bullet point a few personal interests and hobbies. These can be good conversation starters, and you never know, you might have something in common with your interviewer that will give you an edge over other candidates!
- Before submitting your CV, get at least one other person to read it through to check your grammar and general wording.
If you’re looking for a new role in IT, Consulting, Telecoms, Engineering or Marketing you can submit your CV to info@fuelrecruitment.co.uk
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