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CV Support

Need Help Developing A CV or Resume? contact me today!

 

I have over fifteen years of employability coaching and CV writing experience. I have assisted many hundreds of job seekers in their career journeys!

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A CV is a selling tool that should describe you in a positive light to the recruiter. A recruiter, on average, will spend approximately 20 seconds scanning your CV.

 

Your CV should highlight your skills; experience and compatibility for the job role.  However, your CV can 'be rejected over some simple things like–spelling and grammar errors, inconsistencies with employment dates, too much/too little information, poor formatting and a silly email address. A CV should not be any more than two pages, the information should be brief, concise and include positive action words.

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Your CV is worth the value of your professional skills £££, so it is vital to spend time to ensure that it is ticking all the boxes, so it needs to be clearly labelled, well-formatted, professional sounding and corresponding skills and experience.

There are many helpful tools online to help with building your CV, try the free tool below to help you begin

The CV Writing Aid that you may find helpful. There is a limit of 3 generations per person per day.

Each generation should produce three outputs

CV Styles

​There are three main styles of CVs:

 

​The functional or skills-based CV 

This style is ideal when you are changing jobs, new to the workplace, or returning to the workplace after an extended break. This style focuses more on skills and less on your work history. Recommended if you are a newcomer to the workplace, a school leaver, a graduate or changing career paths.

 

​Reverse Chronological CV: ​

This style is ideal if you have a strong work history. It is less focused on lengthy key skills descriptions, is concise and contains a shorter personal statement. 

 

​Tailored CV

This is the overall recommended style to use for CV applications. A tailored CV is literally ‘tailored’ to the job application. Use the information from the job posting to record your relevant skills and experience. Employers like this style as they can quickly get a sense of your skills and experience. Tailored CVs take longer to produce but are worth the effort.

Formatting your CV

When it comes to formatting your CV, there are a number of elements you should include​​

  • The font should be between 10 and 12 sizes and keeping the font in Calibri or Arial.

  • Keep your page margins around 2.5 cm

  • Use a simple layout and highlight each heading in bold

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What sections should a CV Include?

  • Personal Contact Information - Name, email and telephone number

  • Summary Profile or Personal Statement

  • An overview of skills, experience and relevant background.

    • who are you?

    • What can you offer the company?

    • What are your career goals?
       

  • Key Skills:

    • List at least five skills and include a short description of how or where you have used them.
      Example : Database Administration – I have five years of experience using internal and external database systems including PAMS, SQL, Access, and Oracle.
      Example: Customer Service –I have a strong ability to deal with customers calmly and positively so that their requests are processed promptly in line with business goals
       

  • Education:

    • List relevant qualifications, training, licenses, accreditations or awards. It is unnecessary to record the dates of attendance
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  • Work Experience

    • State your job title, the employer, the location, and the dates you worked there. Then write a sentence that summarises some of the duties or main responsibilities that you did. In bullet point form, describe 2 or 3 achievements you gained during this job role. Write this down for at least your last 3 places of employment.
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  • Other Information *(optional)

    • In this section, you can include information you think the employer may find interesting. For instance, speaking another language, operating a machine/vehicle, or using a different software program. You may not fit the job description criteria, but you may have extra 'likeable qualities' that an employer will appreciate reading

    • ​Hobbies and interests. Be specific about what you are interested in. Don't just say that you enjoy reading - describe the genre, authors, and books that particularly stood out to you. Don't list hobbies that don't add value to your CV. Socialising should never be included as a hobby or interest.
       

  • Referee- Ideally, these should be people you know on a professional level, e.g. someone you have worked with or alongside. When you are offered a job, you should only give the recruiter their contact information after receiving it

To help you a little further, I have put some examples below.
Please click on the buttons to see the CV examples.

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