Your CV is the best way to market yourself for a potential role. An employer will decide in a very short period of time, if they wish to interview you or not. This is why your personal profile may be THE most important aspect of your CV. I have included some tips below to help you, when writing your CV.
Contact details
Always ensure that the employer has more than one way to contact you. I always tend to include a mobile telephone number and an email address.
When it comes to your email address, please always ensure it is a professional email address. You may need to create a new one simply for your job search activity.
I always include my address; however this is down to personal choice.
Personal profile
Consider your personal profile as an advertisement. It should be free of information that could lead to biased decisions, for example I would not include your date of birth, sex or religion in your profile.
It should be free from over use of “I” and should be more generalised. Please see the below example.
“A highly motivated individual, with the ability to work towards demanding targets. A proven track record in delivery of quality and assurance. Demonstrates excellent communications skills and is comfortable communicating at all levels.”
Employment history
Your employment history should be listed chronologically with the most recent job role first. I would usually not list any jobs older than 10 years, unless it is relevant to the current job you are applying for.
You should start by stating the role, then the employer then the year you worked there, along with a brief description of the role, and some bullet pointed skills, developed during the employment. Please see example below
Head Waitress- The USA dining company- 2006 to 2002
Part of a busy team of dining room assistants responsible for day to day running of the diner and ensuring customers are attended to.
Cash handling
Dealing with complaints
Demonstrating excellent customer service
Ensuring high standards of cleanliness
Adherence to food safety standards
Skills and Education
This part of your CV is used to list the schools and colleges you attended and what qualifications you achieved. As with your working history, it should be listed chronologically with the most recent first. This section can also be used to list any work related qualifications you may have obtained within your working history.
References
It is not usually expected, at this point, to provide details for your references, as an employer will request that from you at a later date. I usually complete this section by saying “Available upon request” just to make the employer aware that you are able to provide them when required.
Your CV should never be generic as it should be tailored each time you apply for a new role and the skills listed within your working history should reflect the skills requested in the employers job description.
This way it will ensure that your CV is tailored to the employer’s needs and requirements and will give you a better opportunity of securing yourself an interview!