Top tips for a winning CV

A CV is a very important document and it is vital that the appopriate time is taken to ensure you fully detail your experience and qualifications. The stronger your CV the higher the likelihood of securing an interview.

Presenting a CV

Keep it simple, concise and clear. Most employers initially spend just 20 to 30 seconds scanning a CV, so avoid long paragraphs of text and don’t clutter it with unnecessary categories or varying fonts, tables and graphics.

What to include in your CV

Here’s a general guide to the details you should include in your CV. You should also consider presenting the information in the following order:

• Personal details – but avoid in-depth details such as religious beliefs and dependents. It’s not obligatory to state your date of birth and marital status.

• Education and, more importantly, any qualifications, starting from the most recent and including the names of the institutions.

• Skills such as IT competency, foreign languages and training and development appropriate to the role.

• Work experience. The generally accepted format for outlining your employment history is in chronological order, presented with the most recent first. You should list achievements and responsibilities for the most recent and significant roles.

Alternatively, rather than listing all your roles in date order, you could opt to list them under categories based on the functions carried out, with a summary of your relevant experience and achievements. This can be a good option for people who have worked in several short-term or temporary roles.

• There’s no need to include references. They can be provided on request. You can mention this on your CV but it’s not strictly necessary.

• It’s not essential to include hobbies and interests, unless you have a particular achievement worth mentioning or have been involved in charity work or something quite unusual – within reason!

General hints for an impressive CV

• Keep your CV up to date. It’s much easier to manage your CV by reviewing it on a regular basis, updating it while responsibilities and projects you’ve worked on are fresh in your mind. Also, trim down or remove any past responsibilities that are no longer as significant.

• As well as a generic CV, develop a tailored one focusing on a specific type of role or industry sector you’re keen to get into. This will save you time when the perfect opportunity comes up.

• Explain how you have provided solutions to challenges at work in the past.

• Include any cost savings or revenue increases achieved through projects you were involved in.

• When applying for a role, amend your CV to highlight how you could add value to that particular organisation.

• Obvious, but important – check and recheck for any spelling mistakes or other errors. When you’ve been tweaking the same document for months it can be very hard to spot mistakes, so it might be wise to get a trusted friend to proofread it.