How To.....WRITE A WINNING CV

WRITE A WINNNING
CURRICULUM VITAE

As was pointed out at a Toastmasters’ meeting last night (http://www.west-herts-speakers.org.uk/), the pages of your CV represent your future salary and career progression so it’s important to get it right.

It’s extremely important to have a great CV in the current economic climate when fewer companies are recruiting and more people are applying for each position available.

Your CV is a tool to get you to interview stage and having worked as a senior manager in a large corporate organization, where I’ve had to hire new staff and create an effective working team, here are my top tips for making a great first impression:

Firstly, your CV should be presented cleanly. That’s clean in content so that it’s easy to navigate and understand, as well as printed on quality paper with no ink stains or creases.

Remember: FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT.

There are many CV templates available on the internet and they basically cover the following points:

1) Personal Details
2) Profile
3) Professional Experience
4) Qualifications
5) Training Courses + Education
6) Professional Membership
7) Main Hobbies + Interests

Your CV should be 2, but no more than 3, pages in length. On each page you should have a header stating ‘Confidential’, a footer stating your name and basic contact details (Phone number and E-Mail address), and ‘Page X of Y’.

This is important because your CV pages could become separated so you have to make it easy for your prospective employer to get in touch with you and also re-order the pages.

Secondly, structure the CV so that it’s aimed at the reader, your prospective employer. This may require you to rework each CV for each individual position applied for, but remember…..this is your future salary so it’s worth the effort.


Remember: AIM FOR WHO YOU WANT TO BE.

Your Profile should be a short, eye-catching and punchy synopsis of your professional experience. It should focus on the role that you are trying to achieve and match your previous experience with the skills required in the new position.

Keywords are essential and should focus on your prospective employer’s key drivers, eg: budgetary control, resource management, benefits to the business and goals achieved (personal and corporate).

It’s not so much about the position that you held but more about the role that you undertook and what you achieved in yourself and for the company.

Your keywords can compliment or copy the main words in the job advert, but please DO NOT regurgitate the job advert as this shows lack of ability and effort.

Remember: YOU HAVE TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD, NOT FOLLOW THE MASS.

Any information given should be in reverse date order with your most recent achievements and positions held first.

In the Professional Experience section, we generally advise adding an interesting and eye-catching description about the last two or 3 positions held and then just a one liner about any previous positions held.

From your CV, your prospective employer is looking for a good understanding of what you’ve achieved in the last 3 to 5 years, and anything after that they’re interested in any gaps in employment.

As with the Profile section, any descriptions within the Professional Experience section should focus on what you achieved and how you achieved it. It should also be relevant to the role that you are now seeking so that your prospective employer can easily identify your potential and then offer you an interview to find out more about you.

If you have a job title that’s particular to your present company and not recognized in the market place, you can change the job title to something that your prospective employer will know and understand.

Thirdly, add weighting to your CV with association to professional bodies and groups, eg: Toastmasters.

This conveys to your prospective employer that you are a proactive and social person interested in self development.

The last point to mention is, DON’T LIE.

There are many ways to extrapolate the truth and highlight your key skills and achievements without resorting to lying.

Remember: AIM FOR WHO YOU WANT TO BE.


GOOD LUCK.

Remember: If you need help to review your CV then just get in touch:

GWENDOLINE
CREATIVE INTERIOR DESIGNER
gwendoline@ga-interiors.co.uk
Tel: 07841 519802