Writing a CV

What should you put in your CV?

It is an opportunity for the recruiter to find out a little bit about you, what skills you have, and what experience you have. When writing your CV you must only put in it what is accurate and true, there should be no reason to put in any false information as it could get you into a lot of trouble. It is not a legal document, but it is a document that will help you to obtain work so including lies in it will put your new employment status at risk if your employer finds out.

You should have the following sections in your CV:

• personal information
• personal statement
• employment history
• education
• references
• personal interests

For each of these sections you should put around one to two paragraphs as long as it is all relevant information that would be useful to the recruiter.

Personal Information

Make sure that you put simple things such as your name, address, contact phone number, and email address. Make sure this is correct so you can be contacted for an interview.

Example

You don't have to state if you are married or single and you don't have to include your age or date of birth on your CV but if you want to put it then you can. It is illegal for employers to discriminate on the grounds of age or relationship status so it is totally up to you.

Personal Statement

This is perhaps the most important part of your CV. You have one paragraph to sell yourself to the recruiter. You should use it to highlight the key skills and experience that is relevant to the job you are applying for.

Employment History

Always start from the most recent job to the first job you had. The most important things to put on your work history are where you worked, what your title was, your key responsibilities and what your skills were. Also include when you started and when you left, and why you left. A recruiter will be able to tell a lot from this part of your CV so make sure that you put as much relevant information as you can. Try to lay it out neatly as shown below.

Example

Make sure that you start from the most recent job and work your way back. Try and make sure you are as accurate as possible with the dates on starting and leaving.

Education

If you are coming straight out of education the recruiter will only have your education history and results to base their decision on so this should be set out accordingly to help them understand what your skills are:

Also make sure that if you did any work experience or work placement while in education to add those as well so the recruiter can get an idea of the experience you have.

References

When choosing a referee you need one that will act as a work referee and one that will be a personal referee. If you have just come out of education you can give a tutors name as a referee as they will normally give a reference on a work level as well as a personal level but never leave references blank as it looks unprofessional.

Example

Always remember that an ex employer/tutor cannot give you a bad reference, but they can refuse to give one. So make sure they are happy to give you a reference and that you contact them before hand.

Personal Interests

This is a brief paragraph to let the recruiter find out a bit more about your personality and what you like. Make sure to mention any interests you have that may be relevant to the job you are applying for, but keep it brief and to the point.