If you are looking for a job, then it is very important that you understand how to offer yourself in the best way to an employer. This is done by writing a 'CV' (curriculum vitae - Latin for 'life story'), called in some countries a 'resume'.

Before you start your CV you'll want to do a little bit of contemplation to make sure the document you produce is as appropriate as possible. It doesn’t have to be too painful an exercise, as long, as with many things, you have the right structure.

Here, we'll look at some considerations you need to make before putting together your CV.
To obtain an advantage over other applicants, in addition to your word doc CV you should create a video CV.

Example Video CV

General

Provide evidence - tell the truth. Work out what qualifications, experience and skills are required for the position applied for and think of what you have done that matches those attributes. Be specific, focused and factual and give full explicit details and provide evidence for any claims you make.

Writing Style

• Make sure the spelling is correct. Poor spelling reflects badly especially as we have the tools to prevent it. Get at least two people to check and read your CV.
• Don't use the word 'I'.
• Keep sentences short.
• Use past tense.
• Try to keep your CV between 2 and 3 pages long and paragraphs to a maximum of 6 lines.
• Try to use a maximum of 6 bullet points together, each bullet not more than one or two sentences.

Don’t Include

• Don't include any negatives or anything critical.
• Don't include poor grades, or unfortunate work experiences.
• There is rarely an advantage to include any personal interests or hobbies in your CV unless relevant to the job.
• Don't include references unless specifically requested - they can be requested upon interview
• Unless you are applying for a position as a model don't include a photograph.
• Do not include matters about your health or any disabilities you have.
• Do not include any trade union or political affiliations.
• Don't include children you have.
• Don't include humour.
• Don't show your existing salary or expected salary unless requested.

Formatting

• Only use bold and italics sparingly for emphasis and easy navigation. For example, only use on section and sub headings.
• Do not use underlining.
• Do not use all uppercase.
• Do not use graphics or images in your CV.
• Do not use a filename such as mycv.doc or latestCV.doc – too many people do this. An example of a good filename is CV Surname, First Initial, Month, Year.doc (CV Smith AD June 2007.doc)
  

Chronological or Functional

We do not recommend a functional style CV as most employers now look upon this as attempting to hide gaps. Keep to a reverse chronological format (dates in order of most recent first).
Do not attempt to hide any gaps as most of the time there is a perfectly good reason, such as getting laid off (it happens!), child birth, or illness that can be explained at interview.

Personal Details

There is no need to include attributes such as gender, date of birth, photograph, children, weight, height, or marital status. If you are not a British citizen then you should include nationality.

Profile/Objective

You must include an objective section if you are changing career path. For example, you are looking to change from an Application Developer to a Technical Project Manager. If you are not changing careers then this is optional. The objective section can be as simple as the job title you are seeking. Keep it short to a few sentences.

A profile or summary is not generally required in a CV as your CV itself should be a full summary of your career if done correctly.

Work History

• Concentrate mostly on achievements, not just responsibilities. Show what you achieved for the company during your work there.
• Don't re-write your current job description.
• Don't include reasons for leaving.
• Only include recent jobs. What you did 30 years ago will probably not have much
  relevance today.
• Include any voluntary or work placement activities. The employer will be interested in the quality of experience regardless of whether or not it was paid.
• When listing your various jobs, include details which illustrate exactly how they have given you the skills which will be useful.
• Don't belittle or undervalue your experience. It is up to you to demonstrate how and why they have given you useful skills.

Education

If you have little work history or are currently attending or due to finish school, college, or university then put education section above work history.

• Don't include poor grades.
• Include honours if awarded.
• Give more detail to the higher qualifications listed such as degrees and masters.
• Give full course details and dates.
• If you do not have a degree then show you successfully completed other educational courses or training such as night school, continuing education, seminars, or workshops.
• Write 'degree expected [month/year]' if you have not yet graduated.

If you have nothing to put in an education section then focus on writing the other sections of your CV, highlighting the skills and experience you have gained. Consider a school or college nearby that offers classes scheduled around the needs of working adults.

Other Skills/Sections

• Languages - make sure you include your level such as fluent, intermediate, or basic. Show if you read, write, or speak.
• List your IT skills and include the applications you have used
• Published works
• Membership of relevant professional bodies, clubs or societies
• Make sure you list any other skills that will interest an employer if they are relevant.

Firstly, it is vital to understand the CV reviewing process and your recruiter's situation:

• Recruiters are dealing with many applications per vacancy
• They are normally under immense time pressures as working to tight deadlines
• In the main, they will make their first decision on your application by only scan reading your CV
• They are initially searching for just a few keywords in your CV
• As their time is precious, recruiters will ruthlessly discard CVs that they are finding difficult to navigate through
• Benefit of the doubt is not normally given
• The presentation of your CV will reflect on you & the work they can expect from you

For most recruiters CV processing is very tedious, so if you make their life easier they should take a positive attitude towards you.
Many jobseekers do not realise that the way their CV information is presented, can often be of more value in getting to the next stage of the application process, than the information itself.
Good presentation can:

• Attract the recruiter to read the CV the moment your application is received & before other applicants
• Convey that you possess more skills than just what is described in the text of your CV
• Smoothly guide the recruiter to the relevant areas of your history
• Instantly give the recruiter a positive feel about you
• Ultimately, get you an interview for your perfect job

Poor presentation can:

• Hide your most important information from the recruiter
• Stop your CV from being read fully
• Build a negative impression of you in the mind of the recruiter
• Convey to the recruiter that you would produce a poor standard of work
• Ultimately, prevent your application from going to the next stage

What should be on the front page

You need to convey the message to the reader that you are precisely the person for the job. You need to show that you have the skills they are looking for and that you have demonstrated use of those skills for other clients and provided business value to those clients by utilising those skills.

There are essentially 4 sections to the front page of a high impact CV:

1. Your name, address and contact details.
2. A profile of you. 4 lines.
3. List of skills. Bullet points.
4. List of achievements. Bullet points.

Name Address Tel: 01234 5677889 Email: name@emailaddress.com PROFILE Highly proficient SENIOR ANALYST PROGRAMMER with 10 years experience building Financial Risk applications for major blue chip clients using OO, C++, Oracle, UML, ADO. Full life cycle knowledge, including RUP, SSADM, and PRINCE methodologies. Now seeking next rewarding opportunity to make a successful impact in a customer focused team. EXPERTISE C++ (8 years) Oracle (version xyx, 9 years) OO, Rational Rose, UML, OCL Design Patterns, Design By Contract SSADM, RAD, DSDM, XP, SCRUM (and so on - you need about 10 bullet points here) ACHIEVEMENTS Successfully re-engineered existing risk analysis application cutting down the run time from 30 minutes to 10 seconds. This enabled fund managers to real time risk analysis figures resulting in the company being more competitive in the market place, increasing revenues by 50%. Taught and mentored junior developers in OO techniques resulting in significant productivity rate increases and less time to market. Increase in speed of development enabled IT to become more responsive to clients demands for change and enhancements. Automated manual reconciliation of system data with market data resulting in task being completed with 100% accuracy in 1 minute, as opposed to 3 hours.

What not to put on the front page

You only have one sheet of A4 to make that 10 second impact. So, if you start listing all your schooling you did 20 years ago and the fact that you love squash and have a clean driving licence that isn't really going to get you the job. Unless of course you are applying to be chauffeur driving squash playing teacher!

Here's a list of pointless information that wastes space on the front page:

• A list of schools you attended with examinations, grades, addresses. Tell me you have the list of skills I'm after
• A list of hobbies. Tell me what you’ve achieved by applying the skills you have
• Your work history. Tell me what benefits your clients have gained from your work. Why should I hire you?

The next couple of pages

This is where you list you work experience. No essays. Short and sweet, using bullet points. It is here that you are explaining the things you built and what skills you used. You should also add some benefits as well if you can. Here's an example of what should appear on these pages:

Name of Company - Global on-line brokerage and banking Development Team Leader - Retail Banking Feb 2000 to July 2001 (18 months, 3 renewals) Managed a team of 5 developers for the design and development of retail banking functionality. Responsible, end to end, for implementation of requirements: From marketing requirements, through design and development, into UAT, and release. An 8 tiered architecture, built using Object Orientation. An ASP front end with a number of distinct tiers written in COM+ linking to a back end mainframe. And so on

A few things to note: If a contractor, you should explicitly list the number of months you were there and the number of renewals. This tells the reader that you are reliable and that people value your work. Stick to bullet points. No one wants to read essays. Another tip is to highlight the keys points that have been asked for in the job description in bold text so they stand out.

The Last Page

This is where you list your Education, training, and hobbies. Keep this compact. If you have a degree and 5 years experience then you don't need to list every subject and grade of every GCSE.