Top Tips For CV Success
Top tips for CV success, by Jerry Frempong, expert from The Job Academy and CV London:
· From the top – include a personality profile at the top of your CV. It should be a short paragraph that summarises yourself and your experience. It’s the first thing an employer will see, so it needs to be engaging and highlight your key achievements
· Transferable skills – figure out what transferable skills you have developed over the last few years from odd jobs, family responsibilities or work experience. Whether it’s communication skills, meeting deadlines, getting to work on time or teamwork, list it out and make it bold
· Length – employers will only skim read your CV. Make sure it is no longer than two pages. Ideally it will only be one
· Timeline – start with your most recent achievements at the top and work backwards so that your school achievements are the last thing included
· Social media – try googling yourself and seeing what comes up, as this information will be visible to employers. Remove any pictures or comments linked to you on social networking sites where you are acting drunk, vulgar or immature
· Avoid the generic – stay away from the generic online CV template. Employers will be able to tell, and it will only make you look lazy
· Ambition – List out your career objective underneath your personality profile, describing what you want to achieve in the next couple of years (ensuring that this is tailored to each job). This will help the employer identify you as someone who wants to develop and progress, which will be attractive to them
· Don’t leave gaps – this immediately makes employers suspicious. Even if there has been a period in your life where you weren’t doing anything, think about skills you learnt during this time. Did you go travelling? Go on a course? Help your parents out at home? This can all be included as experience
· Tell the truth – blatant lies can be found out, so avoid them at all costs. You may be ask to elaborate them during an interview and you will get caught out
· Errors – employers are essentially looking for reasons to reject CVs. Don’t give them a reason to bin yours by always double checking your spelling and grammar. If you’re not sure, ask someone else to check