Top Tips On What To Include On A CV

Top Tips On What To Include On Your Curriculum Vitae (CV)

CV’S are an essential document to have. In order to gain employment you will normally be required to send a CV into your potential employer.

Below is a top 10 checklist of things to include on your CV. By including all 10 you will be increasing your chances of gaining employment.

1. At the top of your CV include your contact details: your name, your date of birth, your email address and 2 contact telephone numbers that you can be contacted on. For example a mobile and home telephone number.
2. Then it is a good idea to include a 3 or 4 line personal statement to try and introduce yourself and mention anything which could make you unique.
   
3. Education must be inserted next (most recent first and then past education). Avoid including grades if they are really poor. For example if you got an F in History at school, miss this off and include Maths, English and Science.
   
4. Following this it is now important to insert work experience. Use words like developed, planned, and organised. These words make you sound interesting and show a range of experience.
   
5. Including teamwork is a must. Refer to how the previous employment gave you experience in teamwork, customer interaction, problem solving.
   
6. You should then consider including your interests and achievements. Make this section short and to the point, show a range of hobbies and any interests that relate to the job you are applying for. Try and hold back on passive hobbies like reading as it can seem you like to be alone and unsocial.
   
7. Try and mention some evidence of leadership for example sports captain, captain of a society, group leader in a group presentation whilst in education or even when employment you supervised a task.
   
8. It is then important to include a skills section. Things such as any second languages you may have like French, German, Spanish can all give you something unique. Also include things such as the length of time you have had your driving licence and if you are familiar with Microsoft office.
   
9. The last part of your CV should be 2 referees who can give an account of you as a person if required. One should be academic based and the other employment based. If you are struggling for space a short sentence like ‘excellent referees are available on request’ will suffice.
   
10. You should amend your CV for every job you apply for. If you have 2 or 3 lines on sports coaching and the job is in an office there may be no relevance. Read all job descriptions you apply for and include them requirements in your CV.

Important: Your CV should be no more than 2 A4 pages long and should be size 11 font. Do not use size 8 font to cram more information in.

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