Preparing your CV

Please give your CV some thought and spend some time on getting it right – it may make all the difference in getting the job you really want.

Most importantly, always thoroughly proof-read your CV or ask someone to do it for you before sending it to either an agency or a potential employer.

Make sure your CV is well laid out so that it is immediately easy to read and understand. Leave plenty of white space.
Use concise, unambiguous sentences; avoid exaggerations and a flowery writing style.
Do not make false claims; honesty is always the best policy.
Bullet points are useful to highlight relevant skills and experience and help break up continuous text.
Depending on your experience, two pages is an ideal length.
Stress your past accomplishments and the skills you used to get the results you achieved.
Focus on information, which is relevant to your own career goals.
If you are making a career change, stress what skills are transferable to support your new career objectives.
Put your highest level of education first.
Put your most recent job first and work backward chronologically in time.
Ensure all dates are accurate.
Explain any long career gaps (i.e. travelling, maternity leave etc) these will only need to be explained to our clients.
Don’t change tenses back and forth.
Describe what you did 90% of the time, not 10% of the time.
Avoid references to hobbies, activities and memberships, which are not business related, or have no relevance to your current career goals or job objectives.
If you are preparing a CV for a specific vacancy, explain why you would be good at the position for which you are applying. This is a brief summary of your significant technical and managerial skills (where appropriate). Include accomplishments and soft skills such as team player, dependable and successfully meeting deadlines. E.g. – Achieved a fundraising target of £100,000 within one year.