WRITING YOUR CV

Whether you are a recent graduate or have many years of work experience, your CV can be the doorway to a more fulfilling career. When a recruiter looks at your CV and decides whether to invite you for an interview, the "first appearances" rule applies. You only have a few seconds to make a good impression and set yourself apart from other candidates. Following the guidelines will make it easier to write your CV and help you to succeed in gaining an interview.

WHY WRITE A CV?

As we've said, the point of writing a CV is to get you an interview. You have the opportunity to sell yourself at the interview, but without the right CV to open the door, you'll never make it to the interview. Within the first 7 to 10 seconds of reading your CV, the person screening applicants must be convinced that you merit further consideration. To be convinced, they need to review a summary of your education, skills, accomplishments and experience in that time frame. Format, design and vocabulary play big roles.

BASIC RULES FOR A SUCCESSFUL CV

Certain general rules apply, no matter your level of experience or the job opportunity for which you apply.

• Be brief. If you have one to five years' experience, one page is sufficient. One or two pages are appropriate for a candidate with more than five years' experience. If you are emailing or faxing your CV, never go beyond two pages.
• Use standard CV structure. List your experience and education in chronological order with the most recent first. When listing specific tasks or accomplishments within a job summary, use bullet points whenever possible. Make it easy for the reader to follow the format.
• Presentation is critical! If you're emailing your CV or giving one out at your interview, it should be on white or off-white paper. Type in an easy-to-read font such as Times Roman, Arial or Helvetica, and in an easy-to-read size (depending on the font, between 10 and 12 point). Don't make the mistake of using attention-grabbing colored paper, artistic borders or pictures. Don't cram in too much information - white space can be very effective as well as making it easier for the reader to absorb content.

If you're emailing your CV as a Word document, or cutting and pasting it into an Internet job form, keep the format simple. Complicated indents, tabs and other formatting may get lost in translation to a different version of the software or job form, and your information may be garbled or deleted.

Header

Centre your name, address, telephone number(s) and email address at the top of the page. Indicate whether the telephone numbers are home/work/mobile phone. Only list your work number if it is appropriate for a prospective employer to call you at your current job (it's a temporary position, you're working out a notice period, etc.)

Objective

Although "Objective" is a standard CV section, be careful! Objectives that qualify you for one position can immediately disqualify you for another. Always review the objective on your CV against the requirements of a specific job opportunity and change it if necessary. 

An objective is a statement that expresses the intended career path in your field(s) of interest. Your objective needs to be specific. State a positive, such as: "To secure a position as an analytical chemist in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry," or "Participate in the start-up of a new hospital unit and contribute positively to its success." Don't waste the space on generalities such as "To find employment with a professional dynamic company that will utilise my professional skills and experience." Every job seeker has this objective and it's meaningless to a potential employer.

Education

Always put your education before your work experience because it tells the prospective employer more about your current qualifications. List your education in reverse chronological order including: degree level, subject, institution and year. Add honours and awards you have won and relevant courses, projects or activities that are applicable to your stated career path.

Once you have been working in industry for more than 2 years, this section needs to be moved to below your Employment History section.

Employment History

List dates (month/year), title, company and location for each job held, beginning with the most recent. Give a one-sentence summary about the company if it's not an immediately recognisable name such as "£1 billon pharmaceutical R&D Company." Briefly summarise duties and accomplishments in each position held. Use action words to define activities and responsibilities. For example: Achieved, Designed, Generated, Launched, Supervised and Budgeted.

Group all jobs unrelated to your field(s) of interest, full or part-time, that you held while attending school. An introductory statement such as: "I worked at the following positions to cover 75% of my tuition during university" will show your sense of responsibility and ability to hold a job.

Don't disregard any experience just because it was unpaid. Internships or other unpaid positions that you gained valuable experience from can be included here.

Never assume that the prospective employer will understand duties and accomplishments implicited on a previous job. Be as complete and concise as possible. When applicable, clearly point out how your efforts have led to revenue generation or cost-savings. For example: "Created and implemented new inventory management system" is nice, but "Created and implemented new inventory management system saving 20% over previous year's expenses and reduced work hours to manage by 45%" is downright impressive.

Additional Skills

This is the section in which you can place skills and abilities that aren't immediately obvious by your degree(s) or positions held, such as familiarity with software programmes or knowledge of foreign languages.

Professional Accreditations

If you are a member of a professional association, list it, along with any committee position you hold with the association or awards you have won from the association.

References

Do not list references on your CV. The simple line: "References available upon request" is appropriate, but optional. When asked to submit references, do so on a separate sheet of paper and make sure you check with the people you name first. This is important because:

• The person may not want to be a referee
• The person may have moved, changed jobs or otherwise not be at the number you're listing
• The person may be open to suggestions as to what will be said about you. It may not be immediately obvious to them why you are a good match for the position and you need to spell it out.

Salary History or Requirements

Do not list your salary history or requirements on your CV, even if the job posting asks for them. There are many variables in compensation including benefits and bonuses. Listing a salary history that immediately places you out of range for a specific position disqualifies you from consideration. You may be willing to take a lesser salary to work for a specific organisation because it's prestigious, a non-profit company, or for some other reason, but the person reading your CV may not understand or readily accept that. If you are pressured into give your salary history during an interview or a pre-interview screening, comply as the interviewer can obtain salary history from past employers once you give permission for a background check, but don't volunteer any information! If the position offers less than your range, explain why the lower range would be acceptable. But never discuss exact salary requirements until a job offer is on the table as salary is often negotiable depending upon your skill set, the position, the other available candidates, and other variables you may not know about.