CV guidelines for full-time roles
Here's a useful step-by-step guide top writing a CV that will help open doors.
Before you begin
- There is no ideal format or layout of a CV; these are simply guidelines to help you
- You will need to adapt your CV to every application
- Employers expect your CV to be targeted towards the job you are applying for
- Make sure you include evidence proving that you meet the employer’s requirements
- Recruiters spend on average 5-7 seconds looking at a CV- first impressions count!
Presentation: Making a good first impression
Design:
- Clear headings for each section
- Professional font (no smaller than size 10, sans serif font)
- Use consistent formatting e.g. spacing, borders, fonts, headings, bold, italics
- Distribute text evenly using the full page – don’t leave large blank spaces
- Use bullet points or short paragraphs to break up block text
- Appropriate length (two sides of A4) – do not go over two pages
- Do not put ‘Curriculum Vitae’ at the top – your name should be the title
Structure:
- Order the sections by prioritising the information that the employer will be most interested in
- The first page should contain the most important information for the role
- Typically: Personal details, Personal Profile (optional), Education, Work Experience, Skills (optional), Interests and Achievements, References
Language:
- Spelling and grammar must be correct – proofread your CV carefully and read it out loud
- Avoid starting too many sentences with ‘I’
- You can write in the third person but don’t use your name, (‘A business student with retail experience’)
- Use action words at the start of bullet points (e.g. ‘managed/coordinated/liaised’)
- Write in short and snappy sentences
- Be consistent with your use of tense – it is generally much easier to write in the past tense
Content: Informing the reader
Personal Details:
- Name, address, telephone number, email
- Ensure that you have a professional-sounding email address
- Do not include: date of birth, nationality, marital status, national insurance number, passport number or any other personal information
- Do not include a photograph (unless requested)
Personal Profile (optional):
- A 3-5 line overview of your key selling points for the position you are applying for. You could include:
- Who you are
- What you have to offer, e.g. experience / skills / knowledge / personal qualities
- Your career aim / what you are looking for
- Avoid generic statements - do not write ‘a hardworking individual’, ‘can work well independently or as part of a team’ – everyone writes this!
- Use evidence, e.g. customer service skills developed through multiple retail positions
- You could choose the top three achievements from your CV to help you
Education:
- List qualifications in reverse chronological order (most recent first)
- List the full course title, provider/institution, dates to and from, and grades
- If you are part way through your degree then list the grades you have so far
- Include UCAS equivalency information for BTECs or overseas qualifications where possible
- Include relevant modules, projects or practical assignments – you don’t need to list all modules
- Avoid including negative information, (e.g. listing failed exams)
- List any relevant professional memberships, (e.g. RICS Student Member)
Work Experience / Employment History:
- List your job title, place of work, location, type of work (e.g. Work Experience/Volunteering) and the dates you worked there (MM/YY) in reverse chronological order
- If you have more than one example of relevant work experience, then you could have a separate section on your first page (e.g. ‘Teaching Experience’)
- Bullet point the responsibilities of the job, your personal achievements/contribution within the role and relevant industry specific or transferable skills you demonstrated
- Do not just list every duty of the job – make it relevant
Skills profile (optional):
- You can include a list of the key skills with examples of where you have demonstrated them
- Choose 4-5 skills that match the job description and order by importance to the job
- Provide a range of strong examples, including some context and emphasising your achievements
- Examples can be gained from work, volunteering, extra-curricular activities and education
- These sections are useful if you have limited work experience or extensive work experience
- If you include this, you do not need to include as much detail about skills in the rest of the CV
Interests and Achievements:
- List your most relevant, recent, interesting or impressive interests and achievements
- Provide some information about what you have achieved for each one, (e.g. Running: recently completed the Nottingham Half Marathon raising over £200 for Cancer Research)
- Could include: volunteering, being a course rep, mentoring other students, being part of a society or going to personal / professional development events, sports, charity work…
- Do not just put ‘socialising’, ‘going to the cinema’, ‘reading’ etc
References:
- Provide contact details for two referees or write ‘references available on request’
- Can be previous employers or university tutors – but ask permission first
Tailoring: The key to a successful CV
- The purpose of CV is to show that you match their requirements – make sure you include evidence that proves you meet as many of their requirements as possible
- Use the job description to identify the skills, knowledge, experience and personal qualities the employer is looking for
- Use key words from the job description throughout your application (some companies will use computer software to scan for ke ywords first!
- Prioritise your information according to the job description – the most relevant information should always go firs
- If there isn’t a detailed job description then do your research – have a look at the company website, or similar job roles for ideas
For more help and resources use your School Employability NOW Learning Room. Never written a CV before? Use our CV Builder tool.