1. What Sort of Things Will You Be Doing?

Your CV is a passport to a job interview so it needs to say enough about you to show the recruiter that not only do you have the right skills and experience for their job, but also that it is worth their time reading your CV and meeting you.

Use a clear font such as Arial, Calibri or Tahoma with a minimum of size 11 and keep your CV to no more than 2 sides of A4.

Before you start, think about the type of job you might be applying for.

1. What sort of things will you be doing?

2. What skills and experience would you need to do those things well?

3. When have you used these skills before?

4. What do you want the recruiter to know about you?

The profile goes first, without a heading.

The profile needs to have enough of an impact on the person reading it for them to see that it is worth their time reading the rest of your CV and it should not be a story of your career history!

Start by saying what kind of candidate you are

§ A qualified engineer with experience across the private and public sector

§ A highly respected youth professional within the public sector

Then, say a little about yourself and the key qualities you have as a candidate

§ Solid technical knowledge balanced with an emphasis on positive customer service.

§ Able to establish strong relationships with young people and multi professional peers and colleagues.

Finally, add a line to summarise what you are trying to achieve

§ Ready to progress into a management position that utilises technical skills.

§ Looking to apply a range of skills and experience to a new challenge in the voluntary sector.

Write it in the third person e.g. An experienced and credible project manager able to scope, plan and implement large scale projects within resource to high standards of quality.

Typically a profile would not be longer than 5-6 lines and people often find this the trickiest so it can be helpful to write it last.

KEY SKILLS

§ Focus on skills that are required for the job you are applying for and are most important

§ Use the advert, job profile and any supporting information about the role, team and company to help you.

§ Colleagues and managers can be an excellent source of information for key skills as they often see our strengths better than we do.

§ Remember to include IT skills and highlight how you have used different packages.

See the next page for some examples:

§ Able to identify and balance conflicting objectives of stakeholder groups to optimise outcomes for young people
§ Sound judgment and decision making in highly sensitive and complex environments
§ Experienced manager able to manage a professionally qualified team to achieve individual and service objectives.
§ Collaborative and inclusive team member able to work effectively individually and as part of a multi-professional team
§ ‘Articulate and succinct communicator able to engage and motivate a project team to achieve its objectives’

CAREER

Job title Start date – Leaving date

Organisation name, Organisation address

§ Start with your current role and work your way backwards

§ Keep the information relevant to the job you are applying for.

§ State the outcomes of your efforts to show how good you are and what impact you had.

§ Focus on what you have delivered in the jobs you have held.

§ Use achievement statements where possible that show either how you have successfully done this before, or, show transferrable successes.

§ Don’t repeat things you have already captured in the key skills section.

Job title Start date – Leaving date

Organisation name, Organisation address

Some examples:

§ Designed and delivered bespoke training courses receiving 4/5 average feedback

§ Reviewed the case management system to reduce time spent inputting case data

§ Managed a team of 8 business support staff to deliver individual and team objectives

§ Designed and implemented a complaints monitoring system, which reduced the average resolution time from 8 to 3 working days.

Job title Start date – Leaving date

Organisation name, Organisation address

It is not always necessary to include all of your early jobs, especially if you have had a longer career and your early jobs are no longer relevant to the type of work you are looking for.

EARLY CAREER SUMMARY

Job title, Organisation name, Organisation address Start date – Leaving date

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Name of qualification, where you did it Year obtained

Put the most recent qualification or training first and include those relevant to the job.

Only include professional qualifications, training and education if they are different and relevant to the job. Otherwise, you can combine them into one section.

TRAINING

Name of training, where you did it Year obtained

EDUCATION

Name of qualification, grade/s, where you did it Year obtained

INTERESTS

This is an optional category and really up to personal preference. You may have interests that are highly relevant to the role you are applying for in which case this could demonstrate another set of relevant skills. For example, if you have previously been in general management and are looking to start a career working with young people, time spent running a youth group or leading a scout pack will be relevant.

REFERENCES - Available on request

Other useful tips for your CV

1. You do not need to include your date of birth or marital status

2. Explain any gaps in your employment dates

3. Make sure your font and presentation are easy to read

4. Use headings and bullets to split up text