What is a CV?
Curriculum Vitae: an outline of a person's educational and professional history, usually prepared for job applications (L, lit.: the course of one's life). A CV is the most flexible and convenient way to make applications. It can convey your personal details in the way that presents you in the best possible light and can be used to make multiple applications to employers in a specific career area
What information should a CV include?
Personal details
Normally these would be your name, address, telephone number and email.
Objective
This is a concise statement of what you actually want to do. It's not bad if it matches the thing you are applying for. If you apply for a job, you can be even more specific - "to obtain a position in… , where I can use my skills in. You can use a few lines to describes that specifically, but keep in mind that you should show what you can do for the company more than what the company can do for you.
Education and qualifications
Your degree subject and university, plus A levels and GCSEs or equivalents.Postgraduate study, Graduation degree, school qualifications, listing the most recent first
Work experience
Use action words such as developed, planned and organized
Try to relate the skills to the job. A finance job will involve numeracy, analytical and problem solving skills so focus on these whereas for a marketing role you would place a bit more emphasis on persuading and negotiating skills.
Skills
The usual ones to mention are languages (good conversational French, basic Spanish), computing (e.g. "good working knowledge of MS Access and Excel, plus basic web page design skills".
Extracurricular activities
This is the place to mention conferences or any other activities outside that for some reason did not fit in the CV so far. A good section here can help a lot towards that goal of portraying you as a leader, a person with initiative, not just with good grades.
Interests and achievements
Keep this section short and to the point.
Bullets can be used to separate interests into different types: sporting, creative etc.
Don't put too many passive, solitary hobbies (like watching TV) you may be perceived as lacking people skills.
Show a range of interests to avoid coming across as narrow: if everything centres around sport they may wonder if you could hold a conversation with a client who wasn't interested in sport.
Hobbies that are a little out of the ordinary can help you to stand out from the crowd: skydiving or mountaineering can show a sense of wanting to stretch yourself and an ability to rely on yourself in demanding situations
Any interests relevant to the job are worth mentioning: current affairs if you wish to be a journalist, a fantasy share portfolio such as Bull bearings if you want to work in finance.
Any evidence of leadership is important to mention: captain or coach of a sports team, course representative, chair of a student society, scout leader.
How long should a CV be?
There are no absolute rules but, in general, a fresher's CV should cover no more than two sides of A4 paper.
Tips on presentation
Your CV should be carefully and clearly laid out - not too cramped but not with large empty spaces either. Use bold and italic typefaces for headings and important information
Never back a CV - each page should be on a separate sheet of paper. It's a good idea to put your name in the footer area so that it appears on each sheet.
Be positive - put yourself over confidently and highlight your strong points. For example, when listing your A-levels, put your highest grade first.
Be honest - although a CV does allow you to omit details (such as exam resits) which you would prefer the employer not to know about, you should never give inaccurate or misleading information.
The sweet spot of a CV is the area selectors tend to pay most attention to: this is typically around the upper middle of the first page, so make sure that this area contains essential information.
If you are posting your CV, don't fold it - put it in a full-size A4 envelope so that it doesn't arrive creased.
Curriculum Vitae: an outline of a person's educational and professional history, usually prepared for job applications (L, lit.: the course of one's life). A CV is the most flexible and convenient way to make applications. It can convey your personal details in the way that presents you in the best possible light and can be used to make multiple applications to employers in a specific career area
What information should a CV include?
Personal details
Normally these would be your name, address, telephone number and email.
Objective
This is a concise statement of what you actually want to do. It's not bad if it matches the thing you are applying for. If you apply for a job, you can be even more specific - "to obtain a position in… , where I can use my skills in. You can use a few lines to describes that specifically, but keep in mind that you should show what you can do for the company more than what the company can do for you.
Education and qualifications
Your degree subject and university, plus A levels and GCSEs or equivalents.Postgraduate study, Graduation degree, school qualifications, listing the most recent first
Work experience
Use action words such as developed, planned and organized
Try to relate the skills to the job. A finance job will involve numeracy, analytical and problem solving skills so focus on these whereas for a marketing role you would place a bit more emphasis on persuading and negotiating skills.
Skills
The usual ones to mention are languages (good conversational French, basic Spanish), computing (e.g. "good working knowledge of MS Access and Excel, plus basic web page design skills".
Extracurricular activities
This is the place to mention conferences or any other activities outside that for some reason did not fit in the CV so far. A good section here can help a lot towards that goal of portraying you as a leader, a person with initiative, not just with good grades.
Interests and achievements
Keep this section short and to the point.
Bullets can be used to separate interests into different types: sporting, creative etc.
Don't put too many passive, solitary hobbies (like watching TV) you may be perceived as lacking people skills.
Show a range of interests to avoid coming across as narrow: if everything centres around sport they may wonder if you could hold a conversation with a client who wasn't interested in sport.
Hobbies that are a little out of the ordinary can help you to stand out from the crowd: skydiving or mountaineering can show a sense of wanting to stretch yourself and an ability to rely on yourself in demanding situations
Any interests relevant to the job are worth mentioning: current affairs if you wish to be a journalist, a fantasy share portfolio such as Bull bearings if you want to work in finance.
Any evidence of leadership is important to mention: captain or coach of a sports team, course representative, chair of a student society, scout leader.
How long should a CV be?
There are no absolute rules but, in general, a fresher's CV should cover no more than two sides of A4 paper.
Tips on presentation
Your CV should be carefully and clearly laid out - not too cramped but not with large empty spaces either. Use bold and italic typefaces for headings and important information
Never back a CV - each page should be on a separate sheet of paper. It's a good idea to put your name in the footer area so that it appears on each sheet.
Be positive - put yourself over confidently and highlight your strong points. For example, when listing your A-levels, put your highest grade first.
Be honest - although a CV does allow you to omit details (such as exam resits) which you would prefer the employer not to know about, you should never give inaccurate or misleading information.
The sweet spot of a CV is the area selectors tend to pay most attention to: this is typically around the upper middle of the first page, so make sure that this area contains essential information.
If you are posting your CV, don't fold it - put it in a full-size A4 envelope so that it doesn't arrive creased.
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