How to write a good CV

Having a good CV is crucial for you to secure interviews with future employers. Your CV is your marketing brochure to prospective employers. Writing a good CV is simple as long as you follow a few basic rules.

The layout of a professional CV

Your CV should be written in chronological order under the headings of Education and qualifications and under work experience, starting with the most recent. To maintain continuity on your CV if you only use the year in the date on one of the events on your CV make sure you just use the year in the date throughout. The same theory applies for using both the month and the year.

I.E.

The Layout of your CV should be in the following order and must consist of:

Personal Information

Either at the top of the CV or could be placed at the bottom of the CV before the references section. It must include: Name, Address, Telephone numbers ( Home and Mobile), e-mail address, Date of Birth, Nationality.

Education and Qualification

Enter your qualifications in Chronological order starting with the most recent, you need to include the name of each educational institution, the dates you attended , name of the courses, qualifications and grades if applicable
Example:

1992- 1996 Leeds University - MEng Civil Engineering (2nd Class Upper Division)
1990- 1992 Kingsmead Secondary Comprehensive A- Levels Maths A , Physics A, Chemistry C

If there are certain subjects that you have studied on your university course which are relevant to the position you are applying for, you must include it under your degree course. If you do have a degree or Higher national certificate or Diploma you don't need to include your GCSE grades you only need to state the number of subjects you attained above C and whether maths and English where among those subjects.

Work Experience

This the most important section of your CV, and again it should be done in chronological order starting from the most recent UNLESS a previous position that you have held is more relevant to the position you are applying for.

For each position you must have the name of the employer, dates of employment, your Job title, your duties and responsibilities, and the projects you are involved in and what you did on each project.

The most recent position (or the most relevant position) need to have the most details because it will be of most interest to the prospective employer. It needs to be at least 8 -9 lines specifying your duties and day to day responsibilities.

Additional Skills

This section will include: computer packages relevant to the position you are applying for, Driving license, languages and any special skills that you may possess.

Interests and Activities

Please include your particular interests that will show positive aspects of your character such as team sports, travelling, affiliation with voluntary organisations -------etc.

References

You can enter references available on request but if you put references on your CV you must ask your referees permission first.

Finally: make sure your CV is concise with a simple easy to read format and has all the information that the prospective employer will need to know about you.

If you have any questions or need any advice about writing a CV please contact one of our Consultants on 0207 8120632.