CV Advice
While there are many companies out there that charge you to produce a "professional" CV, if you follow our simple guide you will be well on the way to having a professional resume that gives you the best possible start in your career search – and this advice is free! Furthermore, Executive Talent are happy to offer you specific guidance on the content and layout of your CV once we have had the opportunity to review it.
We suggest as a starting point you consider the following guidelines:
• Try to keep your CV to a maximum of 3 pages, any more than this and there is a chance that the reader may skip valuable information
• Your personal details only need to include, name, address, contact details (mobile, home, email), and nationality including your visa/right to work status if appropriate;
• Talk about yourself in the first person and maintain the same tense throughout;
• Keep your CV clutter free, and maintain the same format throughout. Use one font, change the size of the font and use bold to highlight headings etc.
• You don't want to confuse the reader with too much happening visually, avoid complicated column formatting, graphics, or colours.
• Use bullet points, they are much clearer to read than long paragraphs of text;
• You should include a summary on page 1, an attention grabbing paragraph that provides an outline of your experience and includes your major achievements;
• List your career history in chronological order with the most recent position first. Each entry should include the name and location (city/county) of the employer, the dates of employment and job title, including the dates of promotions (to show your career progression) followed by a brief description of the role, responsibilities and achievements;
• Place more emphasis on the more recent experience, career history going back more than 10 -15 years should be particularly brief;
• If you have worked to targets, deliverables, or deadlines, make these clear and show how you achieved them; Employers love to see evidence, and it's great to refer to at interview
• Qualifications and courses attended with dates should be toward the end of your CV
• If you have any gaps in your work history, make sure you have offered an explanation;
• Include your IT experience towards the end of the CV, in particular your competence using industry specific software packages;
• Ensure that your CV is truthful. You will be asked about your CV at interview, if you have not told the whole truth it will be very obvious.
• Hobbies and interests is always a good opportunity to show your personality and the type of person you are.