Tips On CV Writing

Confused by all the information surrounding CVs? What should your CV look like? How much information should it contain? How far back should you go? Do you need a Covering Letter, and if so, what should it say? 

Here’s what we suggest:

 

Content: 

  1. Your CV must display your name, address, email address, and telephone numbers.
  2. An opening statement highlighting the benefit your skills and experience brought to your previous employer and how they will benefit your new employer.
  3. Qualifications – start with your most recent qualifications, particularly if they’re vocational. The longer you have been working, the less interesting your school exam results are and the more relevant your work experience is to employers.
  4. Include relevant IT skills such as CAD, Teamcenter, LIN, CAN, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop, SAGE, etc.
  5. Include a short description of the operation of each company you have worked for to give the recruiter / HR Manager context.
  6. Use bullet points to highlight your key achievements. Phrase them to display the benefit to the employer, i.e. Restructured the operations procedures, reducing production times by 10%, representing a cost-saving of £10,000.
  7. If you are new to the workforce, include any organisations, voluntary work or work experience placements that have helped to build and develop your hard and soft skill sets.
  8. References: use recent contacts as these are most relevant to your current skills and experience. Do not add referees to your CV unless you are ready for them to be contacted!

   

Covering Letters: 

  1. Tailor your covering letter to the specific role you’re applying for. Be sure to include the title of the role.
  2. State why you believe this is the right role for you and why you want to work for this company. Include examples of how you envisage your skills and experience will contribute to the company’s goals.
  3. Avoid the temptation to repeat the information from your CV. Covering Letters should provide additional information to supplement your CV. They’re also the place to provide explanations, such as why you’ve applied for a job 200 miles away from your current address, i.e., relocation.
  4. Keep the letter short – two to four paragraphs are enough to get your point across without overwhelming the HR Officer.
  5. Be aware that if you’re going to include a Covering Letter, it should be good enough to encourage the employer to read your CV. Always give the employer a reason to want to know more!

  

Suggestions: 

  1. Ensure the content is laid out in a simple format and without distractions that make it difficult to read.
  2. Use a simple, reader-friendly font, such as Calibri, Verdana, or Helvetica, in a reasonable size to make reading easier for the recruiter / HR Manager.
  3. Keep it short: 2-3 sides of A4 maximum.
  4. Tailor your CV to the role you are applying for, using the job description as a guide. This is especially true for any personal statement you choose to include.
  5. The content of the CV and the Covering Letter should be relevant to the role and ensure that they accurately reflect your skills and experience.
  6. Start with your most recent experience and work in reverse order. To help keep the CV brief, include less detail for older jobs.
  7. Use ‘achieving’ language rather than ‘doing’ language. For example:

“I was responsible for managing the stationery budget of £1000 per quarter” isn’t as impressive as “I saved £100 per quarter on our stationery budget of £1000 by sourcing an alternative paper supplier”. 

  1. Always get someone with good written communication skills to read your CV and Covering Letter, checking for spelling and grammatical errors a spell-checker might have missed.
  2. Avoid expressing negativity about previous employers, no matter how challenging your experience. A prospective employer has no point of reference against which to assess your complaint.

Need a CV template? 

If you need a framework to start writing your CV, here's our “example” format for you to download.