In
most cases, the first impression a prospective client gets of
a candidate is from their CV. It is therefore vitally important
that you make it count.
A CV is your first opportunity to present your skills and experience
to a manager. It is your sales brochure, your chance to market
yourself. As such, it needs to grab the reader's attention quickly
and hold them, by providing sufficient detail and relevant information
to interest them enough to invite you for an interview. The reality
is that you have less than 30 seconds to make an impression with
your CV.
It is almost impossible to state what constitutes a perfect CV,
however there are some simple guidelines that can be followed
to give your CV the best chance of being picked out from the hundreds
that a contract manager may look over each week.
Your CV should include the following basic
information:
Personal Details
Your name, address and contact number.
Your date of birth.
Your email address.
Your Career Profile
This should be short and snappy (3 or 4
lines) and is a really good opportunity to sell yourself. You
can include your professional status with career highlights, skills
and strengths and career ambitions.
Your Employment History
List in chronological order with current/most
recent position first. Your current/most recent position should
include the most detail. Include a brief description of the role
and bullet points on your key responsibilities/achievements.
Your Education History
List the most recent first and only list
relevant education (not school qualifications unless you have
just graduated).
Interests and Achievements
Include a brief list of your main hobbies
and interests to show that you are an interesting and fun person.
References
Do not give details. Simply state 'available on request'. Agencies
will often contact referees in the hope of getting additional
business. If your manager requires additional contractors then
he will do so through the proper channels! So don't risk alienating
your referees by giving out their details where it's unnecessary!
Don't lie
Be honest and don't under / over sell yourself.
List some of your key achievements and quantify them. Show your
strengths.
List your skills
For technical candidates itemise your technical
skills, listing all operating systems, programming languages,
platforms and software languages in which you are experienced.
Keep It Simple
Simple and concise, that is (2-3 pages,
maximum). As previously mentioned you have less than 30 seconds
to make an impression. Information should be factual and accurate.
Work history should always be set out in chronological (date)
order working backwards (starting with current or last position).
Your CV should be neat and easy to read.
Avoid First Person
Don't use the word "I" in your
CV or go into too much detail (for example "I was responsible
for managing accounts for the administration department and I
also carried out secretarial duties..." and so on). Rather
list the duties in point form giving brief descriptions. This
way is more succinct and professional looking.
Triple Check It (Twice)
Grammar and spelling should be absolutely
correct. Anything less than faultless knocks points off immediately.
Ensure that your CV is totally free of typos. Triple check it
with a fine tooth comb. Get family members and friends to check
it over for you too. It is easy to miss errors when you have been
concentrating on a document for a long time. Don't rely on your
spell check facility as it picks up misspelled words only and
not typos. For example, you may have typed you instead of your
which spell check will not identify. Name, address, telephone
numbers, post codes etc. of the company to which you are applying
should be carefully checked to ensure that details are accurate.
Double check tricky names, for example McDonald (Macdonald?),
etc.
Back Your Facts
If you're going to summarise aspects of
your experience, make sure that you back them up in your work
history. For example, a statement such as "Computerised Bookkeeping"
in the summary should also be detailed as one of your work responsibilities
such as: Managed accounts to trial balance using Pastel.
Your CV should be flexible. Keep it on your hard drive or a portable
device (floppy, USB memory stick, CD etc.) so that you can tailor
it to suit different jobs. Develop the art of minimising skills
and experience not applicable and highlighting those which match
the position you're after.
If you've little or no work experience be sure to include information
relating to school or community involvement which may show skills
such as leadership, teamwork etc.
Include as many contact numbers as you can. Fax numbers and email
addresses are always useful to have on a CV. If you don't have
a fax number or email address, ask a friend who has one if you
can use it, or use a fax receiving service.
Don't leave gaps. If you have had any breaks in your career history,
account for them.
The above information is useful as a guidance. For an in depth analysis and distribution of your CV, then the following sites may be of interest:
CV Library www.cv-library.co.uk - Register your CV with CV-library and receive a FREE professional CV review! Your CV will then be viewable by over 1430 agencies covering over 90 different industries. To protect your privacy you can withhold your personal details.
CV Masterclass www.cv-masterclass.com - With over 15 years in the business, Steve Holmes doesn't offer just another CV writing service. Well they do that but also have an expert look over your CV (or help you rewrite it!), help you with a cover letter, help with your interview planning, offer one-to-one interview coaching and much more.
CV Services www.cvservices.net - This website is based on over two decades of experience and the only CV writers associated with it are over 50 years old. They have no baby consultants churning out template CVs. They give free advice based on a wealth of experience and therefore know what works and what is just fantasy that leaves candidates in confusion. They provide FREE in-depth advice, expert CV writing services, CV Guides (online courses for both career changers and graduates), an interview insights service and general career guidance expertise. Why not take advantage of a FREE CV APPRAISAL now!
CVTips.com www.cvtips.com - A complete job search info centre. Resume, CV, cover letter and interview guide. You can find CV examples and information on how to write a CV!
CV Trumpet www.cvtrumpet.co.uk - CVtrumpet was born out of the idea that a person looking to connect with recruiters would register their CV only once and the CV would be sent to hundreds of targeted recruiters from a network of pre-registered recruiters. The two main benefits of this service is that it would save people a lot of their most valuable resource - time and the second benefit was that the service would provide a great deal of exposure for a CV - exposure that could take an individual months or even years to gain themselves. See whether you think you can benefit from their service.
E-CVs www.e-cvs.net
- Over the past 5 years, E-CVs has been established as a leading
CV creation & distribution service in the UK. They provide
an easy to use CV builder and provide specialist CV distribution;
instantly matching quality candidates with 100s of recruiters
within their chosen sector & location. You can receive
full details of every recruiter to whom your CV is sent, including
links to their websites. And of course it is FREE!
Contractor Testimonials
"After 4 years of being a permanent employee, I found your CV tips most useful when deciding to update my CV for contract work!"| Sarah Hopkins | More Contractor Quotes....
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