Youth Development

As you leave school or college and go about looking for a job and building a career, you’ll hear the term CV thrown around quite a lot. Sadly, some schools and colleges are so focused on your academic performance, or teaching you your particular skills, that they forget to prepare you for the big wide world of work and many students are unaware of even how to write a good CV. Your CV is your tool of achievement. It is the first chance you get to make a good impression on a potential employer.

The fact is that no-matter what you want to do or what you’ve trained as or even how good you are – your CV will be, without doubt, the single most important part of getting a job. Written well, it can gain you access to numerous opportunities and should deliver exactly what it is designed for – opening the door to the interview room. Written badly, your CV writing could cost you the all-important interview and the chance for the career change.

So, what are the dos and don’ts of a professional CV…. Let’s find out!.

Golden Rules:

Before we start, do remember that your CV will receive not more than 15 seconds before its shortlisted. Make it easy for the recruiter to decide that you are a competent candidate.

Don’t lie or embellish the truth. It’s much easier to check qualifications these days. You’ll ultimately be caught out, and then what was a small untruth is likely to blow your chance of success.

Dos......

  • Make your CV clear, neat and tidy
  • Place the important information up-front.
  • Put your name and email address on every page
  • Tailor your CV to the job
  • Use positive language
  • keep the style crisp and punchy

Don’ts

  • Don’t Make your CV more than 2 pages long
  • Don’t Use jargon, acronyms, technical terms
  • Don’t Lie
  • Don’t Include information which may be viewed negatively 
  • Don’t Dilute your important messages.
  • Don’t include long lists of obscure courses