Your CV is the first point of contact when job-seeking. First impressions last therefore it pays to get it right. Many CV’s come in to Beyond Recruitment and we’ve come up with recruitment tips to help guide you before you submit.
DO’S:
- Keep your format consistent. We recommend BOLD and capitals for MAIN HEADINGS and Bold in lowercase for Subheadings
- When writing up your relevant experience follow this format:
- Date
- Company
- Position - Bold this information and write anything relevant underneath in normal text with subheadings for things such as:
- Responsibilities:
- Achievements: and
- Projects: - Start your relevant experience from most recent employment going backwards
- Put two spaces in between jobs so it’s clear where they end and begin
- No lonely headings at the end of a page! Start a new one even if it means leaving a gap
- Write words in full
- Include interests and hobbies
- Mention your references are available on request but no details
- Run a spell check! It’s too easy not to and saves embarrassment.
DON’TS:
- Avoid fancy formatting, writing text in boxes etc. A simple, concise word document lets your experience speak for itself
- Stick to relevant experience. Don’t go back decades in time to the beginning of your work history
- Avoid pictures and symbols, especially in tables
- Highlight key technologies in bold to make them stand out. The only place a table would really be necessary is a Skills Matrix
- Don’t justify text
- Don’t email your CV in PDF format
- Lastly, don’t forget to maintain a clear, simple and consistent style throughout your CV using the same font throughout.
With this recruitment advice we hope you make an excellent first impression and wish you all the best for those future opportunities.
For a CV template we recommend, click here.
