Who are you?
Whether starting out as a talented graduate at the beginning of your career or growing and building your future, how you present yourself to a prospective employer is of paramount importance. When you’re in the interview room, you often have ten minutes to make an impact, but the impression you make will have already started when your CV landed in your prospective employer’s inbox.
A great CV needs not only to tell a future employer about your qualifications and experience – it needs to tell the story of YOU.
Equal opportunities and responsibilities
As recruiters, we at Melbury Wood believe it’s our responsibility to ensure all of our talents are taken care of and given the proper guidance and advice in their career development. This includes composing and building a CV that stands out in a crowded market.
We also know our position as the conduit between the interviewee and organisations looking for new talent. By building firmer ties with organisations and the talent pool, we can keep that talent at the heart of everything and in full view of an organisation when they are recruiting.
By showing you how to build an excellent CV that will have organisations dying to meet and hire you, we know that your career will be a huge part of that journey as you move through the rollercoaster of life.
Start with the basics
Every CV needs to include all the obvious information – your name, contact details (numbers and e-mail address), and of course, it needs to list your work experience, education and interests. But what else is key to making a CV really stand out?
Some essentials:
– Keep your CV to a maximum of two pages – employers know that as you move through your life and career, you’ll gain a lot of experience and that you may have changed career, but summarising the most recent 10-15 years of experience in current date order (and your last five posts held) will suffice. As a graduate, one page is perfectly acceptable as long as you follow the excellent guidance about what to include.
– Always have your name at the top of your CV – not the label ‘CV’ or ‘Curriculum Vitae’. You’ll be surprised at how many people still do that!
– Always include a clear and concise Professional Summary at the top of your CV – underneath your name. This is the perfect opportunity to show people your personality, to give them the essence of who you are and your values – as well, essentially, as what you can bring to the job. Even if you’re a graduate, there will be experience from positions or university societies to bring to the table.
– Your work history – remember that two-page rule above but also think about outcomes you have delivered in previous roles. If you managed particular budgets and saved money in critical areas, what were they for, and how did you do that? If you managed specific projects, what processes did you use, and what results did they bring? Were you a manager of people? How did you lead, engage and motivate your team, and how did you help them achieve the results you were all hired to deliver? Did you run your university music society? Tell us more about what that involved. Look at and identify particular ‘pain points’ that you helped to resolve and solutions you used – as well as all the positives that you helped to cultivate and grow – and link those experiences to the current role you’re applying for.
– Your education history – did you go to college or university? If you did, list in date order and include all professional qualifications too. Did you serve an apprenticeship? Tell more about that by focussing on key areas.
– Do include fun interests! If you’re a really keen netball player, what do you love about the game? If you’re passionate about dancing the tango, what is it that lights you up? Saying you like to go to the pub may be a fun thing you love to do, but it doesn’t tell anyone much about you and may not create the most positive image, even if you’re a connoisseur of good French wine! The things you love to do in your personal life are also great things to talk about.
– Do you have any particular skills and achievements? Include languages you can speak or IT packages you are particularly adept with, but also ensure that they are relevant to the role you’re adapting your CV for.
– Don’t use jargon or generic words – talk in straight English. Avoid stock phrases like ‘team player’ and ‘great organisational skills’. How you demonstrate you’re a great team player and are very organised is much more important, giving prospective employers an insight into who you are. Tell people about the results you can bring to an organisation.
– Pay close attention to detail – it can be challenging to write about yourself and blow your own trumpet about your abilities and experiences. Still, by looking at the finer details, you can check nothing goes missing. Ask someone to look at your CV after you’ve compiled it and ask for feedback.
– Be accurate and watch your language – bad spelling and grammar won’t go down well. There’s no excuse for it these days with spell checks and using a UK thesaurus.
– Always be clear and relevant– you want to present yourself in a positive light, and your CV needs to reflect its relevancy to the job you’re applying for. Your experience for a job has to be communicated clearly and concisely.
– Adapt your CV to each role you apply for – you’re not entirely changing your CV, but you’re modifying it to fit the needs of the role in question. Of course, you still have those key skills and experience relevant to how you’ve driven your career, but you need to make it easy for an employer to see how you’re a great fit for the job, organisation and culture.
– As long as it’s relevant, be clear about why it is important to seek a flexible role if that’s what attracted you to it. If you’re applying for something that needs to fit in with your life for whatever reason, make that a highlight. Organisations must know they must be clear about who they’re trying to attract and why. It’s important that diversity and inclusivity are part of any organisation and that prospective employees feel their needs are noted and supported. If organisations reflect this in their recruitment drives, they are much nearer to attracting the suitable candidates.
For some more great tips and samples of UK CV layouts, click here: https://www.reed.co.uk/career-advice/cv-layout-dos-and-donts/
How can we help you?
We love to learn about and meet all kinds of people, wherever they are in their careers. People are at the heart of everything we do and what our values stand for. We are an open, diverse and inclusive organisation committed to partnering with our clients at all times – those looking for their next role and those seeking new talent.
Come and visit us at https://melburywood.com/ and contact our team to learn more about how we can help you build a great CV to evolve and grow along with your career.
