CV Advice: How to prepare a winning CV

Career counseling

Even if you’re the best candidate with all the right skills, it doesn’t matter, you won’t get far without spending some time creating a professional CV.

How long should my CV be…?

Most experts suggest limiting your resume to 2-3 pages. A lot of people think they need to cram as much as possible into their CV, but its purpose is just to get you to the next stage i.e. telephone interview/face to face interview – so you just want it to tick the boxes of the job advert and provide enough information (not your whole life story!)

Should I add my photo?

It’s entirely a personal choice – personally we don’t like them!

I don’t have a lot of experience should I pad out my CV?

No, please do not add non-relevant, filler content to your CV to get it to two pages! This won’t do you any favours!

What should I include?

There are a lot of good CV templates out there but here are a few key items to include:

YOUR NAME
CONTACT INFORMATION
A BRIEF PERSONAL STATEMENT

You want to wow with power words in your personal statement so they want to keep reading. It also needs to be short and snappy (50-100 words).

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Your most recent job should always be first with a few details explaining your role. Use Bullet Points to describe previous jobs. We recommend including 4-6 bullet points for each job or volunteer experience you list.

Bullet point example…

CRB Recruitment LTD                                                 2007 –2014
Branch Manager, Barrow

I was taken on to turn around a poor performing branch who were dedicated to the supply of temporary contractors.

  • Day to day active recruitment and associated duties such as attraction of candidates, taking references, processing security forms, arranging interviews, arranging medicals, raising contracts, dealing with contractor queries, chasing extensions, terminating contracts.
  • Management and training of staff, ensuring each consultant was aware of their responsibilities within the branch.
  • Developing existing client base and creating new business opportunities and clients across a wide spectrum of industries.
  • Additional responsibilities included maintaining full P & L, budgets, forecasts.

QUALIFICATIONS
Put most relevant ones first

TRAINING
Add anything you have done relevant to the role you are applying for i.e. health and safety training, first aid training, etc.

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Main achievements i.e. receiving an award, going above your normal job role to produce something beneficial, volunteering work, etc.
  • Try and think of 3-5 of these.

INTERESTS
Short description of what you do in your spare time, include anything that might make you stand out. Also, any volunteering work you have done.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
REFERENCES

Bonus tips!

  • Ensure the font is all the same throughout, with the exception of your name and contact details which should be bigger to stand out
  • Single line spacing is best. You can add double line spacing after subheadings
  • Many job seekers these days also include a link to their professional online profiles, such as LinkedIn

Did you know, if you’re looking for a role, you can upload your CV directly to our website? Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page!