Your CV

You may need to produce a Curriculum Vitae (CV) for graduate jobs, work experience or further study. A CV allows you to present yourself in the best possible light. There is no such thing as a standard CV and no format that will be successful every time, but it is possible to offer some general guidelines.

When sending a CV it should always be accompanied by a cover letter.


When to use a CV

  • When the organisation asks you to
  • If the job advertisement asks you to “apply in writing”
  • For speculative applications
  • If you are invited for an interview and have not yet sent an application
  • At careers and recruitment fairs


CV key points

  • Target your CV to the specific job and organisation- decide what messages you want to convey
  • Sell yourself. Employers want to know what you can do for them
  • Allocate space according to the importance of the information
  • Not more than 2 sides of A4. Use good quality paper if you are sending by post
  • Clear font size; no less than 10
  • Avoid long paragraphs of narrative text - break information into shorter sections
  • Use short, punchy sentences
  • Bullet points can be helpful but avoid overuse
  • Use bold and highlighted text to make important points stand out
  • Each section should be in reverse chronological order i.e. most recent events / qualifications first
  • Ensure that there are no gaps and all your time is accounted for
  • Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation...and check again!


What to include

Personal details:

  • Name, addresses, telephone and e-mail. Nationality is optional but useful if your name is unfamiliar. Other personal information is not required

    Career objective/profile:
  • This is optional and you should research how to write this challenging part of a CV. Are you confident that it is really adding value and impact to your CV?

Education and Qualifications:

  • Degree subject and classification expected/attained. Describe your degree but be selective - think about what the organisation is likely to be interested in. (e.g. projects or dissertations). Consider including what you have gained in terms of skills and technical abilities (e.g. research skills, report writing, problem solving, project management)
  • List A levels or equivalents with grades. Summarise GCSEs (e.g. 9 GCSEs grade A* - C including maths and English language).

Work Experience:

  • Include volunteer work, part-time jobs and vacation work (but not every job you’ve ever done back to the paper round when you were 12!)
  • Summarise long lists of short term temporary work
  • Include name of organisation, job title and dates and give a brief account of your duties and responsibilities
  • Use action words such as achieved, developed, managed.

Skills:

  • Find out what skills the employer / organisation requires and give evidence that you have those skills
  • You may want to have a specific skills section on your CV which addresses the skills you have developed in each area of your life
  • Alternatively you can incorporate your skills into each section of your CV e.g. education, work experience. Use whichever style works best for you.

Interests/activities and positions of responsibility:

  • Describe what was involved, what you achieved and skills developed e.g. planning and organising social events, communicating students' views to committees
  • Do not allocate too much space for school responsibilities or minor interests

Additional skills:

  • For example; driving licence, languages, first aid, computing

References: 

  • You may want to include contact details of your referees - this may depend on how much space you have. It is acceptable practice to write, ' References available on request'
  • For graduate jobs most employers prefer one academic reference and one employer reference

CV and Applications Workshops

Career Destinations run regular workshops throughout the year.  For further information and to book a place, go to the Career DestinationsEvents Calendar