CV’s is there a correct style?

First thing to say is there is no one right way to present your CV so don’t be caught out by people telling you that you have to do something in a certain way. Personal preference and reflecting your personality is also key. There are however certain key things you may want to think about.

We see a lot of CV’s every day and the ones that stand out (in a positive way) are clear and informative first and foremost.

At other times it has been where a candidate has thought outside the box but tailored to role.

We do see a number of fancy layouts etc and this can sometimes stand out ; however be careful that this doesn’t come at a cost of content, these can leave little space for what you’ve actually delivered, so be mindful of this.

1. Include Company name, clear dates of when you worked the role and job title. Depending on how many positions you have had, it might be worth highlighting the reason for moving on.
2. Career history & skills, usually works well in chronological order starting with your most recent role. Highlight key things you delivered here and include outcomes. Quantitative, tangiable data usually works well (if relevant to the role) as well as showing and manipulating data I.e. percentage increases in sales.
3. Include more details for most recent positions, if a role further back is not relevant to the position you are going for it is ok to provide less detail here. I don’t subscribe to a certain number of pages ; however make sure the application doesn’t request no more than 2 sides etc.
4. Technical skills, It is usually useful to highlight systems, programmes used and worked with as this can put you in a stronger position for certain positions.
5. Education. Again you don’t necessarily need to highlight every qualification from your level 1 gymnastics certificate but your most recent qualifications and those most relevant to the position are key.
6. Other relevant information. Listing languages can be good, if its likely to be relevant to a role go for it, if not I’d cut it.
7. Hobbies and interests. Personal preference here but usually listing about going the gym and spending time with friends isn’t a big differentiator . However if you have something that might be a good talking point include. One placement we had was an ex olympic athlete, now that is a conversation starter.
8. Information that’s not really necessary. Martial status, family status are not things that you need to include, I’d add photographs here also.
9. Proof read and check grammar. You are also likely to have more than one version of CV, Tailor each CV to position you are going for and make sure these reads correctly.
10. Finally don’t see a CV as a static document. It is something that constantly evolves so make sure it does show what you can do and remains current.