Your CV gets you your job, right. Wrong. Your CV gets you your interview. Look at your CV as your way of getting employers noticing you. The ultimate foot in the door. You’re trying to get their interest in you, by telling them about yourself in summary. We can’t tell you about the number of employers who have discarded CV’s that are too long, so when we say keep CV’s brief we mean brief.
Always remember, golden rule number one: Never lie on your CV.
Your CV is not your life story, it should highlight in summary the skills you have. Don’t worry you will get to talk in details about your skills in the interview. Keep your CV only 2 pages long, write it in a clear easy to read font with lined spaces between each sections. Print your CV on white A4 paper. Have a consistent font making sure you have bigger and bolder text for each of your headings.
Try to target your CV specifically for each role you are applying for, we advise you to make a CV template and then change it as and when you need to. We will go on to talk about CV templates later on and the best one for you.
Making A CV Template
When making a CV, it can be quite confusing as there are many types of CV out there. What we suggest is to make a performance CV; it is the most commonly used. Once you have created your CV save it and keep this as your template or working copy.
Every time you apply for a job, we recommend you change your details so that each CV is targeted for the job. Since you can’t change certain information on your CV like where you studied, we expect you to alter two key sections. These are the personal profile and interests.
In your personal profile if the job you’re going for is an administrative role you can say something like:
“I possess strong administrative skills that I have used in all my jobs.”
If your going for a technical job like I.T. you could say:
“I have always been technically minded and helped many people with their IT problems.”
As you know your perosnal profile is your chance to grab the employer’s attention and to keep them reading. Once you have mentioned your skills, makes sure these skills are the first in your bullet point list in your employment history.
You could also indirectly show these skills in your interests.
If you were going for a gardener’s job you could say.
“I am an avid walker and go to the gym twice a week”
You may think why mention you’re awalker this has got nothing to do with gardening. Well it does, you have mentioned that you like to walk and keep fit and these interests will help you with the day-to-day tasks a gardener needs.
In some cases you will need to change just the personal profile and in some cases just the interests. It might turn out that you need to change both of them that will be up to you as you target for each job. Whatever happens we suggest you change at least one of them.
By keeping a template and targeting your CV for each job you are more likely to get an interview.
CV’s Section By Section
We have created a little guide for you to make sure when your creating your CV you haven’t left anything out. It can confusing what to add and where to add it. What do I include? What do I leave out? We have set out the sections below the way we expect you to set out your CV section by section.
Your personal details
You should just include your name, address and contact information. It’s up to you whether you want to include more details like age but most people don’t. Save this information for your interview.
Your personal profile
This is your chance to grab the reader’s attention. You can do this by highlighting your skills and tell the potential employer all about yourself. Try to think of ways to show how you would be perfect for the job, like a perfect fit. Keep it brief you can always expand on your skills in other sections.
Employment history
Always start with your most recent work and work backwards. Include the employer, the dates, the job title and most importantly your main duties. Use bullet points to tell the employer how you have used your skills in the job and what you have achieved.
Try to match up the skills needed for the job in your history. Let them know you have the experience needed for the job. Remember to include temporary work or voluntary work. Include what you have learnt from these positions; these are equally important skills that you should not be afraid to mention.
Be honest and explain all gaps in your history. If you have been doing something include it. Don’t be afraid to include it, employers will want to know that you have been doing something.
Education and training
Start with your recent qualification and work backwards. Try to just include the qualifications that are needed for the job. So that the employer can look at this information quickly arrange the details in a bullet point list, this will also make this section look neat and organised. In this list include information like the university or college you went to, when you went there, and the qualifications you gained.
If you have failed any of the courses try not to mention it, stick to the positives, it may leave a gap but you can explain that gap elsewhere in the CV or at the interview.
Interests
Include interests that are relevant to the job. Remember to mention your involvement in clubs or societies this can show that you are a people person.
When mentioning your interests try to be as specific as you can.
So, if you going for an IT job dealing with databases don’t just say I like to read, you could say I love reading technical IT books about Databases or In my spare time I have taught myself a database programming language.
Additional information
This section is optional; only include it if you feel the need to add anything else that is relevant. For example if you have a gap in your employment history. Or if you feel you have a specialist skill that will lend itself to the job.
For example, if you are applying for a job in a school and you happen to speak another language like French mention it. It may come in handy and make you a more employable candidate.
References
You can just mention that ‘references are available upon request’. At least one of your referee’s should be work-related, the name of someone who has worked with you closely. Try to give as much contact information as you can, a telephone number and an email and the ones the employers usually expect.
Do not forget to disclose the fact that you are deaf at the end of your CV. It is the most important point that you as a deaf/hard of hearing person needs to tell the employer. It gives invaluable time to the employer to set up any special arrangements like an interpreter.
Last but not least Spell Check your CV or get someone else to look at it. The best thing to do is put yourself in the employer’s shoes and think how can I make my CV different so I can secure an interview. We hope you found these tips useful and helped you make a better professional CV.
If you have any more questions please don’t hesitate to email us, we are always happy to hear from you.