Your CV is often how an employer will gain their first impression of you so it’s essential you get it right!
Imagine your CV is an advert for you, you’re selling yourself to the employer and making them see that they need you as part of their team.
There is no fixed layout for a CV but there are four main sections to include:
- Contact Details
- Personal Statement
- Employment History
- Education History
Contact Details
There is no need to give your CV the title CV or curriculum vitae, the employer will already know that this document is your CV so just use your name as the title.
Don’t forget to include a contact number and an email address. You might want to consider checking your email address to make sure its professional.
Personal Statement
This section tells the employer a bit about you and gives you the chance to tell the employer why you would be good for the job as well as what skills/qualities you have that make you suitable for the role. If you are struggling with this section check out our How to Write a Personal Statement post here.
Employment
Here you need to outline your previous jobs, starting with the most recent or current. You should include a brief outline of what you did, your key responsibilities and your key achievements. Try to keep your key responsibilities and achievements as bullet points to keep your CV concise and relevant to the job you are applying for.
Education
The final section of your CV covers your qualifications. Again, these should be listed from you most recent first. It is often easier to section your qualifications by school/college/university, then under each institution write the type of qualification (GSCE, BTEC, Functional Skill), the name and the grade.
Important things to remember:
- Keep your CV relevant
- Be concise
- Start employment and education with the most relevant
- Save your CV as a Word Document and a PDF
- PDF is easy to send to employers
- Word is easy to edit and resave
- Use a professional email
To see how we put all this information together take a look at our example CV here.
Now you know how to structure your CV, it’s time for you to start the hard part…putting the content together.
Good luck!