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CV Top Tips
Submitting a CV will often be the first stage of submitting an application. It provides the employer with an overview of your skills, experience and achievements to date.
To ensure you don’t fall at the first hurdle, we’ve come up with 10 CV top tips to help you get started.
CV Top Tips Summary
1) Design a CV that is suited to your experience and role
2) Understand the company and tailor your CV
3) Use appropriate language and relevant buzzwords
4) Use sections, headings and bullet points
5) Keep the font consistent throughout
6) Ask somebody to check your spelling and grammar
7) Recheck your spelling and grammar
8) Save as PDF for emailing, unless stated otherwise
9) Support your CV with a cover letter
10) Send your CV from a professional email address
- Design a CV that is suited to your experience and role
No two CVs are the same – you can draw attention to certain areas of your CV in order to suit your experience and the role you are applying for. For this reason, you should consider the design and type of CV you are producing. For example, some roles will require a traditional CV format, enabling the employer to quickly gather information in a structured layout. Others, however, may look for a ‘creative CV’, which showcases your skills in the design and presentation of information.
Creative CV: often for those within creative industries (e.g. design, art, advertising etc.), the CV not only provides details about yourself, but it presents these details in a structure/format that showcases your creative flare.
- Understand the company and tailor your CV
Whilst this can be very time consuming and the last thing you want to do when applying for multiple roles, tailoring your CV can give you the edge over other generically written CVs.
Use the company website, social media or contacts at the company to give you insights into what the company might be looking for. This will also be useful when writing your Cover Letter and personal profile.
- Use appropriate language and relevant buzzwords
Recruiters will be looking for particular skills and interests within the applications they receive. Using the appropriate language and buzzwords from the job specification makes their job a lot easier. Having said this, it’s important to back up your claims with evidence. Everyone can say they’re a great communicator; it’s about using your experiences to demonstrate this.
- Use sections, headings and bullet points
It has been reported that the average time it takes to do an initial screening of a CV is 7.4 seconds (Ladders, 2018). With such little time to impress, your CV must have a clear structure and layout, making it easy to pick out important pieces of information. If employers can’t find what they’re looking for, they won’t hang around searching for it! Be mindful to keep your CV under two sides of A4.
- Keep the font consistent throughout
Pick a professional font that is easy to read and keep it consistent throughout. Font sizes should be kept between 10 and 12.
- Ask somebody to check your spelling and grammar
Ask a friend, family member, teacher etc., to proofread your CV. When you’ve read your work multiple times, it’s easy to miss simple mistakes.
- Recheck your spelling and grammar
It’s that important, it’s worth doing twice!
- Save as PDF for emailing, unless stated otherwise
Unless the employer states that your CV should be sent in an alternative format, e.g. word, make sure you save and submit your CV as a PDF. This ensures that the format will remain the same, regardless of the device it is viewed on. Be mindful of what your PDF is called; rename it, e.g. ‘Joe Bloggs CV’
- Support your CV with a cover letter
Unless the employer states not to, submitting your CV with a cover letter gives you space to elaborate on the details in your CV and explain why you are the right fit for the role.
- Send your CV from a professional email address
As cool as your childhood email address might have been, it’s important your applications are sent from a professional address.
References
2018. Eye-Tracking Study. [ebook] Ladders, p.2. Available at: <https://www.theladders.com/static/ images/basicSite/pdfs/TheLadders-EyeTracking-StudyC2.pdf> [Accessed 20 April 2022].
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