Building a professional CV

Your CV is the first thing a hiring manager will see so it’s absolutely vital you have a professional and comprehensive CV that creates the right first impression.

 

Here are some tips for an impactful and concise CV:

 

  1. Keep it structured – ideally use a template so that everything sits in the right place
  2. Avoid photos – it allows hirers to make judgements (whether consciously or not) about you
  3. Make sure you have a chronological work history with accurate dates – hirers will look for length of service
  4. If you have done short-term contracts like maternity cover, make sure it’s apparent on your CV of it’ll look like you just move around a lot
  5. Make sure your qualifications are evident and clear – it’s the first thing some hirers look for
  6. Don’t list a job description under each role. Try to demonstrate what you achieved, ideally with figures to illustrate it e.g. grew retail sales from x to y in 12 months
  7. If you’ve worked at several similar businesses, try to detail the difference between them e.g. “ABC Spa is a luxury 7 room facility based in a 5* hotel in the Mayfair area”
  8. Check your formatting. Whilst it sounds trivial, if you are trying to demonstrate that you have impeccable attention to detail, a CV with a variety of fonts and inconsistent formatting won’t help your cause
  9. Avoid using elaborate graphics and lots of links – your CV will end up getting caught in spam filters
  10. Research online. There are hundreds of examples and tips on the internet that will help you