What is a CV?
A CV is document that should best sell your strengths in order to gain interviews for positions you are looking to attain.

General CV advice:

• Proof read carefully. Ideally get a friend to proof read your cv.
• Ensure all spelling and grammar is correct.
• Be aware that spell check won’t pick up actual words that were not meant to be there. Eg you may have meant to written “well” but actually wrote “bell”.
• Limit your Resume to a page or 2 unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise.
• Always tailor the CV for the specific job that you are applying for.
• Present your CV in a clear and concise manner.
• Make use of headings, bullet points, underlining and bold type to make your CV easier to read and important information to stand out.
• List employment history in reverse chronological order with you last job listed first.
• Always list your employment history before your educational background, unless your education is of more relevance then your recent employment history for the job you are applying to.
• Eliminate unnecessarily long words, sentences and paragraphs.
• Ensure all dates match up.
• Go easy on the adjectives
• Don’t over use the same word.
• Try using all key words relevant to your industry, so they CV can be picked up on job sites that have CV search facilities.
• Make your resume believable
• Say enough to market fairly what you have to offer
• Only provide personal data that will present well for the role you are seeking, eg Birth date is worth putting if you are at a popular age for a role but not if you are not at a popular age level, If you have a full clean drivers licence may be worth putting on but no need to put on your cv if you don’t have a drivers licence. The same goes for being a non smoker.
• Do not forget to make sure your current contact details are on your cv.
• Update your CV regularly even when happy in your current employment.
• If most of your qualifications and work experience are from another country make sure your status to eligible work in the country for the roles you are applying is stated.
• List references “as available on request”, you don’t want a future employer to surprise a referee by contacting them from details on your cv.