Six CV Essentials

As you’ve seen, all three CV formats share certain characteristics – in particular: Contact information. Skills summary. Accomplishments. Employment experience. Education and qualifications.

Let’s look at each section in turn.

Your contact information

Featured at the top of the page, your contact details should include your home postal address, email, home, mobile and, if possible, office phone numbers, together with the local dialling code.

Needless to say, you should be sure that whichever phone numbers you publish will be answered in-person – or by voice mail or an answering machine – throughout the business day.

Skills summary

Arguably the most important section of your resume, the Skills summary (sometimes referred to as the Personal profile) is positioned in the top third of your first (or only) page, below your contact information.

And as ever it should be customised to each job for which you are applying – utilising the key words that the recruiter is likely to be seeking to telegraph the fact that this resume is worth reading .

That means, if they’re advertising for a Website developer, the term Website developer should feature front and centre (irrespective of your official job title – which might range from HTML programmer to User experience designer).

The Skills summary forms the basis of your personal sales pitch – explaining at a glance how and why you qualify for the job; so it must be tailored to each position.

There is no room for repetition, generalities, ambiguity or fluff. So, don’t say you are a “good manager”; say you are a “proven manager with empathic, mentoring and motivational skills that help you get the best out of your team”.

And support your case with hard evidence.

If your talent is fashion design, explain how your creations have been featured at the London, Paris and New York Fashion Shows; if you’re a writer, tell the recruiter how you achieve regular repeat commissions from leading magazines the world over.

The Accomplishments section is your chance to really blow your own trumpet – to support the claims you made in your summary.

The more you make yourself look like an achiever – someone who gets results for their employer – the more interviews you will get.

It’s that simple. That said you should resist the urge to ‘wax lyrical’: your job here is to present your case in the most concise, convincing and impactful manner. Try to reinforce your messages with action words and phrases. And use specifics – figures and statistics – to demonstrate how you boosted productivity, slashed overheads and increased sales and profits.

Employment experience

You can use any of number of headings here: Professional experience for example, or Professional history. Whatever title you choose, the task remains the same: to list all the jobs you’ve held in reverse chronological order (most recent first).

Provided it’s relevant to the job for which you are applying, you should provide the most detail about your most recent positions – less about the jobs you held earlier on (unless of course those jobs are more closely related to the role for which you are applying).

This section need not be limited to paid – full time – experience; you should feel free to include any and all voluntary work, internships and part time roles too – if that is they will be of interest to the prospective employer.

Education and qualifications

Like your work experience, you should list your educational credentials in reverse chronological order, showing your completed degrees and / or key industry specific certifications first.

There is no need to go into too much detail here – unless that is your degree defines your role (as would be the case for instance in the teaching profession, accountancy or the law). So mention simply your major and any awards and distinctions you received.

If you’re applying for a technical role, you should also refer to any courses, seminars, workshops, conferences, etc that you’ve attended – to demonstrate how you’ve kept up with developments in your field.

Similarly, if you are currently studying towards a recognised, job related qualification, you should mention this together with the likely date of completion.

Other supporting information

Use this supplementary section judiciously – and only if the information it contains will enhance your application.

By way of example, you may wish to mention any relevant clubs or societies with which you are affiliated, professional or trade associations of which you are a member, or community work in which you are engaged.

Do this only if it is likely to be of interest to the recruiter, and adds power to your CV.

If you demonstrated, in your voluntary work, certain core attributes that would be needed for the role -such as leadership, communications and organisational skills – then by all means provide details.

But shy away from mentioning involvement in political parties or religious groups – as you risk alienating an audience that may not share your convictions or beliefs.