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A CV (from the Latin Curriculum Vitae) – ‘Resume’ for our American friends has only ONE purpose. It aims to win you an interview. Once you’re at the interview, the interviewer may use the CV as a basis for discussion, but it won’t determine whether or not you’ll get the job. With this in mind, what are the most important aspects of a CV?
1) Don’t make your CV too long
Two pages length is perfect. There are some exceptions – some employers from countries such as South Africa prefer as much information as possible, but on the whole, anything more than three pages may have a negative impact on your interview chances.
Think of yourself as being the one having to discriminate between over 100 different CV’s for the one job role. Would you really be interested to read everything about somebody’s previous employment or simply have them summarise 5 bullet points of the job that indicate the experience most pertinent to the applied position?
Often, someone will make a decision on whether or not to see someone for interview after viewing a CV for less than thirty seconds. If your most relevant industry experience is hidden away on the 4th page of your CV, you’re hampering your chances of getting invited to that all-important interview.
2) Make sure your CV is in the right order
On most occasions your employment history is more important than your educational qualifications. This means that on most occasions your employment history should be before your educational qualifications on your CV.
Often people make the mistake of emphasising what they’re proud of rather than emphasising what’s more likely to be the most important thing to your prospective employer. Try your best to view things from a neutral perspective and highlight your skill set that relates to the job description of the position you’re applying for.
3) Personalise your CV for every job application
If you have your CV saved on you computer, it doesn’t take too long to optimise its relevancy for your potential future employer. Once you’ve viewed the company’s website and read the job advert you’ll be able to determine whether or not there are aspects of your previous experience that don’t presently feature on your CV.
Simply delete the bullet points in your previous work experience that are less pertinent to this job application and replace them with bullet points that are more pertinent. Remember to use similar phraseology and wording that appear in the company’s literature in order to highlight your specific relevance to the position.
The second part of this article will focus on the content for your CV including Personal Details, Personal Profile, Employment Experience, Educational Qualifications, Additional Training and Personal Interests.
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David Bain is a consultant to www.UteachRecruitment.com - a specialist teaching supply recruitment agency. U Teach Recruitment is based in Coatbridge, Scotland and brings schools and teachers together from all over the UK. Teachers for most teaching subjects are required. Visit www.UteachRecruitment.com to search for teaching supply jobs today.
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