Click to start

Introduction

A Curriculum Vitae is also known as a CV or a résumé. A CV is the story of your life, including your qualifications, skills, interests, contact details and so on. For some job applications, and for speculative enquiries, a CV and a covering letter may be all you need.

This unit will show you how to write an impressive CV. It shows you the different sections of a CV and helps you to know what information should go into each section. There also is a focus on using the correct grammar and on proofreading your CV.

HOW RECRUITERS READ CVs

Video: How Recruiters Read Résumés

As an introduction to this unit on writing CVs, watch the video (9:44 minutes). Margaret Buj explains how recruiters read CVs, and she gives some useful starting advice.
After you watch, make Exercise 1 in the next slide.

Exercise #1

Strong and Weak CVs

This unit will show you how to produce a strong CV. First, it may be helpful if you see a weak CV and analyse what NOT to do.

Exercise #2

Sections of a CV

Here is a list of the sections you will probably wish to include in your CV.

  • Name and Contact Details
  • Profile
  • Employment History
  • Education and Training
  • Interests, Achievements and Hobbies
  • Referees

In addition, you may choose to add some of the following sections: Additional Information, Honours and Awards, Publications, Research and Thesis/Dissertation Details

Name and Contact Details

Write your Name and Contact Details concisely. Although you need your name to stand out, it is not a good idea to use double spacing. Fit as much information as you can into a small number of lines. As the employer may only read the first few lines of a CV, you may wish to put your contact details at the end.

Some people give only their name at the beginning of a CV, and they add the rest of their contact details at the end. This is advisable if you intend to give several phone numbers or your address is a long one.

Profile

Your Profile is a concise summary of you, your skills and your experience, why you want the position and why you are suitable. It is usually a maximum of about 50-70 words. If you do not want to write a personal profile, you could instead insert a brief section called Key Achievements at the beginning.

Employment History

In the Employment History section, give your most recent employment and educational details first. Do not go too far back in history, unless is it relevant. Your recent achievements carry more weight than your successes when you were at high school. Give your job title first, then say who your employer was, and then give the dates. If you are still working there, state when you started and then write ‘– present’.

For example: Administrative Assistant, Sociology Department, University of Leeds Jan 2014 – present

Education and Training

In the Education and Training section, list your qualifications with the most recent coming first. If you have a lot of qualifications, list only the most relevant. State the results you achieved and give the date.

Interests, Achievements and Hobbies

In the Interests, Achievements and Hobbies section, present a balance of activities. This will suggest you are a well-rounded person. You could perhaps include a sport, a social activity, a creative activity and a knowledge of a language or culture. Be precise and think about how the activity reflects on you as a potential employee. If you actually play a sport rather than just watching it on TV, make this clear. This will suggest you are physically fit and that you participate well in teams.

Referees

In the Referees section, give the name and title of each referee. Add any letters after their names, such as MA or PhD. State their position, and give the name of the place where they work. Include their telephone number and an email address, preferably their work one.

For example: Dr J Kingston, Senior Lecturer, Department of Law, University of Castleford 15, Montague Square, Castleford CA1 7HQ. Tel. 0192 111 2222. Email kingstonj@castleford.ac.uk

General Tips for Writing a CV

Be aware that if you are applying for a job in a big organisation, the recruiters may use a computer programme to filter the applicants who match the job description most closely. Therefore, it will sometimes be advisable for you to copy some of the key words from their job description and use them in your application. This may be better than writing your application entirely in your own words.

This is very different from writing university essays when you always had to ‘write in your own words’. In a CV or a job application you may need to do the very opposite.

Tip #1

You must not leave any time gaps in your CV. For example, if you were unemployed or you did a job you hated, you must still say what you did during this time. Try to present whatever you did in a positive light.

Tip #2

To make your CV easy to read, use the same font throughout. Arial and Calibri are commonly used. The font size should normally be 12 or 11, no smaller than that. Design your CV for A4 size paper and try not to split paragraphs between two sides of the paper.

Tip #3

To make things stand out, use bold letters or write in capital letters. Be consistent with your system throughout the whole of your CV.

If you can fit all your information onto just one side of a page, that is preferable. If you are in your twenties, it is not recommended that you produce more than two sides.

Tip #4

Use all the space on the page so your CV does not appear too crowded. If you present long blocks of information, many people will subconsciously believe it is too much effort to read it. Insert some spaces, use bullet points and choose headings carefully to make the CV less challenging for the eye. Sometimes, ‘less is more’. You might say less, but the potential employer takes in more of the information.

Exercise #3