CV Writing - Tips and Advice
What to include in your CV...
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- Interests, if they provide transferrable skills such as leadership
- At a higher level, you should also include a personal profile and career objective
- Use a quality printer - never use a photocopy where the quality has diminished
What NOT to include in your CV...
- Think security!
- Don't provide your full address if you are posting your CV on an online job site. Just provide town or county
- Don't use saucy or quirky email addresses - keep it professional
- Don't include your date of birth
- There's no need to mention marital status or details of children
- Never share your NI number or bank details - employers don't need these until they're onboarding you or taking you through security checks as part of their compliance
- Don't share salary details
- Don't provide referees, unless requested
- Photographs should not be included unless requested and relevant to the role
- Likewise, weight, height, etc, are not required unless requested and only if they are specific to the job, eg modelling, acting
- Stick to the highlights and achievements or past roles - not detailed job descriptions
- Save the reasons for leaving previous jobs until you're invited to interview
- Never include anything negative - just focus on the positive
- Don't use fancy fonts, boxes, shading or graphics. Keep it simple
- Try not to use technical jargon and abbreviations unless they're widely recognised throughout your industry
- Don't include junior school. If you've had considerable work experience you may not need your senior school either
- Never use a photocopy of a photocopy where the quality has diminished
- Never insert anything by hand - it's better to rewrite the CV
- Don't use too many words. The recruiter has to read many applications so keep it concise whilst not omitting important factors
At all times think "relevance". Don't include non-relevant details - at least not in any depth.
Always keep the CV content relevant to the role(s) you're applying for.