Careers Column: Never lie on your CV . . . . . . It'll get all crumpled.

Your CV is a written run-down of your skills, experience and achievements which relate to a position you would like. Not only will yours drill into the details of what you can do, it will provide a flavour of you! Don't forget a Cover Letter to preface it… check out our last article to help you with this.
By Melissa Pearce
Published 1st Mar 2024, 12:52 BST
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Here are 5 top takeaways that will ensure your CV makes impact.

  1. You will get asked for your CV so it pays to have one ready to pull from and adapt. This is your master CV; the mothership that will contain all of your work experience, skills and qualifications. Over time this may be multiple pages long but is an essential log of what you did, when and where. Your CV should grow with you and should be updated regularly. Then adapt and edit according to the role you are going for. Bear in mind, the CV you send to potential employers should be no longer than two pages long and laser focused on that particular role.
  2. Do your homework and research the organisation and the job before you start! Pick out the most pertinent parts of the job specification; the things they need from you that are the most important and impactful. Delve into your experience and connect what you’ve got to the specified skills and attributes that they need. Make lists and dump words and phrases into a document to refer to. Aim to match the words they use, with similar terms (hello, Thesaurus!).
  3. When it comes to listing your experience, start now... and work backwards. Bring these experiences together in one body of detail. Use headings (bold and underlined) for the name of each organisation. Don't keep repeating the same skills and experience you gained from different settings, show the variation you have. Once again, ensure you capture the most relevant of your knowledge and skills honed from your experience. These should link to the requirements of the role.
  4. Include a punchy personal profile at the beginning of your CV. This is often one of the first things a prospective will discover about you so make it count. If you do choose to write one, keep it sharp and focused. You might state your career goals and show how they align with the job description you’re targeting. You can get your hands on an exemplar profile to give you some inspiration.
  5. Finally, show you mean business writing in Standard English. No sentence run-ons and no slang, abbreviations or informality in tone. Get your grammar, spelling and punctuation spot on.

For free CV and Cover Letter guides along with a CV tick list- just follow the Linktree link in the https://www.instagram.com/honeybe_you bio.

Send your email to [email protected] and you’ll receive a successful CV used this year. This template can be tailored to your talent and used right now!