Alongside a professional cover letter, a well written CV will significantly increase your chances of being invited for an interview. It should provide the recipient with a clear and concise summary of your career, skills, qualifications and achievements.

Your CV provides you with a platform to highlight your achievements and abilities and impress potential employers.

Firstly, the CV should be printed on good quality white or ivory paper and written using standard fonts and layout. Ornate or complex designs should only be used to showcase your design flair if the role you are applying to requires it; normally you should use white space and bullets to highlight key areas. You should add your name and a page number to the foot of every page in case they become detached. If you are sending the document via email it should sent in a Word (.doc), PDF or Text (.txt or .rtf) format to ensure compatibility.

The contents should be limited to 2 pages of A4 and always begin with your contact details.

You should list your career to date by company in chronological order starting with your current or most recent employer. Don’t write long paragraphs detailing every single responsibility, but bullet point, ideally selecting items relevant to your desired position. If you have any gaps in your work history, you need to explain them.

Like your career, you should list your academic and vocational qualifications in chronological order. Unless you are a recent graduate, you do not need to detail every GCSE/GCE.

A ‘Hobbies & Interests’ section is often overlooked when putting together a CV, but employers increasingly look at this section to judge whether an applicant will fit into their team. Many employers will look favourably upon a CV where achievement outside of work is demonstrated. 

You do not need to include references or referees on your CV as the employer will assume you can provide these at a later stage.

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