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Curriculum Vitae |
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Interview |
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Career assessment |
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Curriculum Vitae Tips |
| What information will you need? |
| You should gather together all of the information required below. You
will probably not use all of this information in your CV but it will provide
you with useful reference material when it comes to preparing for interviews. |
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| Personal Details |
| Your full name, address, home telephone number, date of birth, marital
status (put only single or married down on your CV, if you are divorced
then put single, if you are separated you are still married - never list
any sort of failure on a CV) and nationality. |
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| Education / Qualifications |
List your qualifications and education history, for example:
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BSc (Hons) 2.2 in Biochemistry at the Dhaka University, 1980 - 1983.
• GCE A Levels: Maths [C], Biology [B], Chemistry [C] at Farnham School,
1978 - 1980.
• GCE O Levels (or GCSEs if you did them): Maths
[B], English Language [C], History [C], Geography [C], French [C], Chemistry
[C], Biology [C] at Farnham School, 1973 - 1978.
If you have a degree you probably will not need to list all your O Levels/GCSEs;
just listing the number is probably sufficient. |
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| Professional Qualifications |
List your professional qualifications, membership of professional associations
and professional ID numbers.
If you recently completed a college or university degree or HND or Diploma,
etc, then you may want to list the courses you studied if the subject you
studied was relevant to your target job.
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| Training Courses |
| List any work related training courses which you attended, including company
courses and any you attended on your own initiative. If you obtained a qualification
on any course please list it. You only need to list the important courses
you attended; no one really cares if you went on a time management course
as everyone gets sent on these courses! |
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| Work Experience |
If you have been working for a number of years you probably do not need
to include any part-time jobs, vacation jobs, voluntary work or unpaid work
experience. Charity work could be included in your interests. However you
might want to include these jobs if they covered a period of unemployment,
or a time when you were not working for any other reason, or you feel that
some of the experience you gained will be useful in your next job. You should
normally concentrate on your two most recent jobs (unless you were only
there for a short time), because employers are usually most interested in
these.
Start with your most recent or last job and work backwards. For each position
(treat internal promotion as a new job and record the dates separately)
list your job title (e.g. Manager, Supervisor, etc), the job title of the
person you reported to (e.g. Director, Manager, etc) and when you started
and finished in each job. Give the name of the company and include a brief
description of the service they provide (using the terms they would use
to describe themselves). Set out your main responsibilities, achievements,
duties, and skills that could be transferred to another employer. Be specific
and positive about your skills, e.g. 'good written skills' may be a better
description of your abilities rather than 'good communication skills'.
Include your level of responsibility if any, e.g. 'responsibility for departmental
budget of £100K and managed 10 staff'. In particular list any achievements
you had in each position, including increases in sales/productivity and
cost savings made. Quantify your achievements if possible. 'Increased sales
by £100K' is more interesting and positive than just saying 'Increased
sales'. You should try to include some achievements such as meeting deadlines,
budgets, etc, and any information that may be relevant to your next job.
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| Major Achievements |
When you are listing your achievements in this section, only list 3 to
6 of your most important work achievements; your other achievements can
be described under the work experience section. You should only list achievements
which are relevant to your next job and indicate how you achieved them.
This section is very important as an employer will only invite you for an
interview if they can see a benefit in doing so. Your achievements may sell
you to an employer and make them choose you for an interview rather than
someone else. For this reason it is vital that you think carefully about
your achievements. |
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| Other Experience |
List any computer skills you have, including the make and type of equipment
you are familiar with, the software and operating system used, e.g. IBM
compatible PC, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Office 97.
If you have foreign language skills which may be relevant for any jobs
which you are applying for, please list them and indicate whether your
skills are spoken, written, business or technical. Please also indicate
your level of fluency: fluent, good working knowledge, etc. You should
only list these skills if they are relevant to the jobs you are applying
for as no one really wants to hear about a French language course you
did at school a long time ago.
If relevant to your next job please include your typing or shorthand speeds.
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| Interests / Hobbies |
| List your interests, hobbies and any sports you play. List any positions
of responsibility you hold or have held in any club or organisation, and
say what your responsibilities and achievements were. |
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| References |
| You do not normally need to list referees on a CV, but it is a good idea
to think about whom you could ask now. For some professions however it is
normal to list referees; these include the teaching and health service (NHS)
professions - your referees in these professions are often asked to provide
you with a reference before you are even asked to an interview. |
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| Summary |
| List your major skills, strengths, personal qualities and achievements.
Be specific, e.g. good team player, excellent written skills, versatile,
able to motivate others, etc. Look at your staff appraisals or at your references. |
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