Top Tips when Preparing your CV
A CV is not just a piece of paper with a list of relevant details about yourself and where you went to school or have worked in the past. A CV is a powerful selling tool and it will determine whether you are in with a chance of securing a job interview or not.
There will be lots of Leaving Cert students who decide finding work immediately is the best option for them and therefore lots more competition for the jobs that are out there. Those of you that will secure the job interviews are the people that make an effort to create an impressive CV. The day of “one size fits all” no longer exists. Every job you apply for will require a fresh look at your CV to decide does this CV really meet the needs of this job or do I have to tailor it to make it more relevant?
Employers are receiving more CV’s than ever for positions so the time they have to review CV’s in advance of short listing for interviews has significantly reduced. It is thought that the average time an employer will look at a CV is just 30 seconds! This means that you have to make the information on your CV punchy, impressive and very easy to read. It is your responsibility to make your CV interesting and engaging and to stand out from the rest.
- Your CV has to be clear and concise, it should be no more than 2 pages long but if all of your information will fit on 1 page don’t try and drag out details or include large spaces to get it to fit 2 pages – for first time CVs 1 page is perfect!
- The basic information that should be included at the top of your CV is your name, address, phone number and email. If you have a “silly” email address like that was based on a nickname, change it to a more professional address e.g.
- As you are only recently finished school including your education details at the beginning of your CV works well. Include where you went to school, with your start and finish date and the subjects you studied and results you achieved. If you won any awards or held any roles of responsibility in school like “class prefect” include them.
- Your work experience section is very important; this is your chance to demonstrate skills that you have developed that will be useful to the role you are applying for. So make sure you use strong action verbs when describing what you did e.g. “Organised and displayed stock in busy supermarket” instead of “stacked shelves”
- Depending on the job you are applying for look for opportunities in your experience to show skills such as dealing with customers, working as part of a team, responsibility for managing money, solving problems or using computers
- Use your hobbies and interests to tell a future employer more about you. Are you involved in team sports? Do you have a passion for playing a musical instrument or dance? Have you ever volunteered for a charity? Have you been involved in any youth groups?
- Include a reference at the end of your CV, this might be a former employer or someone that held a position of authority that knows you well. Make sure you ask this person permission to include them in your CV before sending it out. List there name, role and contact details
- CVs are generally sent to employers by email now, make sure you include a detailed subject line, don’t just say “CV”, explain in subject line what job you are applying to e.g. “Customer Assistant position- Sarah McAleer CV“
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