A Curriculum Vitae – or CV – is a profile showcasing your education and achievements to a prospective employer. It is your selling point, displaying your skills, academic achievements, and past experiences. One major difference is that a CV is commonly used in the UK, while the USA uses résumés. A CV can make or break your chances of being hired, so it is very important to know how to write a good CV.
Divide your CV into categories such as:
- Contact details
- Short summary
- Work Experience
- Volunteer Experience
- Achievements
- Education
- Skills
The contact details section is straightforward. Make sure to include your full name, one email address and one phone number. Do not include multiple ways of contacting you, other than the ones listed before. This is because potential employers could be put off by having to reach you in multiple ways, and mark you off as being unreliable.
The short summary section should not be longer than 3 to 4 lines, and should include something along the lines of:
‘A student at X university, working part-time at X company for X number of years, looking for opportunities in the X sector…’
Highlight job-specific achievements in this summary in a few words.
The next section of work experience is the most important. Include the relevant information in reverse chronological order, so that the newest is on top. It could be formatted as below:
Job title / Role
Company Name
(Date Range)
Key responsibilities – ideally in a few bullet points.
The same format can be followed for the volunteer experience section if you have any. Any major achievements can be highlighted next. Include major projects you have worked on and what you have achieved or gained.
If you do not have any work experience, it is important to make use of the education section and highlight your academic grades, professional qualifications, and certifications. Include dates where relevant. You could also include any professional training you have undergone.
The skills section is for job-specific abilities you possess. It could be anything from proficiency in the MS suite to teamwork.
Extra space can be filled with interests and hobbies, but make sure they are professional. Do not include interests like ‘going to the pub’, instead make it relevant to the role you are applying for. For instance, if you are applying to a marketing role, you can include ‘creating social media posts for friends’ or ‘vlogging’.
It is very important to mention that references are available upon request.
When looking at the technical aspects of a CV, make sure to use a professional font such as Times New Roman or Arial and 12pt font size. It is important to keep your CV to the standard length, usually one to two sides of an A4. Have a reasonable margin and keep the colour scheme minimal. Double-check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Make sure to be completely honest about your achievements and experiences. Do not exaggerate. Give a proper document name when saving such as ‘fullname-CV.pdf’ or similar. Save it as a PDF or Word document. Check the job advert for file specifications.
For further advice and guidance, the university’s careers team is there to help. They have a wide range of resources to help with writing your CV and provide support with any questions you may have.
Good luck with writing your CV!