C.V. writing

Everybody will tell you that you have to tailor your C.V. to whatever job or advertisement that you find interesting. This is obviously the perfect scenario. However reality soon steps in and without time it is difficult to put this into real practice. One way to help you do this is to create a C.V., which covers everything, or to create several C.V.'s, which target the areas (and therefore emphasise those areas) to the jobs that you are looking for. Then you can cut and paste as necessary.

Keep you C.V. as short as you can. That means one page if you can and certainly no more than two pages. After all the people reading the C.V.'s undoubtedly get bored with the amount of applications. It is also unlikely in many organisations that your C.V. is being read by the person who actually requires the vacancy filled. It can often be the case where you will be going through a personnel department, which filters through the C.V.'s.

Write the C.V. on good paper. It conveys a businesslike approach. Some people suggest writing on coloured paper to stand out. Use your own judgement. Include information on basic areas:

Personal:

Your name, contact address, contact telephone number, your sex, age, and marital status.

Education:

Include your qualifications and any training work that you have done. Training seminars you have attended. Do include anything you have studied and failed, don't put it in as a failure simply as a subject you have studied during the year. Make sure these do not appear to have been failures. Include any activities you took part in at school such as sports teams, social events, competitions on behalf of the school, perhaps you were a prefect or fire captain or took part in or organised the school play or musical activities.

Work experience:

Starting with your most recent post. This is because the jobs that are most relevant to the job you are applying for are the most recent and therefore it is easier to read. You want to key in all the important words. What people want to see is that you have achieved things such as cutting costs or increasing turnover or motivating staff. You need to give more information on what you achieved in that position. Since this is the template we are creating you should put in all your experiences, involving anything from computer work to training staff and representing the company, perhaps increasing income in the department, increase in staff or growth of various areas. Even if you only did something once - include it! You may not think about it when you see a job application, so you want this template to cover everything you have done.

Leisure interests and hobbies:

This is a chance to list more than your usual activities such as reading, horse-riding etc. Write a short paragraph on why you enjoy your hobbies - this is really the only part of the C.V. where you can become an individual as opposed to just listing facts and statistics. After all, a C.V. cannot portray depth of a character or personality; therefore, the leisure interest section can help with this. As a fundraiser you may have voluntary experience in the past and this will be another separate section on your C.V. where you describe who you worked for, what you achieved etc.

It is a good idea to get someone to proof-read your C.V. This is the only thing that future employees will have to go on, whether they interview you or not. Typo errors or spelling mistakes will not be viewed favourably. If you have been unemployed for long periods of time, try to avoid the word unemployment, try instead to describe what you have been doing during that time, for instance courses, travelling or voluntary work. Perhaps during this time you learnt a language. You can make periods when you haven't been employed into interesting areas. With employment changing the way it is, companies may be looking for people with all round experiences and those will include many things not just career experience.

Covering letter

The next thing is a covering letter. This should not be more than one page long. It should address the person by name if you can find that out. It is another opportunity to show your personality. You need to state where you have seen the advert, why you are interested in the job and what you think you can bring to the job. That you have included your C.V. for their perusal and anything else you would like to include that wasn't in the C.V. or highlight about yourself that is in the C.V. For example, 'as you will see from my C.V.' I always end by saying that I would be delighted to discuss the matter further and give my telephone number. Yours sincerely.

Referees

Or if you do not wish at present to divulge those on your C.V., say that you will furnish them with referees upon request

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