You’ve researched the job, and you’ve written your cover letter.  But they don’t matter if your CV doesn’t shine.

Writing a CV is not a quick job. If you slapped your CV together in 10-15 minutes then this shows in the level of detail, use of language and general look of it. If it’s been bouncing around a variety of recruiters’ desks, company HR departments, and job boards for a while without even emails to say “Thanks, but no thanks,” then the chances are your CV isn’t doing the best job of selling you. If you aren’t getting interview offers, the issue lies with either your choice of job applications or, more likely, your CV.

Try looking at online CV templates for fresh ideas about layout and content. But avoid gimmicky-looking layouts: confusing CVs regularly fall down the pecking order purely due to the amount of concentration needed to understand them! This is particularly true the more technical and less visually creative the role is (such as web developer and system administrator positions).

Your contact details

Set out your CV in the standard format, with name and contact details at the top. Use your mobile number as the primary contact, but always add a second number. Recruiters can often be too busy to keep chasing someone they want to progress, and you could miss the chance for an interview due to being uncontactable. Make sure you use an email address you check often for the same reason.

If you’re putting your LinkedIn, Twitter, or other social media URL/s on your CV, make sure the profiles are suitable for a potential employer. This is of massive importance, since over 70% of employers check applicants’ social media accounts before inviting them for an interview. This is true even for pages and accounts not directly listed on your CV, so make sure your web footprint is clean – especially your Facebook profile!

Next, put a brief personal statement. Remember your covering letter is your main “about me” tool, so keep this section lean and don’t repeat yourself. This can often be the section that candidates find the hardest – it’s never easy writing about yourself – so ask a friend to read it over and make suggestions.

Your employment history

List employment with the most recent first, then working backwards, explaining any gaps with reference to why and for how long you were out of work. This is fairly common nowadays, and most CVs will have a period of unemployment in there somewhere.  Applicants who reference these and discuss any courses, voluntary work or additional experience they managed to get during this period will not find employment gaps difficult or embarrassing to explain.

When listing jobs, only go back as far as is needed. If you have numerous part-time jobs that you did while at school or college, think about whether it is worth while putting these on, as paper rounds or Saturday jobs are probably not worth bringing to your potential employer’s attention. List your job title, company name, a brief description of what the company does, dates worked from and to (month and year) at the top, then add a bullet point section of duties and responsibilities. 

There’s nothing wrong with including specific skills or experiences if they feature prominently in the job description of the role you are applying for. Follow your duties and responsibilities with a section listing your achievements for this specific role. Any achievements need to be backed up with facts and figures, so use dates, locations and project names where possible. You might also want to make your achievements relevant to the role in question too – for example, if you’re applying for a sales role and have an outstanding sales record, this needs to be at the top of the achievements section.

Avoid putting things like “had a good attendance record or “no disciplinary issues” too near the top, as this should be expected and might give the impression that your standards are a little lower than the company’s.

Explain reasons for leaving each role. People with a lot of temporary jobs on their CV can look like job hoppers if they fail to highlight that they were in fact on short-term assignments. If you have had a high number of temp jobs, it might be better to have a section that just says something like:  “Between January and September 2012, I took on a number of temporary assignments in areas such as administration and retail while searching for permanent employment”.

Other considerations

Your CV’s length

Try to keep the length of your CV to 2 pages, but don’t do this if it compromises any experience that will help demonstrate your match to the job in question.

Always use “I”

Never write in the 3rd person. This is a major turn off for recruiters.

No photos, please

Avoid photos on your CV. This is more a personal thing for me, because I tend not to see the point of them and I wonder why the applicant feels the need to let me know what they look like.

But if you are going for a role where how you look is important (highly unlikely in the web industry!), you might feel the need to add one. If so, make sure it is a professional looking photo, and avoid pictures taken on nights out, holidays or any event where you might not look your best.

What you can leave out

It is not essential that you add references, age, sex, marital status or details like current salary, salary required, or notice period.

So now that you’ve sent off your application, next time we’ll talk about the interview! In the meantime, feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in a comment below.