Here at Hunters we see hundreds of CVs every day so you can take it from us that we mean what we say when we say: This is a good CV, we would like to speak to this candidate! The obvious things that you need to bear in mind are, believe it or not, spell check, correct and truthful information, tidy layout and professional language used throughout.
Below is a checklist of all the items that need to appear on your CV in order to guarantee yourself the best chance of being selected.
Current contact information – Address, phone number, email address. You’d be surprised how many people we can’t get hold of because they’ve either missed out a digit on their phone number or are using an obsolete number or email address. Please ensure this most basic information is well up to date.
Opening statement – two or three sentences where you briefly explain about your personal qualities and what you are looking for. If you are open to any opportunity, do state this, it hugely increases your chances of being considered for several opportunities.
Employment history – Starting with the most recent position, please state the month and year you started and finished and work your way through to the oldest. For each position, please state the tasks, duties and responsibilities that you performed. Simply listing the name of the employer is not sufficient, the recruiter cannot tell if you are suitable if you don’t say what you actually did. Most importantly, make sure you cover the entire time since you have been working. If there are gaps without explanations, employers tend to wonder why and make incorrect assumptions; it’s best to be honest.
Relevant employment history – Always try to tailor your CV to match the jobs you are applying for. If you make up your mind about what job you want to go for, it will make your application process much easier and you will have to make fewer alterations. Allocate more space to relevant past jobs and minimise those that are less relevant.
Education – List all your education from most recent to the oldest. List the year, institution, subjects taken and grades awarded.
Achievements – Please list any achievement that you are proud of, work or personal, we like to read about them.
Hobbies – We like to see hobbies or other extracurricular activities, it gives us a better idea of what kind of person you are likely to be outside your working life.
Please list whether you are a driver with your own car, this is most relevant as we often work with clients that are situated in a rural area and who may have your dream job.
On a final note, please make sure you spend a good amount of time writing, or rewriting your CV, check it 10 times for mistakes or discrepancies in employment. The more effort you put in, the more this will show in your CV and the better chances you have to get selected.
Best of luck!
