A strong profile or career objective is the first piece of information that a recruiter will look at. Writing a concise profile is essential as it gets the reader to read on further into your CV. The American’s have an expression that encapsulates this quite well. They call this an elevator speech. Simply, tell someone concisely and accurately what you do, what you can offer them and what sort of job role you are looking for and you will have a good profile to start off prior to sending your CV.
Achievements are probably the most under-utilised element in a CV. If you brainstorm your career achievements, the CV that you end up writing will be more interesting and relevant to potential employers. When you think about achievements, focus specifically on those areas where you have delivered tangible benefits for your previous employers. If you can find benefits that are financial, these are among the strongest ones as employers are definitely interested in what you have delivered in financial terms for previous employers and therefore what you may be able to deliver for them.
A section in the CV for key achievements (five to seven bullet points), followed by the same number of bullet points in your most recent job role is a formula that we have found to be successful over some years of writing CVs for a living. Previous job roles warrant between two and five bullet points highlighting what you achieved and delivered in that job role. Other work that you completed some time ago can be summarised in an “Other Work” section. You can use this for job roles in the past that are no longer relevant or that you did for a short amount of time (for example, part time roles to supplement income during study).
Educational and professional qualifications should be separated out into two distinct sections within the CV. Educational qualifications should include the title of the qualification, the accrediting Educational Institute, the dates of study and any pertinent information that may be of additional interest. Examples include: Thesis or dissertations along with relevant course work. Professional qualifications as well as membership of professional bodies should be also included. Professional qualifications must show the name of the accrediting body, the exact name of the qualification and any dates for which the qualification is valid. For example, a first aid certificate has an expiry date and this needs to be shown or omitted of it is out of date.
Computer skills are increasingly important today. To demonstrate your abilities with a particular software program for example, demonstrate exactly how you have used the program and what you have delivered through the use of the software. For example, MS Powerpoint used to create powerful presentations that I personally delivered to communicate complex ideas, gain agreement and change sales and budgetary requirements and forecasts.
Achievements are probably the most under-utilised element in a CV. If you brainstorm your career achievements, the CV that you end up writing will be more interesting and relevant to potential employers. When you think about achievements, focus specifically on those areas where you have delivered tangible benefits for your previous employers. If you can find benefits that are financial, these are among the strongest ones as employers are definitely interested in what you have delivered in financial terms for previous employers and therefore what you may be able to deliver for them.
A section in the CV for key achievements (five to seven bullet points), followed by the same number of bullet points in your most recent job role is a formula that we have found to be successful over some years of writing CVs for a living. Previous job roles warrant between two and five bullet points highlighting what you achieved and delivered in that job role. Other work that you completed some time ago can be summarised in an “Other Work” section. You can use this for job roles in the past that are no longer relevant or that you did for a short amount of time (for example, part time roles to supplement income during study).
Educational and professional qualifications should be separated out into two distinct sections within the CV. Educational qualifications should include the title of the qualification, the accrediting Educational Institute, the dates of study and any pertinent information that may be of additional interest. Examples include: Thesis or dissertations along with relevant course work. Professional qualifications as well as membership of professional bodies should be also included. Professional qualifications must show the name of the accrediting body, the exact name of the qualification and any dates for which the qualification is valid. For example, a first aid certificate has an expiry date and this needs to be shown or omitted of it is out of date.
Computer skills are increasingly important today. To demonstrate your abilities with a particular software program for example, demonstrate exactly how you have used the program and what you have delivered through the use of the software. For example, MS Powerpoint used to create powerful presentations that I personally delivered to communicate complex ideas, gain agreement and change sales and budgetary requirements and forecasts.
