Top Tip 1: Your CV should be 1-2 A4 pages
The generally accepted length of a CV is one full A4 page OR two full A4 pages. Use short sentences, a suitable font style ( e.g. Times New Roman, Arial – nothing too outrageous!), a suitable font size (11-12) and black font (avoid using other colours).
Top Tip 2: Be concise!
Prospective employers don’t have time to sit through waffle. Avoid long sentences and use bullet points to keep it simple.
Top Tip 3: Make it clear
Try to ensure that your CV is easy to read and navigate e.g. by using headings.
Top Tip 4: Write your CV using the ‘third-person narrative’
Where possible, avoid using ‘I’/‘me’/ or ‘your’ as this tends to make your CV sound unprofessional.
Top Tip 5: Work on that personal profile
- Provide a brief introduction to yourself
- Highlight your education, key skills, relevant experience
- Identify your career ambition
Top Tip 6: Use power words
Wherever possible use power words (e.g. managed, organised, developed, advised, achieved, created etc. Power words should be used in the past tense to convey the skills you gained and to add impact to your CV. Using power words to start your sentences also helps to structure your writing.
Top Tip 7: Concentrate on your achievements
In addition to mentioning your responsibilities and tasks, focus on your achievements and the outcome of your work e.g. increased sales by 30% throughout July or met target of 30 sales per month.
Top Tip 8: Proof read!
Use the spell and grammar check however you should also proof read your letter as not all errors are picked up by the computer! Poor spelling and grammar is a common complaint from employers and suggests a lack of effort and poor attention to detail. This can be the difference between your application moving on to the next round or being put in the no pile!
Top Tip 9: Be flexible
Top Tip 10: Be honest
It’s good to sell yourself but you want to feel confident about the content and information that you include on your CV, as a potential employer could ask you about it at a later date.
The Business Experience Team (BET) are situated in Westminster Business School and are here to help undergraduate and postgraduate students with a range of career services. To find out more, please take a look here.
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