CV Advice

Beeby Anderson Recruitment are happy to offer you specific guidance on the content and layout your CV, please feel free to ask your consultant, but as a starting point, we suggest you consider the following guidelines:

• Try to keep your CV to a maximum of 3 pages;
  - Any more than this and there is a chance that the reader may skip valuable information
  - For those with longer career histories, we would suggest maintaining a “long” and "short" CV
• Your personal details only need to include, name, address, contact details (mobile, home, email), and nationality including your visa/right to work status if appropriate;
• Talk about yourself in the first person and maintain the same tense throughout;
• Keep your CV clutter free, and maintain the same format throughout. Use one font, change the size of the font and use bold to highlight headings etc;
  - You don't want to confuse the reader with too much happening visually, avoid complicated column formatting, graphics, or colors.
• Use bullet points, they are much clearer to read than long paragraphs of text;
• You should include a summary on page 1, an attention grabbing paragraph that provides an outline of your experience and includes your major achievements;
• List your career history in chronological order with the most recent position first. Each entry should include the name and location (city/county) of the employer, the dates of employment and job title, including the dates of promotions (to show your career progression) followed by a brief description of the role, responsibilities and achievements;
• A portfolio of projects which clearly describes your level of involvement should included in the CV as an addendum;
• Place more emphasis on the more recent experience, career history going back more than 10 -15 years should be particularly brief;
• If you have worked to targets, deliverables, or deadlines, make these clear and show how you achieved them;
  - Employers love to see evidence, and it’s great to refer to at interview
• Dates, establishments and titles of relevant qualifications and professional memberships should be included;
• Only list the qualifications and experience that you have which are appropriate to the types of role you are applying for;
• If you have any gaps in your work history, make sure you have offered an explanation;
• Include your IT experience towards the end of the CV, in particular your competence using industry specific software packages;
• Conclude your CV with something personal;
  - Try to avoid the standard “reading and socialising” tell the potential employer something about you, it’s a tricky area but giving the reader an idea of “you” not only makes your CV more individual but it may provide an insight into how you would fit with the existing team and culture of the business;
• Make sure your CV is spell checked, a CV that is poorly spelled implies a lack of care and attention to detail and in many cases will be instantly dismissed by a hiring manager;
• Ensure that your CV is truthful. You will be asked about your CV at interview, if you have not told the whole truth it will be very obvious.