Things You Must Include In Your CV To Make Sure That An Employer Reads It

Your profile- the purpose of the profile is to make sure that a prospective employer knows what you can do for them. They must be able to take the information in quickly and know what you can do, for who and where you want or are able to work

Career achievements are even more important right now in the midst of a biting recession. There are plenty of well qualified candidates out there so you must show exactly what you can do for an employer. Be absolutely certain to show quantifiable achievements and look at them from an employers perspective. Show what you have done for your previous employers.

Make your points using bullets. Bullet points are a powerful method- they make things clear, make the point quickly and sharply and are generally easier to read than long tracts of text. This article is written in small bite sized paragraphs to illustrate that same point.

Older work experience. Work experience gets less relevant the longer ago it was gained. If you have work experience over 8 years old, make a separate section on your CV for other work experience. List each job with dates, one line for each job

Adding value to your computer skills. Employers are plagued with people saying that they can use MS Word, Powerpoint, etc. Try showing how you have used a programme. For example, I designed and made powerpoint presentations for the Sales Directors monthly sales meeting. A subtle yet very powerful tactic.

Date of birth. You never know where your CV will end up on the internet. Make sure you protect your identity by never including your date of birth. If you want to include your age (you don’t have to), just state it- 55 years old for example.

Professional qualifications are gained and awarded through companies, training providers, private individuals, etc. They are very different from Academic qualifications. Academic qualifications come through schools, universities, colleges, etc. They are very different qualifications and should be listed separately in two separate paragraphs. This simple process shows you understand the difference and the relative importance of each. A professional CV service will understand this and make sure it happens for you.

Gaps in your CV. There should never ever be a gap in your CV that will allow a potential employer to question what you were doing. If you have had a career break or an illness then show what you were doing. People need to know- never allow a question to arise in the mind of an employer- make sure the reader never has a reason to reject you

How long should the CV be? As a rule of thumb, two sides of A4 with normal margins is correct. This is the standard, is expected and should allow the reader to take in the information quickly. Another quick point- use a standard font like Arial and use from nine to eleven point sizes are ideal.

Being honest in your CV is, in my opinion a no-brainer. It’s often been said that liars need a great memory- far easier to tell the truth in the first place. Y

About the writer: Mr. Hughes is the director and founder of a cv services business located in the United Kingdom. Employing a team of professional cv writers, he helps job seekers to get interviews in the industry of their choice