CV tips
Work history
This should go back at least five years or over your last three jobs, whichever is the longer period.
Give details of your job title, the company name and address, together with its type of business.
List your main responsibilities, clients that you worked for, important projects, training received, and what you achieved while there. If you do web work then include some URLs.
Don't write too much, but get the main points across. If you have,give your reasons for leaving.
Explain any gaps in your work history. As well as being a factual list, your work history gives an impression of your general personality and attitude towards your working life, these are at least as important to a prospective employer as your experience and abilities, and often more so.
You may also wish to include other work information, for instance other valuable work experience gained prior to this period or during temporary jobs while studying.
Skills and experience
List your major skills and experience, including software. Don't give an exaggerated impression of your abilities. Grade your software knowledge into expert, intermediate or limited experience.
If you find that this is turning into a long list, leave the most important things in the body of the CV and put the complete list on a separate sheet.
Interests
Always include hobbies and interests. This can be as little as a few words and never more than a few Iines.They give an impression of you as a person and are often discussed in an interview.
References
Include two work references. Generally these should be from your last two employers, unless they were very short periods of work. If you do not give a recent employer as a reference you may well have to explain why!
A few don'ts
Don't be too specific about the type of job you are looking for. Life is the art of keeping your options open, and we will always let a prospective employer know the reasons you are interested in the job.
Don't use a lot of colours, tints or ultra-small type.The CV will almost certainly be faxed or photocopied, and we will want to scan it into our search database (unless you supply us with an Acrobat pdf)
Don't use slang.
Don't be dishonest - you will always be found out sooner or later.
Don't be unprofessional, egotistical or pass negative comments.
Don't forget to use the spell-checker!
Good luck
