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Presentation of a CV is extremely important and one the most important documents you will write; it’s a description of your career achievements to date and a window to the 3D you! “It is your chance to sell yourself and, above all get that vital first interview” (James Caan founder of Alexander Mann Recruitment and Dragon on BBC’s Dragons’ Den about constructing a CV in his recent book Get The Job You Really Want). It can also help the interviewer asks the right questions to help unlock your next career step.
Most CV’s contain the information an employer requires but often they are poorly presented with little thought given to how the CV will be received, by whom or with regard to their busy working day. Nowadays CV’s are transmitted digitally, by email, and are initially viewed on a desktop screen or handheld device. Therefore a good “digital” CV should be formatted with screenshots in mind – for example when viewed from a 17” monitor only the first two thirds of a sheet of A4 is immediately visible, so it’s a bit pointless putting key information on screen two. It is therefore important to format the CV with individual screen shots in mind and that first screen should contain as much background information as possible to switch on the busy receiver.
Make it easy to read, easy to understand and easy to navigate, it should be laid out for easy view and not in tables or boxes. Use the word Career and not Employment or work experience and show a Career history on screen shot one of all the relevant roles you have had this century. Read every word, make sure there are no mistakes and then send it to a friend for them to check it as well.
General Layout
Screenshot 1:
The first screenshot should contain the name and contact details, perhaps a brief personal profile and career history information providing a snapshot of the career to date – enough to interest the viewer
Subsequent Screens
Career detail responsibilities – this is an opportunity to provide more detailed information on the responsibilities in a specific role, ideally in bullet point format and targeted at the role competencies.
Career detail achievements - relating to the competencies in the role and focussing on measurable key achievements in that position.
Working back through your roles finishing up with Education, Interests and references where applicable.
Testimonials and References
Should you have testimonials, references or other additional information to support your CV application, why add them as extra attachments? Alternatively use an online data capture site which enables you to upload your documents confidentially onto the web, you are then given a link which can be attached to your document see examples below. We recommend google Docs it’s free to start an account and free to store all of your documents. www.google.com/accounts |
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A sample CV follows. Alternatively, you can download our sample CV in Microsoft Word format.
