Well, it’s your shop window and your primary opportunity to wax lyrical about yourself including all of your achievements and strengths. It is the first step of a journey to potential employment, so make sure it is fit for purpose and don’t scrimp on detail that is relevant to the role you are applying for.

While the structure of a CV is flexible, make sure that it is clear to navigate through. After all, your potential employer may be perusing multiple CV’s for the vacancy so make sure yours is set out well and follows a chronological path of your employment history starting with the most recent position first.

IT SHOULD INCLUDE:

Some people also like to include their Socials on an electronic version, however, be wary because employers do snoop. We would suggest LinkedIn is a suitable professional link.

It is important to include a good description of formal qualifications and especially include those relevant to the role you are applying for. It’s also a good idea to include expiry dates of any certification that requires regular updates or refresher courses.

The first opportunity to tell your potential employer about you, what makes you special, what are your career goals and what have you achieved.

This gives you the opportunity to outline your previous jobs and work experience. We recommend that you include your employer, job title and dates of employment. You should start with the most recent employer first working back in a descending order by date.

You should clearly separate each employer for ease of navigation. The easiest way to do this is by using a bold, underline and/or italic text as a separator.

You should then lead on to summarise the scope of your role and bullet point your key responsibilities/duties and achievements for maximum impact.

Here’s an example of how your experience and employment history should be laid out:

Employers Name
Location
XX/XX/YEAR – Present or XX/XX/YEAR
Job Title

<< Summarise scope >>

Key Responsibilities

• Responsibility 1
• Responsibility 2
• Responsibility 3
• Responsibility 4
• Responsibility 5

During my employment I achieved X, Y, Z

Employers Name
Location
XX/XX/YEAR – XX/XX/YEAR
Job Title

Remove anything completely irrelevant, because no one wants to know that you used to be a paperboy or had a completely different career 15 years ago, so delete this information.

Employers love to see references on CV’s so make sure you include them with as much contact information as possible. Remember we live in a world full of convenience, so be sure to make it convenient for a potential employer to contact your reference.

Make sure your references are relevant and not from someone dating back 10 years, otherwise an employer will become suspicious about why your references are so dated.

What is even more proactive is to include written references from former employers written on company letterhead. This goes a long way!

There are a range of additional sections you could add and here are just a few to consider:
Key Skills: If you’re writing a functional CV, or have some abilities you want to show off to the employer immediately, insert a key skills section underneath your personal profile. You should aim to detail four to five abilities at most.
Hobbies and Interests: If you feel that your CV is lacking, you can boost your document by inserting a Hobbies and Interests section at the end. This can help to show how well you fit into the company or the industry.
Be careful though; avoid listing hobbies that don’t add value to your CV or are run-of-the-mill, like reading. Draw on interests that make you stand out or are relevant to the job.

Length: The standard length of a CV in the UK is two pages. However, one size doesn’t fit all, and so for some professionals, three or four pages may be more appropriate.
Headings: Each section must be introduced by a big, bold heading to ensure an easy read.
Font type: Most employers will receive your CV in a digital format, so choose a clear font like Calibri or Arial. You can use a different font type for your headings but keep it professional and easy to read too.
Font Size and Page Margins: The body of your CV should be between a size 10 and 12 font, and your heading size between 14 and 18. Keep your page margins around 2.5cm, but never reduce them to less than 1.27cm or your CV will appear cluttered and hard to read. White space ensures clarity and professionalism.
Tailoring: It’s perfectly acceptable to keep a generic copy of your CV for your own records, but if you’re applying for a job, it must be tailored to the role. This will show employers why you’re a match.
Saving the File: It’s likely you’ll send your CV via email or through a job board. Save your CV as a PDF file to ensure recruiters and employers can open it on any device. A PDF will also maintain formatting, so you can be sure that employers will see your CV as you intended.

A Headshot: In many Countries, it’s common practice to include a photo of yourself on your CV. But the UK is not one of them.
Age and Date of Birth: The only dates that should be on your CV are from employment and your qualifications. Your age doesn’t affect your ability to do the job, and it’s illegal for employers to ask about age under the Equality Act 2010.
Marital Status: Like your age, your marital status and dependents don’t affect your ability to do your job. These details are protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, and it’s against the law for employers to ask about them, so don’t include them on your CV.