Your Draft Order

Introduction

CV writing is a controversial subject - part art, part science. If you ask any two people their idea of the perfect CV, you are likely to get two different and rather subjective responses. However, there are a number of 'do's, 'don't's and common pitfalls, which most personnel professionals would agree on. Often these are points which the general public are not aware of, explaining the rather poor response produced by the average CV. Below we discuss a number of different areas which have seemed most likely to confuse our clients:

Length

Far too long - Probably the principal mistake people make when preparing their own CVs. We keep CVs brief and cut out the waffle - 2 pages is generally a maximum, and for those with less experience 1 page generally makes more sense. We also use other techniques such as bullet pointing - these help make your CV easier to read; they help make it punchy. We also exclude irrelevant information which may detract from other more important points.

Detail

We eliminate what a prospective employer would see as unnecessary detail, e.g. we only list years, not months (this also helps to cover up chronological gaps). We look at each piece of information which could be included and think, 'Does this help your case?' If it doesn't then we leave it out. We can also be economical with the truth, e.g. we only list degree class if it is a 1st or a 2:1, etc.

History

We concentrate on your recent history and summarise older information. If you've got A Levels then we don't list all your O Levels/GCSEs. Similarly, if you've got a degree, there's no need to include A Level grades unless they're all As. Employers are most interested in what you've done most recently, although they generally still need to know the basics of older information.

Interests & Activities

A common mistake is to write far too much in this section. With the CV trend moving increasingly towards the American résumé style, which precludes such a section, we choose to keep it to a minimum. Additionally, we will generally exclude certain items, e.g. travel, socialising, clubbing, etc. for obvious reasons, unless for example a client is looking for work within the travel industry.

Key Skills

The inclusion of a 'Key Skills' section is progressively less popular these days. It is now considered better to spread evidence of key skills and abilities throughout your employment history. Specific points should be addressed in the covering letter, a vitally important part of any application.

Layout, Fonts, etc.

It is critical not to go over the top with fancy layouts, fonts, etc. They can detract and confuse. A clear, conservative impression is always preferable, except in specific cases such as architecture.

References

Details of referees generally shouldn't be included on your CV. They clutter it up and, more importantly, you will find that your referees get pestered unnecessarily by time-wasters. By the time they have handled their tenth enquiry of the day, they are a lot less likely to give a helpful response. However, we very much recommend that you have us prepare a separate sheet in the same style as your CV giving full details, when needed, for those who are seriously interested.

Section Order

"Shouldn't my personal details be at the top?" No! This is one of the most common queries we get. CVs have traditionally had personal details first but this is now considered extremely archaic and isn't recommended. Likewise, the order of the other sections of your CV would have been carefully considered by your consultant - the decision whether to put your qualifications before or after your experience being critical. Please accept your consultant's judgment.

Personal Details

Often a client feels that it is important to include details such as their Nationality, Marital Status, number of children/dependants, etc. Again, whilst this used to be the norm, it is increasingly rare, given modern discrimination legislation, to find these sorts of details on a CV. They simply aren't relevant. However, Date of Birth is an 'odd one out' and is generally still included on UK CVs, although our consultants will always judge each case on its own merits.

Spelling, Capitalisation & Punctuation

When it comes to spelling, hand-written names can obviously often be difficult to decipher, but the main complaints we get concerning spelling usually revolve around confusion between American and British spellings. We use English spellings on our CVs and only use American spellings for our 'résumé' style versions. The differences between British English and American English are numerous, but you can be sure our consultants are well aware of them! There are no hard and fast rules about capitalisation and punctuation, except to say that email addresses are not supposed to be capitalised and bullet points do not need full stops at the end (known as 'closed' punctuation).

Spacing

Spacing is very subjective, and a CV that might appear cramped to one person may appear too widely spaced to another. We simply endeavour to strike a balance. One common query is why text on the second page starts lower than that on the first. This isn't by mistake! CVs are typically stapled in the top left-hand corner and if the text on the second page starts too high up it'll be difficult to read because the staple will get in the way. Also, it's always important to allow space around a CV, particularly on a second page, for the reader to make notes.

Letter Writing

Common queries include the difference between 'yours sincerely' and 'yours faithfully'. Trust us, our consultants know the correct forms of address, whether writing to a Managing Director, a Professor of Engineering or indeed the Prime Minister!

School Names

Although our application form does ask for the names of the schools and other institutions you attended, only rarely will our consultants include these. As with everything else on your CV, if they're not a selling point, they'll be left out.

Pictures

Unless you are applying to be a model, including a photo with/on your CV is not recommended.