Resume Writing - A CV Centre Guide

Resume Writing - Introduction

We appreciate that not everyone will be able to pay to have their resume professionally prepared, so this article is provided to help point you in the right direction in writing your own. In reality though, there really is no substitute for having a professional handle the job and, being the UK's leading CV and resume consultancy, we hope you will give us the opportunity to assist you in the near future!

The Resume

Resume writing is a controversial subject - part art, part science. If you ask any two people their idea of the perfect resume, 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. If you bear these in mind when preparing your resume, you stand a much better chance of surviving the 'resume cull'!

Length

Far too long - Probably the principal mistake people make when preparing their own resumes. We keep resumes brief and cut out the waffle - 2 pages is generally a maximum, and for those with little experience 1 page generally makes more sense. We also use other techniques such as bullet pointing - these help make your resume easier to read; they help make it punchy.

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 in your resume and think, 'Does this help your case?' If it doesn't then we leave it out.

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 on the resume. Similarly, if you've got a degree, there's no need to include A Level grades unless they're all As or Bs. Employers are most interested in what you've done most recently, although they obviously still need to know the basics of older information.

Key Skills

The inclusion of a 'Key Skills' section in a resume 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.

References

Details of referees shouldn't be included on your resume. They clutter it up and, more importantly, you will find that your referees get pestered unnecessarily by time-wasters. By the time they have given handled their tenth enquiry of the day, they are a lot less likely to give a helpful response.

Professional Resume Writing

At the end of the day, this is definitely the most sensible option; there really is no substitute for taking advantage of in-depth professional experience. Please Click Here to find out how The CV Centre can help you boost your career.

Your resume is often all a prospective employer has to judge you on, so creating the right first impression is absolutely vital. Whether you've set your sights on changing jobs, winning promotion, or simply regaining employment, with our market-leading position in this field we are confident that our assistance will maximise your chances of getting the job you deserve.