Careers Advice - Need to Know..?

...about a CV

What is CV an abbreviation for?

  • CV is an abbreviation of ‘Curriculum Vitae’ which is Latin and means ‘the course of life’

What is a CV?

  • Your own personal and flexible marketing tool
  • A record of your life and achievements

Why would you use a CV?

  • To inform potential employers of your achievements and qualities
  • To give you the opportunity to sell yourself
  • To help you to fill in an application form

There is no strict rule for CV layout, but the following tips can be used as a guide:

A CV should:

  • Be relevant to the job you are applying for
  • Be easy to read and follow
  • Contain detailed and accurate information
  • Only contain truthful information that can be supported
  • Highlight the qualities and skills you have developed

A CV should NOT:

  • Contain irrelevant information
  • Be vague and lacking in detail
  • Contain any spelling mistakes, typing errors or poor grammar
  • Be dishonest
  • Include abbreviations and jargon
  • Have ‘CV’ written at the top of it
  • Ideally be longer than two A4 sheets of paper
  • Contain gaps of unexplained

REMEMBER!

You can adapt your CV to suit the vacancy or opportunity you wish to apply for. For example, if a person specification details a number of essential qualifications that must be held you may want to put this information first. However, if the person specification is more concerned with relevant experience you may want to put this information first or emphasise it more by adding extra description.

Need to know more...?

Come and visit our Know it all Wall, Student Services, Derby Road.

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