CV Advice

We’ve identified a few trends in the following key industries, which will help you tailor your CV:

Digital: 

• A strong focus should be placed on key achievements, as everything within this space is tracked and measured. Key stats and figures will go a long way in highlighting your success
• For a more technical role, provide a clear and concise CV layout
• If your role is more creative, include a link to your portfolio. This allows you to showcase your style without visual distractions in the CV itself

Marketing:

• Detail key achievements within each of your roles, providing specific examples and details Marketing is very KPI-driven so provide evidence of how you’ve met or exceeded these targets
• Communication is crucial to a marketing role, so it is vital you triple check your finished document for errors
• Detail key marketing software used and any toolkits you have had exposure to

Finance:

• Detailing accountancy qualifications is essential. We recommend including a summary of your key skills below your opening personal statement, as this is likely to be one of the main things employers are looking for
• Under each role it is worth summarising the type of business, industry sector, turnover and number of employees to give an idea of the business exposure you have had

Technology:

• Technical jargon is essential, but ensure it is clear and easy to digest. Your CV may not be going directly to an IT Manager or Software Developer - it may be going to HR for review initially, so your experience needs to be clearly understood by anyone
• Keep the structure simple and identify your contribution to any relevant projects

HR:

• Showcase an understanding of previous employers business needs and make results visible
• Provide details of client groups under each previous employer to add context

Step Two: Structuring your CV

Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, it’s time to put pen to paper. You want your CV to be structured as clearly and logically as possible so recruiters and hiring managers can easily pick out your key qualities and experience.

One crucial thing to consider is length: too brief and the chances are you haven’t sold your strengths, too long and your recruiter is going to get bored before you’ve given them the whole story. The key is to make sure recruiters are getting the relevant information as quickly as possible. Studies have shown that on average recruiters only spend six seconds glancing over a CV, so you need to have all your best qualities ready to fly off the page.

Obviously, depending on how much relevant work experience you have, each CV length is going to be different. A general rule of thumb is between one and two pages, with as much relevant information as possible on the first page.

Design

Much like you would dress smart and neutral for an interview, you want the design of your CV to look the same. There are plenty of CV templates and formats that you can download to help you get started. Stick to dark colours, standard font and formatting.

Our tip is to keep things simple. Put your job titles and previous experience in bold, so they’re easily identifiable to the recruiter. Keep paragraphs short – anything more than a few lines, and the information might get lost as hiring managers are glancing over your details. If you do find yourself needing to include more information, move to bullet points, as these are easier to skim through.

Give clear headings for each section (e.g. personal statement, work experience, education, qualifications). This clearly breaks up the CV so recruiters can jump to what’s important, and avoids the overuse of white spaces, which can make your CV seem disjointed.

We’d advise against including a photo of yourself, or any visuals for that matter. Simple, to-the-point prose is the best option at this stage, and images can take up valuable space. If you’re applying for a role that does require graphics skills (such as in marketing or content creation), save the portfolio for the interview stage.

Finally, save your CV as a PDF before you send it off or upload it. While a Word document might look great on your own device, the formatting, spacing and fonts can often be disrupted when read on someone else’s device (e.g. if they have different software). Saving it as a PDF eliminates these formatting issues, and means that the document will look exactly the same whether it’s on your laptop or your hiring manager’s mobile.

Employment History

We know it sounds obvious, but make sure you get the dates and job titles accurate in this section! This information will be checked against your references if you progress to the next stage of the recruitment process, so make sure everything is correct and lines up. For each item, include your job title, the company, and the dates you worked there.

Start with your most recent role. This is where you should include the most information about what you’ve achieved, as it’s your most recent experience and likely more relevant to what you’ll be doing in your prospective position.

Below are some tips on what to include:

• Overview of roles and responsibilities: You won’t need to go into too much detail here, as the job title will most likely give recruiters an idea of what you were doing
• Key achievements: Be specific here; provide key outcomes or statistics if you have them. Remember, the people reading your CV don’t know you or your company at all, so give them the context they need to really show off  your achievements
• Tie in with job description: If you are working from of a specific job description, tie in the skills, qualities, and key words they are looking for here.

You don’t need to include every role you’ve had within this section. We recommend listing out the last 10 years of employment history, or your last five roles, whichever comes first. Listing too many roles is likely to add unnecessary length to your CV, and the likelihood is they won’t all be relevant to the role you’re applying to.

If you’re a recent graduate, or maybe undertaking a complete career change, you may find you don’t have that much relevant work experience under your belt. If that’s the case, we suggest using this Employment History space to talk about relevant internships, work placements, volunteering work, or anything that demonstrates your skills.

Education History

As with the rest of the CV, keep this section short and brief - you don’t need to list every single GCSE grade you achieved. The more recently you’ve finished with education, the more information you can provide in this section. List your educational achievements starting from the most recent, and keep it to subjects relevant to the role, or grades you’re proud of. If you have vocational qualifications related to your role (e.g. ACA / CIMA), it’s definitely worth including and prioritising these achievements.