1 of 7

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 2

since you left school and include any of the following in this section

- Professional Qualifications i.e. CIPD, PHD, PGSE
- University, College courses
- Professional Training in your job that is directly relevant to the job you are applying for.

Work Experience

This is a critical section as it details the skills you can bring to the job drawing on what you have done in the past, so don't worry if you don't have lots of educational experience, some of the most successful business and professional people learnt all their skills through work experience.

Try and break down your current employment into key skills think about some of the following headings and try and building your CV around these particular areas to demonstrate your abilities;

- Time Management
- Delegation Skills
- Line Management Responsibilities
- Budget Management for example Profit and Loss responsibility
- Motivation, are you a self starter you do you need structures to follow
- Organisation Skills
- Report Writing/Letter Writing Skills
- Communication and Listening Skills
- Working as part of a team.

Don't worry if you don't have a formal education background there are still lots of skills that you can offer to a future employer, these skills can often be more relevant.
The most important thing to remember is to give specific examples of how you have demonstrated these skills in your work, draw out one or two per employment history for example;

1989 - Present Blogs Ltd, Senior Training Manager

Blogs Limited is a multinational corporation employing 20,000 people and with an annual turnover of 54 Million pounds. Within this role I reported directly to the board and had line management responsibility for 10 employees. My primary responsibility was to ensure the identification and strategic planning of training requirements across the organisation which required a significant level of organisational and time management skills in co-ordinating team roles and responsibilities to achieve this objective.

Interests

This is always the first section that I used to read as it gave me a flavour of the person who had applied but be warned it can also be your downfall. Once again think about who your CV is targeted and considered what you include in this section.

CV Length

There is a myth that any CV should not be longer than 2 pages. This is absolute nonsense I have read CV's of professional contractors (particularly in the IT industry) who due to the short duration of contracts have CV's lasting 10 pages, but the information which they contain is both succinct and relevant. This is the key, employers prefer to see short work histories in which you have demonstrated specific examples of how you have used your skills than page long summaries that talk about who you sat next to and how good you were in the company golf team.

Remember

- BE Specific
- BE Positive
- BE Confident in your skills.

Learn more about this author, J Dawkins.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2

Add your voice

Know something about How to write a CV that distinguishes you?
We want to hear your view. Write now!