Pulling together a first class CV that truly reflects your skills, abilities and experiences can seem like a very laborious task. And yet your CV is the most important marketing tool you have at your disposal. If compiled correctly, it can concisely highlight your talent, worth and potential to a future employer. By the same token, if you have a poorly constructed or poorly written CV, it can lead to a potential employer disregarding you before he / she has even had the opportunity to meet you in person!

Fortunately help is at hand! Follow the CV writing tips below, and you'll be well on your way to creating your very own, very powerful advertising tool!

The Basic Rules

Keep your CV concise choose your words carefully!

Stick to the truth! Don't invent experiences or claim to hold imaginary qualifications

Ensure your CV is inviting to the reader. Always keep in mind the fact that most employers will receive a significant number of application forms and CV's for each job advertised. Trawling through hundreds of CV's to find a first class candidate can be tedious, especially if the CV's received are of poor quality! It pays to put some thought into the layout and formatting of your work use a size 12 typed font, stick to a font type and make sure title headings are clear.

Remember, a CV is more than just a summary of your qualifications and experiences to date. It is your very own PR representative. So use it to illustrate your achievements and demonstrate your success!

The Structure

CV's need to include the following sections, and preferably in the following order:

1- Personal Details
2- Educational Details, including your qualifications
3- Any other, relevant Qualifications
4- Work History which should be focused around responsibilities and key achievements
5- Any other, relevant skills
6- Details of References

The Language

Ah, the language! This is where the power of your CV lies! You need to make the language you use in your CV work for you! Draw out your abilities with concrete examples, and minimise your weaknesses.

The two examples below illustrate how to do this!

Example 1 Drawing out your abilities

Original line in CV
Recruitment and day to day management of junior staff'

Amended line in CV to draw out abilities

Management of a designated group of staff, including:
Twice daily staff briefings
Daily target settings
Continuous encouragement to achieve
Ensuring a high level of customer care, including complaint resolution
Effectively managing conflict
Carrying out the entire recruitment process for all junior members of staff
Ensuring all training requirements for the staff were met

And under the Achievements' heading for the role above:
Successfully recruiting several members of staff for all departments and fulfilling all their training requirements

Example 2 Minimising your weaknesses

Original line in CV
The following GCSE results obtained:
- Double English CC
- Mathematics D
- Double Science DD
- French E
- Music C
- History D
- Religious Education E
- Home Economics - B

Amended line in CV to minimise weaknesses
10 GCSE grades B E obtained, including English Literature and Language, Mathematics and Biology, Chemistry and Physics'.

By following the basic rules above, ensuring a coherent structure and realizing the power of language, you can very easily pull together a first class CV that you can use to silently sell yourself to a future employer! And don't forget, small, quick amendments every now and then will keep your CV up to date, and save you buckets of time in the future!

Good Luck!

For help with your CV writing, head to www.wordsworthreading.co.uk

Learn more about this author, Samantha Pearce.
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