know yourself

know your cv

be your cv

any style, anywhere

Hi Marion,

I would recommend contact details at the top, Work History, then Education History, then Other Skills, then references.

If you want to email me what you have, I can re-work it a little to suit.

liz dot ebrey at gmail dot com :)

Every good resume should commence with a "Personal Profile" section (who you are and what you are looking for).  This may be adjusted accordingly depending on the job application.

As alluded to by Liz, Employment History, Education, Other Qualifications (technical, business, diplomas, achievements, awards etc.) and Interests.  References should be available on request.

There are heaps of sites on the world wide web, do have a peak there for specimen example cvs.

And good luck!

Thanks for the advices, Chris.

Nice day,

Marion.

Hi Elizabeth,

Thanks for your kind reply. That's very nice of you to help me.I will send you later what I have done already.

Cheers,

Marion.

I agree with Elisabeth, not necessarily with Chris; IMO a profile is only necessary in commercial CVs (used by companies to promote their people). Though it may make your CV stand out which is a good thing.

A few more things I can think of:

1. Keep it down to 1-2 pages;

2. keep your references out of the CV; only give them to the company when they are serious about hiring you. You don't want every HR manager to call your references and piss them off. If you think it's necessary add a line to your CV saying something like 'I will be glad to hand over contact details of my references once you have shown serious interest'.

3. Feel free to leave out non-relevant job experience (change the title of the section to 'Relevant Experience'), but be ready to explain the gaps in your first interview.

4. Add a section called 'Interests' at the bottom, with 4-5 items.

5. A clean layout is important.I can't tell you how to do this here but if you want to see an example send me a message.

6. The first thing HR managers read is your last job experience, so this should be where you put most effort and details.Jobs you had 5+ years ago are much less relevant so a description of 1-2 lines will do.

What I've just given you is some suggestions how to make a standard CV. This may work and is relatively risk-free, but the drawback is that it won't stand out unless you have exceptional experience. There are a few things I've heard about to make your CV stand out, but I've never tried them and they're definitely more risky:

A. Structure it based on your competencies (e.g. creativity, team skills, business communication skills, ambition/drive): use these as headers and use bullet points below that to give examples (from your work experience). Very risky.

B. Make a CV specifically for the job; list job experience in order of relevance (so not necessarily reverse-chronological), and add a section on the top that summarizes your motivation in 2-3 lines. Very unconventional but if done well can increase your chances a lot.

C. Depending on the type of job, consider working on a great layout, e.g. by using (modest) colors for text and/or background.

I would also add, get someone to proof read your CV.

I interviewed someone yesterday who had made some glaring errors in the job timelines, which when applying for a job that requires accuracy , it was a little dissappointing .

Some of the UK universities have good sites to help with CV writing. Check out these two:

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/employability/cvcreator/

http://www.liv.ac.uk/careers/students/cvs_applications_interviews/index.htm

Good luck