Monday 8 November 2010

Your Graduate CV Guide Part 1

We can't stress enough how important it is that your CV is serving its purpose effectively so over the next two Tip of the Week's we will be covering the best way to present it and what information to include.

It's true that employers will make a judgment on your suitability within the first 30 seconds of looking at your CV, so make sure it accomplishes the following: Start with your name and contact details and consider an opening statement of no more than 2-3 sentences to outline your career ambitions. Be sure to customise this to the job you are applying for so you stand out as a perfect candidate. List any important references to yourself such as your blog, if you write one, your website or your professional social media profiles such as LinkedIn. You could include a photo to add a touch of personality but this is not compulsory.

Your education history should begin with the most recent and detail where you studied, courses, dates and grades or predicted grades. Overall the tone of your CV should be positive, straight to the point, relevant to the job and it should not exceed 2 pages. Next week we will cover the work experience section, achievements/skills, interests and references.