The most effective Graduate CV

You may or may not know that on average an employer or recruitment consultant will only spend around 30 seconds looking at a CV. It sounds cruel I know, considering how long you can spend crafting and forming the perfectly tailored CV, but in reality this is not only all the time they need to make a decision on short-listing, but it's also normally all the time they have when wading through piles of applications. So, how can you make yourself count? In short (excuse the pun) - bullet-point. Bullet-pointing information really helps the reader pick out the important information. It's much more difficult to find relevant skills in a body of text that they have to read word for word so make it easy for them. This is not to say that everything should be bullet-pointed as some subjects like your interests and hobbies can come across better in sentences. Just make sure your skills and experience are laid out in this 'easy to digest' format.

Don't Hesitate with Graduate Applications

If you see a job you like the look of (even if it's for graduate schemes starting at the end of your studies) don't hesitate, apply straight away even if they don't specify a closing date. A quick response looks good on your application and by the time they come around to sifting through cv's, yours will be at the top. You can also apply to employers that are not currently recruiting so you stay on file if something comes up. This is always appealing to an employer as it means they won't have to pay for advertising!

Smart Graduate Application Targeting

If you are finding it difficult to find graduate work why not try focusing on the thriving pockets of the economy: healthcare, renewable energy, biotech, telecommunications. If you can apply your skills to roles within these healthy industries you will increase your chances of finding work. Don't assume that if a company is situated in a particular sector, say in the Healthcare sector, then you need to have studied something health related to work there. Most large companies have departments spanning Finance, IT, Marketing, Sales, Research, HR...

Word of mouth - Graduate Networking

Are you networking as effectively as possible? Many jobs are not even posted online or elsewhere these days. Word-of-mouth and employee referral account for the vast amount of recruiting efforts. Make sure everyone you know is aware of what you are looking for and what you have to offer.

Use Freshers Week

Even if you're not a fresher, freshers week is full of fantastic opportunities that only come around once a year - make the most of it! Go along to your freshers fair and sign up with any societies that you're interested in, as extra curricular activities will add instant value to your CV. You could even help with any events in freshers week or work for your uni showing new people around. This role is commonly known as a 'Student Ambassador' - ask your university marketing department for more information.

Make the right choice, not the popular one

Further education or work experience? A recent trend we've picked up on is the increasing number of graduates who are leaning towards further study as the only option to secure a job in the future. We believe that although it can help, further study will not necessarily increase your chances ahead of work experience - even if that experience is not directly related. Of course this varies from industry to industry, so if you're considering it what you need to do is actually find out direct from a few employers if it would make a difference in their selection process. From this research you will be able to make a much more accurate judgement as to whether your graduate job search will really benefit in the long run.

Short and Sweet Graduate CVs

From an employers point of view the best length to make a CV is no more than two pages. Some employers can receive over a hundred applications per vacancy so you want to make their job as easy as possible by cutting out the padding and bullet pointing the important facts. Avoid going into huge amounts of detail on irrelevant points, for example - only give descriptions on relevant work experience and either leave out or list other work experience under another small section. If you feel that there are some more text heavy points you would like to make, use your covering letter to get them across. Another space saving idea is to replace your references section with the simple text 'Excellent references available on request'.