When was the last time you reviewed your CV (aka resume)? Now’s the perfect time to do a full review!
Layout tips
- Length. Differs depending on where you are with your career journey:
- Still in school / college / uni: 1 pager. Education before Work Experience.
- Early career: 1 pager
- More than 3 years experience: It is no more than two pages
- Senior roles and executives. No more than three pages
- Layout:
- 1 column if you want it to have a greater chance of being automatically imported by software
- Page margins at least 1cm all round
- If you’re a designer – make sure your CV stands out!
- Hold it out at arm’s length: does it have a pleasing and professional appearance?
- There should be no long paragraphs more than 5 lines long. If there are any, they should be separated into smaller paragraphs or you should use bullets.
- Is it easy and clear to read?
- Not too much white space at the end? This suggests that you’ve run out of things to say about yourself!
- Is the most important information on the first page of the CV?
- Is everything neatly aligned?
- DO NOT bold words in sentences.
Structure and style checks
- Make sure there is a clear structure with appropriate headings and logical development
- Leave at least a line gap between sections. Normally education before work experience for a student CV.
- Use bullets for lists
- Are you using larger fonts for subheadings? eg. 14 points
- Make sure that your headings are not underlined
- Use bold or italic to draw eye to key points
Spelling and grammar checks
- Have you used a spell checker?
- Is capitalisation used correctly? (BSc and not Bsc, Capitals used for names of roads – 10 Acacia Avenue, etc.)
- Have you also proofread it thoroughly? A spell checker won’t pick up the difference between form and from!
- Check the grammar and punctuation carefully
Personal Details section
- Your name (not the words Curriculum Vitae) is in a bold format at the top of the page
- Email address (sensible and businesslike one!)
- mobile number
- inkscroll scroll link
- Linkedin profile link
Personal Profile section
- It is no longer than 3 sentences?
- Is it short, punchy, strategic, highlighting your current situation and outlining your
- future career plans?
Career History section (if graduate use ‘Work Experience’)
- State job title
- State company name
- Start start month and year as well as end month and year (right align this on the page)
- State key responsibilities
- State achievements and outcomes
- Quantify where possible eg. team size, financial value
- State new skills gained
Education, Qualifications and Awards section
- Start with the latest course / qualification / award first
- State institution name
- State full course name
- Include start and end dates
- Where applicable state pass grade/mark/degree classification
- If you’re a recent graduate, include your modules and dissertation project (which may need an explanation)
- For awards, how far did you get? State winner, finalist, runner up, shortlisted
Skills and Languages section
- Languages and competency? (basic, conversational, fluent)
- List of software applications used and competency
- Driving licence? Is is clean (no endorsement points)?
Pro-Bono Roles section (optional)
- Start with the latest pro-bono role first
- State full role
- State institution name
Final check-through
- Spelling and grammer has been double checked
- Confirm that there are no gaps in your history
- PDF the CV and print it out to review it
- Is everything aligned correctly?
- Check that all hyperlinks work in PDF
- Give your PDF CV to someone else to review – if putting it online for all to review, don’t forget to redact your private info.