Curriculum Vitae

This is a concise summary, or resumé, of an individual’s career to date. It will include their education, training and skills obtained, work experience, and notable achievements or swards. Where someone is just starting out in the job market, without any work experience, then they would demonstrate how they have utilised a range of specific employability skills in their life, especially how they have used these in their educational studies. The term is frequently abbreviated to just the initials cv.

What is the purpose of a cv?
Besides providing a snapshot of an individual, it also provides that individual with the opportunity to market and sell themselves to a prospective employer or client. Often, when applying for a job, the inclusion of a cv might be stated as either essential or optional, depending in the requirements of the application. Where someone is applying for enrolling onto a qualification, a cv provides the educational establishment with important information to help determine if the qualification being requested is suitable for the individual. In particular, it will help to identify probable challenges the prospective learner might face, especially when complemented with a skills scan, during the learning journey of the qualification and this will (or should) provide the basis for ensuring adequate learner support is arranged for the start of the learning period.

What should be included on a cv?
The headings and structure of a cv will vary depending on requirements of what is being applied for, but the following description is a useful starting point.

Contact details
Give your name, contact numbers, email and any relevant social media handles. This is possibly one of those reasons why some thought should be given to the naming of an email address when it is first created, as having what might have appeared an amusing address in the first instance might not look so amusing when you are trying to stand out from other potential job candidates. If your address might be considered inappropriate, then try and set a new one up.

Do not include specific personal details such as date of birth, marital status or religion/beliefs.

Introduction / Personal statement
Provide a short statement that describes you, your motivations, and aspirations that make you the ideal person for the job. If the cv was for enrolment onto qualification this statement could be reasons why you wish to undertake the course of study and why it is ideal for your situation.

Create this section specifically for the job role, do not just cut and paste from a previous application.

Some applications might ask for an extended personal statement, so this might require a slightly lengthened cv. Consider what has been requested, but typically this will range from a single paragraph to several, maybe three, paragraphs. It will aim to capture why you are the right person for the job. Features of a statement will typically include why you want the job, your key qualifications and skills (which will be listed in full in the cv, so don’t just repeat them here) focussing on what you consider are the most important aspects that might get you the job, and how you will make a positive contribution to the success of the organisation.

What you include will relate to the key factors underpinning the job activities. Look at the person specification and job description and make sure you understand what is being asked for. Do not make assumptions otherwise the chances of being overlooked can increase significantly as it will be clear to the employer that you haven’t read and understood about the job role.

Employment history
A list, stating employer name, job title, employment dates, and a brief outline of the key role, activities and achievements. One aim of this would be to emphasise some key aspects that relate to the job role being applied for. If there are any gaps in employment history consider how they might be described; or leave it blank if you consider it is best to explain this at the interview, assuming you are short-listed.

Employment and education details are usually completed in reverse date order, i.e. most recent being first in the list.

Education / Training / Skills / Achievements
Provide a list of qualifications achieved, along with grades, date achieved, including the name of the school, college, university attended.

Provide a list of relevant training courses attended, as well as identifying any particular competence or expertise that the job role is asking for.

Identifying and briefly describing how you have applied specific skills, giving ‘real world’ examples which are relevant to the job role can often significantly enhance the impact of a cv.

If you are starting out in a career, or very new to one, then you will need to think about highlighting some key work-related skills that you applied to educational studies. Focus on a select number of skills that you think are most important for the job role, including those that will help you get up to speed in a new role. The purpose of this is to demonstrate to an employer that even though you have limited or no work experience, you should be able to progress rapidly through the induction and settling in stages for a new employee. This will minimise the impact a new employee may have on the time and resources of others, minimising impact on productivity.

In this section include any notable achievements or awards, for example, a sporting award or voluntary work undertaken.

If the job application is for an academic role then consider putting this section before that of employment history.

References
This will complete the cv and will usually provide the name of two people who you have spoken with about them being able to provide you with a reference if asked by a prospective employer.

Usually two people are required, one of whom would be your current employer. If you have not been able to speak to anyone about providing a reference before completing the cv and sending it off with a job application, then a typical statement is to put something like ‘references are available on request’.

How long should a cv be?
This will depend on your experience, length of time in a career, as well as the type of role being applied for. A general guide is that of a minimum of one to a maximum of two pages of A4.

Presentation of a cv
Produce a well-formatted and styled document. Leave adequate amounts of white space and do not overfill the document making it look cramped and difficult for a reader (especially a prospective employer) to quickly pick out some key features they might be looking for.

Use a consistent font, text size, line spacings, along with sub-headings for the main sections to add a logical structure. Key words might be emboldened if this is felt appropriate, although don’t overuse emboldening on text. With a well-presented cv an employer can more easily find what they are looking for as typically they will be scanning through many applications. A poorly presented document might just be ignored. Do not waffle on a cv; keep it concise but relevant. Finally, double check it all making sure there are no spelling mistakes as errors might result in an application being declined.

Covering letter
Once your cv is completed, as well as the job application from, there might be the need to include a covering letter. This gives you the opportunity to enhance the introduction and personal statement in a cv and it will get to the main reason of why you are applying for the job and why you should be the one who will be the best fit for the organisation.

A cv might be seen as a document allowing an employer to quickly tick various boxes at the early stage of the recruitment process, filtering out those applications that are incomplete or have been poorly completed. Where applications are assessed digitally by automated software it really is essential not to miss anything out.

A single page of A4 would be suitable, anymore and it is much less likely it would be read, or if so, it would be read in a cursory manner, so you will have lost the attention of an interested reader by the employer.

So, to start with provide a short introduction that captures the reader’s attention. The main part of the letter, of three or four paragraphs, will explain, using practical examples why you are the person for the job. Emphasise your contributions that have been successful, how they were achieved, what made them unique, visionary, outstanding, and how these have benefited others, including examples from previous employers, where applicable.

Sign off the letter emphasising how much you would like to work for the organisation and would welcome the opportunity to explain your application further.