ALT-1 How can i Make my Cv Stand out to Employers
I recently worked for a retail company that would receive maybe 50-60 CV's a week. So I have seen a lot of CV's.
First and foremost, do not go over the top. Keep your font plain, not flashy. Plain white paper is fine, not coloured. Don't use silly borders. But most important is to always, always check your spelling and proof read.
When laying out a CV your personal details should always be at the top. Name, address, telephone number and date of birth. Next you should put a little introduction to yourself ie: Trustworthy and reliable, trained mechanic looking for.... or Creative and approachable sales woman, excited about joining a new team. Try to use descriptive words to describe yourself and explain a little bit of what you are wanting to apply for. This should maybe be three or four lines set out under your personal details.
Depending on whether you have already been in employment or have just left education, this is how the next part is set out. If you have just left education then you list this first. List your schools, qualifications and results with the most recent first. You do not need to include anything before GCSE level. They do not need to know which primary or middle school you attended.
If you have already been in employment you should list your jobs before your education. List your three most recent jobs, place of work and your position there. It is best then to list the skills you aqquired whilst working in that job and I always think it's best to list these as bullet points. It keeps it short, quick and easy to read whilst getting across the information which is important.
You're now coming to the end of your CV. After listing your education and employment you may want to do a small bullet point list of your interests. Don't just put socialising. Try and make it sound a little more interesting but do not ellaborate. Two or three words is just fine for each interest.
You do not need to enter any references, these can be obtained after the interview stage and they do not help towards getting the interview in the first place.
Your CV should ideally fit into two pages, maybe three at a push. Remember to spell check and proof read. When handing out your CV, make sure it is stapled together so the pages aren't loose. And keep them clean. Never hand over a dirty CV to anyone.
Now you're ready to go.
Good luck.
