ADD ADVICE TO FAVGraduate CVs
A good CV promotes the skills, knowledge and experience an applicant can bring to a job. Follow these guidelines to sell your attributes to graduate recruiters effectively.
The important things on a graduate CV
There are no hard and fast rules, but most graduates’ CVs are made up of the following sections (not necessarily in this order):
- personal details
- education
- work experience
- specific skills (such as languages or IT)
- interests and activities
- referees.
How long should your CV be?
Graduate employers may get bored if your CV is longer than two pages. Beware of listing lots of information vertically (such as GCSE grades) or waffling.
Prioritise relevant information
Busy employers may not make it to the second page of a graduate-job hunter’s CV if there’s nothing that interests them on the first. So cover the most relevant thing you have to offer (perhaps your degree or work experience) early in your CV. This often means listing information in reverse-chronological order.
’Apart from your basic details and qualifications, we are most interested in what motivates you. Tell us why you’re interested in this career and include examples of how you’ve developed and pursued that interest’
Jon Rennie, Development and Recruitment Manager, WesternGeco Training (Schlumberger)Go into detail
If you worked in a team on a project, how big was the team? If you were responsible for a student society budget, how much money was involved?
Use your CV to draw attention to your career skills
Transferable skills, such as organisation, teamwork and time-management, are important, but always use evidence to back up your claims, rather than simply listing lots of skills. Use proactive words, such as negotiated and organised, to explain your role in different activities.
CV layout and presentation
The information in your graduate CV should be consistent and presented in clear, distinct sections. Check and double check for spelling and grammatical errors (don’t rely on a computer spell checker). Use good-quality white or off-white paper and present each page on a different sheet of paper, not back to back.
Things to leave off your CV
You can safely omit:
- every GCSE subject and degree module
- outdated / irrelevant awards and achievements
- marital status, gender and age
- ’Curriculum Vitae’ at the top of the page – you could replace this with your name.
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