Candidate Hub

CV Tips

Usually the best CV format is in reverse chronological order, so start with the most recent achievement:

1. Contact information (name, address, email address, phone number).
2. Profile section detailing your experience and areas of proficiency.
3. Reverse chronological employment history emphasising recent achievements.
4. Education (Recent graduates may put this at the top).

Use a clear font, ideally 10/12 point. Make headings bold and use space to break up the page. It makes the reader feel immediately negative towards you if they are confronted by a full page of small, tightly spaced text in a variety of fonts as it is hard to skim read. It is better when writing a CV to aim for a smart, professional look rather than a flash multi-coloured masterpiece.

A one page resume is unlikely to contain enough information for people to decide they want to interview you, but too many pages is tiresome and the employer likely won’t have a lot of spare time. Use your judgement on how much is relevant to the role you are applying for, but it is more important to include detail on your most recent positions and avoid great detail on what you did 20 years ago. Typically, most CVs are approximately 2 pages.

Make sure you spell check and proofread your CV before submitting and be especially careful with names etc. that will not be in a spellchecker. Also keep your CV up to date, it is amazing how many people just add their most recent position to their old CV without updating previous positions to the past tense or giving leaving dates/reasons.

Use dates to show when you did things and avoid vague references such as “one year”. Include months as well as years for start and end dates for previous positions etc.

Your profile/summary statement should sell your skills and experience and avoid vague meaningless generalisations that could apply to anybody.

Many candidates lose their readers in the beginning. Statements like, “A challenging position enabling me to contribute to organisational goals while offering an opportunity for growth and advancement,” are overused, too general and waste valuable space. If you’re on a career track, replace the objective with a tagline stating what you do or your expertise.

Avoid using personal pronouns such as “me” or “I”. It is preferable and appears more professional to write your CV in an ‘implied first person’ writing style, which uses first person verbs but omits the first person pronoun, such as ‘I’ or ‘my’. This creates a professional, concise tone and avoids repetition. CVs should generally not be written in the third person (‘she/he’). An example of first person implied could be: ‘Managed a team of 10 to deliver projects on time.’

Cut down on personal information that is not relevant to your career. At this stage nobody needs to know you height, weight, children’s names, marital status etc. and don’t go overboard on a hobbies/personal interest section unless they are relevant to your job.