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23 April 2024
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Five quick tips to help you achieve a standout CV

Five quick tips to help you achieve a standout CV

A Curriculum Vitae (CV) can be a daunting piece of work to contemplate if you’re starting from scratch. But this is the tool you will use throughout your career to open doors, opportunities and hopefully, offers of employment, so it’s worth putting the effort in, thinking about what makes you valuable and communicating your qualities in a succinct & professional way.

  • Accuracy

Make sure you have spell checked and punctuated your work properly: it’s not always everyone’s strong point. Grammarly can help, as can Microsoft word and Google, but be wary of Americanised spellings. Ensure dates are accurate and add up – you don’t want to show big gaps in your work experience unless you can realistically justify them.

  • Simplicity

Don’t over complicate it – highlight the highlights, bullet point, and elaborate at the interview. The easier your CV is to understand, the more people will absorb what is written, putting you ahead of more complicated resumes.

  • Passion

Be passionate and proud, if it’s an achievement to you, add it! But be factual and focus on clearly definable achievements like projects finished, figures such as sales, margin, revenue, or performance details. Summarise the details, be honest, but make sure they pack a punch.

  •  Structure

Keep it clean, well-organised and use the same font throughout: continuity and consistency are the reader’s friend. This isn’t always appreciated by the writer, but the person you are presenting to could be reading dozens of CV’s – so the easy-to-read ones always win.

  • Contact details

Some obvious basics, but make sure the contact details are included and correct. It’s a good idea to offer several contact methods such as phone number, email address and LinkedIn profile, to cater for all personality types – not everyone will want (or have time) to phone you. Your address is optional, but at least include the area you live in. A mistake here could mean you don’t even get to the interview stage.

The other stuff is down to you: after all you want your CV to reflect you as a person as well as just listing your job qualifications and experience. A photo is optional, but if you do include one, make sure it’s recent and taken in a professional environment, i.e. no scenes from clubs, pubs, beaches, etc. Ensure

If you need help with your CV, call your nearest KPI Recruiting branch which you can find here.

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