Creating a CV

Having an excellent CV is crucial to your job search and success. Remember a CV is your Story in your Career to date – don’t sell yourself short, make the best of it!

A CV is a document that should give the recruiter a factual and chronological snapshot of your skills and experience. It should highlight the skills and experience that are relevant to the role you are applying for – this includes those that you have gained in work, college and all aspects of your life, particularly transferable skills. Transferable skills are important when you are lacking the exact skills that are outlined on a job description. Identifying these skills and highlighting them on your CV and Cover Letter may get you the interview. Check out more about transferable skills here in our Jobseeker Resource HERE

You can make a fantastic CV by looking at similar job specs for your current and previous roles and jobs you are applying for right now. This exercise will help you to perfectly describe your skills, best qualities and competencies. It will also remind you of projects that you may have worked on, software packages and systems that you have used in the past.

Creating a personal statement, as in a small paragraph at the top of your CV that describes why you are suitable for the role and will entice the recruiter to read more. Phrases to help with this task can be found in our Jobseeker Resource section HERE.

Ensure that keywords that are used to describe the skills required in the job description for the role are also used in your CV, for example ‘strong analytical skills’ and ‘excellent team worker’. This will increase the chances of your application being escalated to the next stage by a person manually screening the CVs or by a software package, if the company are using applicant tracking and screening technology.

Cover all previous jobs, but expand on the skills, education and experience that are most relevant to the role you’re applying for.

Where possible give real examples, figures and data on the projects and tasks that you have worked on previously. It makes your statements more realistic and will add to the conversation when you are called for interview.

We have prepared sample phrases that you can use to describe your competencies. These will make the task of completing a CV much easier. Again these can be found HERE

For more information on CV Templates – Click Here

For more information on specific Industry Phrases – Click Here

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