Essential CV Checklist

by Caroline Hay, Web Development Manager, Wired Sussex

The word Curriculum Vitae literally translated means the story of your life. So it’s quite a challenge to sum that all up in a couple of pages. These tips should help you to avoid some of the common mistakes and make your CV stand out to potential employers. The tips below are mainly for us non-arty types applying for jobs, if you’re looking for a great creative job you should read this excellent article by James Marsden.

First impressions matter: Your CV should get the attention of an employer in the first 20-30 seconds. Employers may receive a lot of CVs (particularly if they post their job on Wired Sussex!) so make sure yours stands out. Remember, the CV should give the employer a reason to invite you along to an interview so make sure you include information about your capabilities and achievements.

The visual layout of your CV is vital if you want to get the attention of an employer. This doesn’t mean it has to be beautifully designed but it does mean it should be easy to pick out the key pieces of information and scannable (see Chunking) so employers can get a feel for what you do without having to read every word. Make sure you use clear heading and bullet points. Colour, if used sparingly, can also help a CV stand out.

You should think about the language you use on your CV. While it’s good to appear lighthearted and friendly your CV is probably not the best place to put your favorite jokes. If you’re applying for a technical role then obviously you’ll need to include a lot of technical terms but bear in mind the person reading the CV might not be a ‘techie’ so ensure there’s some information about your other skills and qualities.

There’s a lot of talk about how long CVs should be and the general concessions seems to be to keep it to two pages of A4. The key here is to be concise and edit your CV down, not to try and cram as much onto two pages as you possibly can. If you’ve stretched the page margins as far as they can go and dropped the font size down to 3 then you might want to think about taking some of the text out! Remember, you don’t need to tell the employer every detail of everything you’ve done, you only need to show them enough to get that interview.

This is an obvious one but you NEED to remember to proof your CV for errors, spelling mistakes and typos. Even a small mistake may put a potential employer off, particularly if you list ‘attention to detail’ as one of your skills! It’s always a good idea to get a few friends to have a read through your CV to find any errors you might have missed.

Tempting though it might be, lying on your CV is rarely a good idea. Employers are checking more details (exam results, qualifications etc) than ever so you might want to keep the fabrication to a minimum.

Finally, you should tailor your CV to fit the job you’re applying for. Find out as much about the role you are applying for and make sure you highlight your relevant qualities. You should also read the article on How to Write a Great Cover Letter to really grab the attention of a potential employer.

Good Luck!