Writing your CV or Résumé - Tips to Help You Avoid Some Common Mistakes

Writing your CV or Résumé is an important part of the search for a job, but is something many of us hate doing. Most people don't learn how to do it at school and a lot of young people get to post-graduate level without knowing how to create an effective CV.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make is sending out the same CV for every application. It's a big temptation, especially if you are applying for a large number of jobs over a short space of time. If you've just graduated, you're likely to be sending out scores, if not hundreds. And if you've spent hours getting the details and layout just right, or even paid to have someone write it professionally, you feel you haven't got the energy to personalise each one. The trouble is, if you want to be successful, you've got to give yourself the best chance possible and that means tailoring every CV to the job in question. If you want to stand out from the crowd in a highly competitive marketplace, you've got to do this.

So what exactly does tailoring a CV mean? It just means writing it specifically for the job you are after. You have to pick up the keywords the employer will be looking for and relate them to your own experience. You'll find the keywords in the job description and person specification, or if you are applying directly from an ad in the classifieds, in the job advertisement. They are the words which describe the skills, qualifications and experience needed for the job. These are the words which should stand out on your CV -you must remember that in the first round of the selection process, each CV gets about 20 seconds! If the interviewer doesn't see what he's looking for immediately, your CV is destined for the shredder - along with your hopes of getting that job. You don't have to rewrite the entire CV each time - have a basic version and adapt it.

Ok, if you aren't too sure how to target your CV, here's an example: imagine you are a secretary who speaks several languages and can take shorthand in all of them, but are applying for a job in an office where only English and audio are used. Languages and shorthand are very impressive skills, but in this case, would not be the most prominent on your CV. Instead, you would focus on the skills actually required by this particular job, which could be fast typing, Excel or advanced PowerPoint. You wouldn't leave languages and shorthand out - after all, who knows what other opportunities might arise once you've got the job. So give them a brief mention, perhaps under the heading "Additional Skills."

Another common mistake, usually made by older applicants, is including everything they've ever done since the age of 11. It's usual for CVs to cover only the last 10 years of work and if you have a degree, school qualifications can be left out, unless specifically requested or relevant. Employers occasionally ask for a full CV, in which case you do have to include everything.

Choosing the wrong format can also condemn your CV to the bin. Remember the 20 second rule - that's all you've got to make a good first impression. Different styles work best in specific situations. Many people stick to the chronological CV, but this is not always the most appropriate. It works well if you have been steadily progressing up the ladder in a particular career, or if your most recent jobs are likely to impress the company you hope to work for - that is, if your recent work history is so outstanding, they're likely to sit up and take notice the moment they clap eyes on it.

However, if you've got a dodgy past, or a few gaps, a skills-based or functional CV is a great choice, as you can use it to highlight the fact that you have exactly the skills the employer is looking for, without drawing attention to the areas an interviewer might question. It's also useful if you are moving to a new career or area of work and your work experience so far isn't completely relevant.

A targeted CV is aimed at a precise job or career, for example if you retrained as a teacher in your 30s or 40s and were applying for a teaching post, your work-related heading might be "Teaching Experience" and your main skills would all be relevant to teaching, for example, things like using IT in the classroom and curriculum development. For soft skills, such as communication skills and team work, you would use examples from your teaching career. If your teaching career goes back less than 10 years, you could include some previous jobs under the heading "Additional Work Experience".

You may need to have different styles of CV for different applications. If we use the previous example of the secretary, she might have had a series of language related jobs and is now applying for linguist and non linguist posts. She could choose a chronological CV for the language jobs, as these will impress a boss who wants a candidate who is good at languages and has recent experience in their use in the workplace. She could use a functional CV for other jobs, enabling her to highlight the skills relevant to non-linguist posts.

To summarise, you should have a basic version of your CV and then tailor it for each job, choosing the best format for the situation and don't forget: keywords have to jump out at the employer in those crucial first 20 seconds.

© Waller Jamison 2005

Waller Jamison is a freelance careers advisor and part-time university lecturer. She is the author of an e-book "9 Steps to CV Success." which includes info on UK Job Application Forms. For a free e-course on career change go to: Free Course

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