Here we are going to start with a blank sheet and set out all the basics of your CV, and in the next step you will fill in the detail. At this stage - don't worry about the detail!

Once you're done you will see the headings and main details set out, nothing more. Remember this is a step-by-step approach, so this is all we're doing at this point.

First thing: two pages. No ifs, no buts - *only* a two page CV is acceptable, unless you have a one page CV. Never have more than a two page CV unless you are writing an academic CV and need to list many publications - otherwise never over two under any circumstances - even if you are a 60 year old with fourteen jobs.

I know that CVs are subjective, and doubtless you have or will meet people with different views on the number of pages, but the fact remains that two pages is the norm, and that three pages are not going to impress more than two, but do risk detracting from you, so by going over the limit, on average you can only lose...

Certain structures and content are expected in the UK job market - and some of them seem to work well. If you're going for a £25k a year job and you just bother to submit a decently laid-out CV you are already in the top 10-20% in my experience.

Remember the 15 second rule - this structure is going to be super-clear. There are five sections and they will appear in this order:

1. Personal info
2. Key skills
3. Employment history
4. Education
5. Other information

First, title your CV clearly with your name - big and bold. Include any titles and letters after your name you have. It may seem cheesy or even cringeworthy to some, but unless you're deliberately downsizing and need to make less of your qualifications and experience then this is relevant information to the employer, and you need to include it here.

Next, clearly include all your contact information so they can easily contact you by phone, email and post.

They will attempt to work out your age anyway from when you were at school or university or whatever, so just be clear about it up-front. Use your age rather than you date of birth to save them a few seconds mental arithmetic (of your 15-30 seconds they spend skimming your CV!).

Next you need to also include information on whether you are entitled to work in the UK/EU. You can give your nationality, or I have also sometimes just written 'no restriction to working in the UK', to avoid confusion. I was amazed at how many people who did not have work permits and were not from within the EU applied to jobs I advertised - this isn't some comment on a tide of immigrants trying to get into the UK, many people just didn't realise that this was a requirement - so to help your future employer differentiate you, state this clearly.

So far:




Key skills

This is going to be a generic description of skills that you have that you could bring to any organisation. This is obviously more complex, so for now we're just going to create a header and fill it in later.

Employment history

List out your employment history, starting with your most recent detail your employer, location and dates (to month level of detail) of employment. Include your job title, and highlight this. Next write a brief description of what you did for the organisation using the following formula: What the company does, who you reported to and what your main responsibilities were / are.

Employment:

Company name Location Dates (to month level)
Your role
What does the company do, what role did your role report to and what were your responsibilities?

For example:
Acme Corp London Jan 2000 - Dec 2005
Finance Manager
Manufacturer of roadrunner catching devices. Reporting to the managing director, responsibilities included preparing accounts, financial reporting and management reports.

Later when we do the content, you're going to detail some of your achievements in that job under each job heading.

Which jobs to include? Well, you need to include all your recent employment, but there is no need to include everything you ever did back to your paper-round. Again you need to think of the relevancy to the employer here. First they are concerned that you haven't had lots of unexplained gaps in your employment, so you need to include all recent employment (if you do have awkward gaps see the later section on overcoming these issues). Second they are not concerned with what you did when you had a Saturday job - unless it's relevant to them and their job - so judge that and leave the rest out. An easy way to include a large previous history is to have a heading at the end of your employment section called "other relevant employment" where you can detail your relevant achievements without taking up lots of space.

This will look something like:




Education history

Next, detail your educational history, including anything you're currently studying. It is relevant to let people know when, and where you got these qualifications, and the grade so include this information.

What you ned to bear in mind is the level of detail to include. If this is your first job after a major qualification (e.g. if you just graduated) it'll be tempting to put a lot of detail in here - read the section at the end of this page just for you first. The level of detail that is appropriate depends on two things:

1. relevance to the job you're going for - if it is relevant it wants more detail, for example it might be worth mentioning your degree thesis title (even if it is five years since you did it) if it fits the job
2. position relative to your highest qualification. Don't list your GCSEs / 'O' levels / lower level qualification unless that is your most recent education. If you have a level up, then just list the numbers of each grade (3 C's 2 B's, etc). I reckon it is worth splitting out your second most advanced qualification if it is a group (e.g. list A levels and grades if you have one degree). Again definitely do this if they are relevant subjects or experience.

   If you have a single qualification, such as a degree, that has multiple component parts, don't be tempted to list out to component modules and grades, even if it is your most recent qualification, just give the overall grade.

This will look something like:




Other information

This is the place for anything else not already covered that the prospective employer *needs* to know, such as:

• Relevant awards and other education, such as work-based courses (e.g. first aid) or awards from an employer.
• Languages - include language and level of fluency
• IT skills - if specifically asked for or referred to in the job advert or likely to be included in the job. Mention key packages and years of experience. If you are a technical IT person, then these will obviously be in your employment experience, so there might be no need here.
• Membership of professional associations
• This can be a place to put relevant skills and achievements from activities other than jobs
• Anything else they need to know - for example if the job is not located close to public transport networks, or requires driving, include that you have a clean driving license (if you do!). If you don't leave off any mention of it.

Put in a basic outline of items from this list - we'll look at the detail later, but Remember: Your mantra is how does this demonstrate that I could do something useful in the organisation I'm sending it to? If it doesn't - leave it out!

Examples
For an office-based non-IT job:

Other information

• Awarded "MD's commendation" for time-saving ideas applied to the order process on work experience
• Fluent in MS office applications
• Approved First Aider (St Johns course)

Other information

• Improved sales 50% by increasing capacity through staff re-organisation in student summer job
• Speaker at business change conference, 'the Deming forum'
• School governor at 'St Lukes' a 500 pupil secondary school

Other information

• Fluent in French, conversational Italian
• Influential communication: write a blog with 15,000 readers a month

That's it for the structure, you now have the bare bones of your CV done.

A side-note on common debates about CVs:
The photo: unless your physical appearance is directly relevant for the job you are applying for, then leave a photo out, as the prejudices of whomever might read your CV can do your prospects harm, but are unlikely to do them benefit.

Personal interests: it is nice to know that the person you are about to hire has a well-balanced life, but again, unless it is relevant to the role you are going for, then leave this common section out.

If you just graduated:
If you're just out of education and you are going for the first job, then consider putting your education section first, followed by your employment section. As you go through the rest of the process, follow the same advice, but for your degree, or most recent main qualification, follow the advice for a job (i.e. set out a list of achievements or key points relevant to your prospective employer).

Many graduates, put a long list of modules studied - this doesn't tell the employer what they want to know (which is 'what can this person do for me?') - so just put those down that are going to be most relevant to what you are going for. If that's not clear yet, put down the most significant items and tweak them when you get to the stage of responding to a specific advert or employer.

Next: Step 2: the content
to main CV page

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