Regardless of how much work experience you have or haven’t had, at this stage in our lives, a CV shouldn’t really be more than two pages long. With that in mind, you can start to consider what you do and don’t want to put on there.
1. Start with a full-length CV
Have a master copy of your CV which details all of your work experience, volunteering, and awards. Don’t just allocate a boring description to each thing. Your CV needs to be punchy and interesting as it’s got to stand out, so briefly detail what your responsibilities were and what you achieved. It’s good for employers to know that you improved the company you were working for in some way, but they don’t need to know how expert you became at making cups of tea (although that is a great skill and I salute you for it).
2. Tailor your CV
Every time you send your CV to someone, copy and paste the most relevant bits into a new document.
For example, I worked in a call centre a few years ago. I don’t normally put it on my CV because it’s not relevant to the job I want to do when I graduate. However, I recently applied for an admin position that required a candidate with an excellent phone manner. The training I received for this call centre work and the experience of using phones in a professional environment were very useful in proving my abilities on the phone. This is why it’s worth keeping a record of everything you’ve done.
3. Part time jobs
Should you include the fact that you’ve spent 16 hours a week for the last three years flipping burgers in a fast food restaurant? It’s not directly related to that dream job in marketing, but there are some invaluable skills you can learn from working a minimum wage job for three years, and ways to make them applicable: customer service, working in a busy environment under pressure, commercial awareness. Besides, some employers might like to know that you’re a hard worker and don’t mind getting your hands dirty. I would never scoff at putting in a part time job, but if you’ve had lots of relevant experience and are tight for space, it’s not vital that your employer knows you’re an expert flipper.
4. Check the dates
Hopefully all of the work experience on your CV will be dated. As you get more and more experience, you can start to mentally delete the older things from the list. If you’ve written for your school paper, your university paper, and the Guardian, you can probably knock off the former as it doesn’t add anything.
Overall, ensure your CV makes you sound interesting, intelligent, and highlights the best bits of you and what you’ve achieved, and you shouldn’t go wrong.
Do you have any ideas about what to include in your CV? Let us know in the comments below!
Photo: Flazingo Photos / Flickr
I’m an Editorial Manager with an English Literature degree from Warwick University. I love writing about travel, careers, and vegan baking. For more info and to get in contact about freelance writing opportunities, visit http://www.samanthahopps.co.uk/
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