CV Construction Kit

CV CONSTRUCTION KIT

A Curriculum Vitae is an important tool.
Treat it as such and you will be more successful.

THINK!

BEFORE YOU ACT!

1. What are the things you would most like an employer to know about
you?
In other words, what are your most marketable achievements and
abilities?

2. Can you identify your unique selling point?
Something which will attract the selectors attention and differentiate you
from the other applications. Your degree should not be taken for granted,
can you also offer evidence of skills in leadership, communication, team-
working or a specialised area?

3. Are there items you do not wish to draw the employers attention to?
For help in thinking about the skills and qualities you may have to offer,
see the exercise that follows this page, which follows.

4. How can you arrange the layout of your CV to draw attention to the
points you wish an employer to notice?
(The examples of Chronological and Functional CV styles which follow
will help you in deciding on layout.)

5. How can your choice of words make your CV more powerful and
effective?
See page for help with this.




















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Oral communication
 Project – presentation
 Sale work
 Any experience helping people of taking complaints
 Telephone work
 Debating
 Public speaking
 Committee work

Written Communication
 Dissertation/Thesis
 Reports
 Article for newsletters/newspapers
 Published letters of similar

Teamwork
 Evidence of flexibility
 Experience of working with others
 Team games or sports such as rock climbing
 Any group project work e.g. young enterprise in school, field course
 Organised groups such as Guides / Scouts, D of E, outward bounds courses

Management of People
 Work experience
 Organising a trip / expedition / visit / travel arrangement

Diplomacy
 Work experience with the public, particularly if dealing with complaints or
personal details
 Examples from persons relationships with friends, relatives or colleagues

Negotiating Skills
 Some work experience could provide examples, e.g. sales when price iw not
fixed
 Asking for a pay rise
 Reaching agreement on apportioning work loads or tasks
 Negotiating a change to your course or other details of attendance or work
contract etc.
 Negotiating a discount on something

Social Skills
 Get on well in a particular group – evidence could involve being asked to carry
on ding something for people or being elected to represent a group, being
invited back to take part in something, having been successful in gaining
someone’s confidence
 Examples could be drawn from personal life, work experience, academic work or
voluntary work

Time Management
 Examples from project work
 Meeting deadlines either in academic work or work experience or any leisure
activities and interests

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 Managing to cope successfully with several demands in your life at the same
time (mature students)
 Balancing work and leisure activities

Problem Solving Skills
 Project / dissertation
 Personal experience examples e.g. having wallet stolen on holiday and
managing to get home
 Voluntary work / work experience
 Creativity
 Lateral thinking

Decision Making Skills
 Decision on course options
 Examples as in leadership and management section
 Any examples when you have had to make and important decision under
pressure and reasons as to why you made the right choices

Numerical Skills
 Element of degree course
 Work experience – sales / bar work / accounts

Computer Skills
 Word processing for projects, work, essays
 Entering and analysing data for academic work

Creative Skills
 Leisure pursuits
 Creative writing (articles, stories, poems)
 Performing (acting, music, dance, verse recital)
 Artistic (graphics, painting, photography)

Organisation and Planning Skills
 Academic project work / research work
 Exam revision / assignment deadline
 Interest – planning and organising holiday / travel arrangements
 Examples from management and leadership

Practical Skills
 Lab work / field work / project work
 Holiday jobs / Guides or Scouts
 Car maintenance

Self Discipline
 Managing to balance requirements of work with other interests
 Meeting deadlines on work assignments
 Achievements of personal goals, giving up smoking, keeping weight down,
exercise routine, turning up to evening classes
 Coping with study and family commitments
 Putting time aside for a specific activity in order to achieve something

Ability to Work Independently
 Project work
 Self directed study – language / music / IT / extra qualification

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 Interest / hobby – something you’ve done successfully on your own – e.g.
published articles, model buildings, piece of research, travelling on your own
 Work experience / voluntary work
 Trustworthiness

Commitment
 Showing enough commitment to achieve at a chosen activity
 Devoting energy to sports, clubs, societies or individual interests

Stamina
 Physical, mental, emotional
 Seeing a demanding project through to completion
 Coping with long hours of work or study
 Coping with competing demands

Motivation
 Success in studies / projects
 Evidence that you have planned a career route over a number of years with
evidence of relevant experience gained
 Management of family commitments and study under a difficult circumstances

Ambition
 Success in studies / projects
 Evidence that you have researched the career progression route
 Interest in training and continuing personal development
 Qualifications obtained outside academic study
 Relevant work experience

Capable of Hard Work
 Success in academic field
 Combining study with family commitments / voluntary work / part time or open
learning
 Self – directed study
 Vacation work – demanding physically – time consuming

Methodical Approach
 Science / research / project / approach to general studies
 Computer skills
 Some leisure pursuits / hobbies – model building, research work, conservation
work


QUALITIES

Leadership / Responsibility
 Evidence of trustworthiness
 Any of the above where you took charge or had responsibility
 Chair / secretary of any group / committee
 Any example where you have been the spokesperson
 Any supervisory or management experience in vacation work or work placement
 Entrusted with funds / equipment / property
 Examples of community responsibility e.g. children, special needs

Social Confidence
 Most of the examples under Oral Communication

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 Being able to successfully relate to a wide range of people – work experience /
voluntary work / leisure
 Coping easily with a position of leadership or management
 Examples can be drawn from travel abroad or in this country – generally coping
on your won with demanding situation

CV Profile Content

Who you are!
A Human Resource Specialist
A Graduate
An Experienced Plasterer

What type of person!
Affable
Outgoing
Resourceful
Determined

What are you offering?
Expertise
Experience

What do you want?
Development within the Company
Skills to be challenged



All above points to Justify the Abilities and Skills



Where did these attributes come from?

How did you get them? Ie. Communication during my employment with Jones &
Co.


Never leave a skill hanging


Which leads the reader on to your Experience or Qualifications
But if the documents worded correctly, the reader has been thinking back and fore.
Experience and qualifications can be sectioned in the order dictated by the Advert.

In YOUR order of importance.

If speculative place them in YOUR order of importance based on research.










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HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR CV MORE POWERFUL?

Having decided on your format, the words you use in your CV need to be chosen
carefully ….

 Find the Right Words

 Convey Benefits

 Stress Accomplishments

Your aim is to suggest to your potential employer the benefits of employing you!
Choose words with a strong impact which will convey your ability to achieve. The best
words to use are ACTION WORDS which give a sense of participation, involvement
and accomplishment.

ACTION WORDS sound like this :

Achieved
Managed
Wrote
Implemented
Persuaded
Presented
Organised
Produced
Invented
Developed
Researched
Analysed
Negotiated
Created
Conducted



Avoid ‘lead in’ phrases such as “My duties included …” or “I was in charge of the
section which …..”.

Start straight in with the precise ACTION WORDS and benefits, e.g. “Organised a
charity event, which raised over £600”.

Whenever possible try to use an Accomplishment Orientated CV rather than one
which is purely Information Orientated, e.g:

a. Information Orientated
“I was assistant to the editor of the Students Union newspaper where I was
involved in handling day to day issues and general queries as well as in printing
and distribution arrangements. I also prepared the agenda for meetings and
kept minutes.”

b. Accomplishment Orientated
“As Assistant Editor of Students Union newspaper, organised printing and
distribution, using new outlets which increased sales by 10%. Handled queries,
day to day problems and organised agenda and minutes of editors meetings.”

Both sets of data are valid but the second transmits the feeling of action and something
achieved.


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Accomplishments statements are much better for selling you.




CHOOSING THE FORMAT / LAYOUT OF YOUR CV


THERE ARE A VARIETY OF WAYS OF ORGANISING YOUR CV, DEPENDING ON
THE IMPACT YOU WISH TO MAKE:

1.
CHRONOLOGICAL CV


Traditionally the most widely used and easiest to write, but can lack
‘impact’


Jobs are listed chronologically starting with the most recent – (which
usually occupies the most space).


Dates of employment given first, followed by name of employer, job title
and accomplishments in that job.

Advantages


Easiest to prepare


It emphasises a steady education / employment record.


Disadvantages


It starkly reveals serious gaps in study or employment


It can put emphasis on job / study areas you prefer to ignore


It makes it more difficult to highlight particular areas of skills and
accomplishments


2.
FUNCTIONAL CV

This style of CV categorises your work into specific categories of experience or
skill that you wish to highlight for a specific job target.

Advantages


Employers increasingly like to see a CV with focus and impact


It stresses selected areas of accomplishment which you feel are most
marketable


It can help to camouflage gaps in your work / study record and to play
down items you wish to de-emphasise.

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3.
COMBINATION OF FUNCTIONAL / CHRONOLOIGAL STYLES

This format begins with a short ‘career statement’ or ‘profile’ followed by a list of
‘key skills’ or capabilities’ to which you particularly wish to draw an employers
attention – thereby creating an impact in the first paragraph!
THE STRUCTURE OF THE CV


There are some traditions and expectations about the structure of CV’s, but is more
important that you develop a structure of your own, which shows off you and your
talents to their best advantage. There are no rules on CV’s only general principles –
about layout, contents, etc. – so feel free to experiment.

The traditional structure properly known as ‘tombstone’ is as follows :-

•
Name
•
Address
•
Telephone Number
•
Marital Status / Children
•
Interest / Health
•
Secondary Education
•
Professional Qualifications
•
Employment History (in chronological order)

We have not found this structure as successful as :-

•
Name
•
Address
•
Telephone Number
•
Career Statement or Profile
•
Careers and Achievements to Date (in reverse chronological order) Last – First
•
Professional Qualifications and Training
•
Tertiary Education
•
Interests
•
Personal Details

We think this structure achieves more interviews because it delivers information to the
potential employer in the order that it is required to make the decision whether of not to
interview, because employers are more concerned with your most recent experience /
training – not what you did two years ago.

Employers are going to be more interested in what you can do in terms of skills and
experience before you can tell them how old you are or indeed what your interests are.
We advocate, for those with recognised and job-related qualification, that these are put
after the individual’s name, on the basis that the employer can see immediately that
you are a graduate or that you enjoy an appropriate professional qualification. The
education section can then go after your career because the reader already knows
what you have achieved in this area, (except in the case of recent graduates).





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EXAMPLE ONE


Curriculum Vitae


Name:

Robert Star

Address:

15 Buckingham Gardens, Highwood, London E8 1AJ

Telephone:
0171 923 3456

Date of Birth:
4th April 1960 (no longer necessary)

Place of Birth:
Norbury, South London

Nationality:
British

Marital Status:
Married

Children:

Two
Aged 10 – Girl
Aged 14 – Boy

House:

Owner

Car:

Owner / Driver

Passport:

Holder

Interests:

Music / Photographer / Film Making / Mountaineering /
Sound Equipment
_____________________________________________________________________

QUALIFICATIONS

1973
GCSE Levels. English Language, English Literature, Mathematics,
Science and Technical Drawing

1978
Ordinary National Certificate (OND) Electronic and General Engineering
(Sutton College)

1979
Apprenticeship with Kent Transformers Limited with part sandwich degree
course at N. E. L. Polytechnic

1986
Digital Electronics Engineering Course, High Power Ltd., London

1990
Analogue Date Analysis Short Course, Johnson Ltd., Frimley

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1993
Date Signal Processing Seminar, Monologic Limited

1996
Management Training Course XXX Ltd. (Brighton)




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