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Tips and advice to make your CV stand out

Length

Keep it Brief!

Recruiters spent a short amount of time on a CV, so keep it brief - make it a maximum of two pages

Style

Make your CV stand out - a plain CV full of great content may not grab the eye as quickly as something that you've spend a bit of time designing.

Things to look out for:

Choose a single font - Multiple fonts is distra­cting

Make sure it's easy to read. Something may look great and help you stand out, make it easy to read - turning paper to read something is something you should avoid.

Contact Details

Phone numbers are essential
Email address etiquette makes a massive differ­ence:
your.n­ame­@em­ail.com
drunka­llw­eek­@ho­tma­il.com

Current Address

Work Experience

Put only the recent work experience that you have, partic­ularly if you have plenty of experience - Nobody really cares about your Saturday job from 15 years ago!

Show what you brought to the company rather than what you did. You want to say what you can provide to your potential new company rather than give a job specif­ica­tion.
 

CV Templates

CV Advice

A guide to help you complete a CV to get you noticed in front of recruiters and HR.

To find the latest IT jobs in Manchester visit our site.

Showcase your achiev­ments

Showcase your achiev­ements from your jobs - whether it's targets exceeded, ideas created or anything else, make sure that you showcase what you've achieved.

Qualif­ica­tions

If you're new to job seeking, or a recent graduate then a qualif­ica­tions based CV is better. Have the qualif­ica­tions that you have as the focus of your CV.

Proof Read your CV

Check, Double check and re-read your CV. Get friend­s/f­amily to check that there is no spelling errors, gramma­tical errors and that any contact details are correct.
 

General CV questions

Do I need a headshot?
Unless specif­ically requested no. And research shows that it might do more harm than good!
Do I need to put my age/date of birth?
It's not required for the UK. Age discri­min­ation is illegal in the UK, so if you are having trouble getting interv­iews, try removing it
Do I need to put my nation­ality on the CV?
Not required, with the exception of Government positions.
What about marital status?
Not required, but might be an advantage in certain circum­sta­nces. If you're single your chances might improve if the job requires unsoci­alble hours. Likewise if you have a family it might make you seem more stable and loyal to potential recruiters

References

Don't put references available on request, as that is generally expected.

Only put reference details down if the referees are contacted before hand and know that you're looking for a new job.

And if you're thinking about putting down your current workplace on your CV - don't! You only want to involve your current workplace further down the job process.
           
 

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