I’ve seen an unusually large number of terrible CVs this week, so I thought I’d write a short, simple guide on the do’s and do not’s of writing a good CV.

What you should do:

Keep it short: I once received a 26 page CV… as far as I’m concerned that’s a book. Now I fully understand the need to get in as much information as possible, but pick and choose what is really important. As a general rule, a CV should be no longer than 2 pages, and some companies look for CVs to be one page. This is much harder for IT CVs, so I’ll accept 3 pages, but anything longer than that and I’m starting to lose interest. All you need is a taster of information, enough to make me want to pick up the phone to you and find out more. Everything else you can leave for the interview.

Include the facts: Which of the two following sentences sparks your interest more: 

1. ‘The product that I developed was rolled out to over 500 clients in over 15 countries through Europe, which was accessed by over one million end users and created revenues of over £10m to date’
   
2. ‘I helped build a product for our clients, which was deployed into different companies spread throughout Europe’

Weight it towards the most recent role: Your most recent experience will be most relevant, there’s no point writing 2 lines for your current role, and 10 lines for a job you did 5 years ago. So, in the spirit of keeping it short and sweet, grade your detail so that your most recent roles are covered with the most information.

What you shouldn’t do:

Make spelling or grammar errors: There is absolutely no excuse for this, poor spelling and grammar creates a terrible impression. If English isn’t your strong point, get your friends to read over it, if you don’t have any friends, use a spellchecker, if you don’t even have a spellchecker, then I don’t understand how you’re reading this blog…

Include a picture of yourself: I would say unless you’re applying for a modeling job or if the application specifically asks for it, there is no need for us to see a picture of you, regardless of how beautiful you are.

Send it everywhere: It doesn’t look good if every agency in the Industry has seen your CV, and if a company has seen your CV from various sources, it may make you look desperate. You are an asset and a commodity; only send your CV to places that you think will be relevant to your experience.

Cook Dogs… it’s wrong. (see above)
 

Lloyd Cremer