Building a CV from scratch

Transcription

1 Building a CV from scratch Contents Section 1 Your Curriculum Vitae (CV) Section 2 What Your CV should contain Section 3 Information gathering for your CV - ACTIVITY Section 4 Your Personal Profile - ACTIVITY Section 5 Identifying your Skills and Achievements - ACTIVITY Section 6 Example CV: Retail Section 7 Example Covering Letter Section 8 Top Tips for a Successful CV

2 SECTION 1: YOUR Curriculum Vitae (CV) What is a CV and why do I need one? A CV is a record of your education, work experience and skills and abilities. It is an opportunity to inform your potential employers what you are good at and why you would be the best and suitable candidate for that particular job or apprenticeship that you are applying for. Some employers prefer applicants to send a CV rather than fill in an application form. If this is the case, ensure that your account is appropriate. Having an account such as John.Smith_monkeyboy@hotmail.com would be frowned upon. Remember you are writing and applying to professionals. You need to be professional. A CV gives you the opportunity to decide how you want to present your information and is your chance to make a good first impression. Make it unique. Your CV will be amongst many other candidates who are applying for the same position. Your CV is one of the most important documents to help with your job search. It is designed to get you to the interview short-list and it is also an opportunity to make a good first impression of who you are and what you are capable of. Take the time and effort to ensure your CV stands out. Get your tutor, teacher or parent to check your CV before submitting it.

3 Personal Details: SECTION 2: WHAT YOUR CV SHOULD CONTAIN Your name, address and contact details. Enlarge or Bolden your name to make it stand out. Don t include your marital status, family details, date of birth or a photo unless specifically asked for. Personal Profile: A short summary of the sort of person you are. Include the main skills and experience you can offer and what you would like to do next. Key Skills and Achievements: Use this section to highlight the most important skills that you have (you can target these to a particular job). You can also identify any key achievements that you have had in your life. Employment History: Give details of the jobs you have had, starting with the most recent one first. For each job give the employer name, job title and dates. Using the tools within this pack give as much detail as possible of the things you did in that job, the skills you used, include any key achievements and illustrate where possible. Focus on the your most recent experience, giving details of your two most recent roles, then summarise or briefly list your remaining experience (unless there is something you really wish to highlight for the role). You need to consider the type of jobs you are aiming for. Education and Qualifications: What secondary school/ college did you attend? When did you attend? Give details of the qualifications you got from school, college or university (showing the most recent first). You can also give details of any training courses that you have done. Interests and other Achievements: Including what you do in your spare time will say a lot about you i.e. you could be highly active and enjoy vigorous sports, you may like to read and this will increase your knowledge. It may be useful to avoid putting socialising and spending time with family and friends.

4 SECTION 3: INFORMATION GATHERING Personal Details: Name Address Postcode Telephone Mobile Employment History: Current or last Job: Employer s Name: Start & Finish Dates: Job Title: Main responsibilities/tasks carried out/achievements:

5 Previous Job: Employer s Name: Start & Finish Dates: Job Title: Main responsibilities/tasks carried out/achievements: Education and Qualifications: Learning Provider: School/College Qualifications: Subject and Level Dates: Hobbies/Interests and other achievements (at school/college or elsewhere):

6 SECTION 4 YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE What is a Personal Profile? The profile is a summary of your main selling points and aims to grab the attention of the reader from the start and encourage them to read on (most recruiters only spend a few seconds on a CV so make the first few lines count) As with everything your CV will be targeted towards the jobs or type of work you are applying for. Your profile will be supported by a list of best skills up to six bullet pointed skills and achievements. What should my Profile include? Your positive qualities Your best skills Your experience Your career objective Shown below are a range of words that show the positive qualities an employer may be looking for. Have a look at them and then complete the 2 activities shown to identify your best qualities: Activity 1: Activity 2: Underline your top 8 qualities. Circle 3 from those 8 that you consider to be your strongest ones. Friendly Flexible Kind Fit Dynamic Quick thinking Enthusiastic Hard-working Honest Versatile Creative Adaptable Willing to learn Calm Compassionate Organised Confident Committed Imaginative Thorough Articulate Analytical Innovative Open-minded Energetic Mature Diplomatic Adventurous Punctual Reliable Capable Self-motivated

7 Caring Decisive Professional Resourceful Helpful Team worker Trustworthy Proactive Have a look at this example: A hard-working, reliable and well organised individual with excellent communication and IT skills. Looking for new challenges and the opportunity to build on skills and experience gained from working in a diverse range of office environments and to establish a career as a successful administrator. The statement shows the person s positive qualities, key skills, experience and a career objective. Think about the words you have circled above. How can you use these to produce a similar statement to the one shown above? Try to produce a couple of different statements to describe you and your career objective.

8 Examples of Personal Profiles Self motivated, responsible individual, keen to use skills gained within retail industry. Hard working and reliable, taking ownership for work assignments. Professional disposition, getting along with people from many backgrounds and cultures. Effective team member who can be entrusted with responsibility. A competent and efficient office clerk with experience of accounts and general office work. Punctual, reliable and methodical, good at handling a variety of tasks efficiently, with a strong aptitude for organisation and administration. A hardworking, responsible individual with excellent practical skills. A team member with good communication skills and a sound working knowledge of good health and safety practice. Capable of working on own initiative as well as being able to follow instructions accurately. An organised, reliable and hard working individual with a friendly and cheerful personality, with a positive attitude to work. Adaptable, flexible and able to reach targets. Performs well in a busy environment. Smart appearance, polite, helpful and confident in dealing with the public. An enthusiastic and loyal worker with an excellent attendance and time keeping record. Good communication skills and capable of problem solving and finding solutions to put into place. Capable of managing my time efficiently and working to shift patterns, willing to take on any additional training to benefit the company I work for and myself. A time-served and highly experienced Joiner who takes pride in his work. A patient and approachable valuable team member. Methodical with the ability to pay attention to detail. Fully aware of Health and Safety in the workplace. Reliable, hardworking, manual worker, use to a fast paced, target orientated environment. Friendly, though professional disposition, getting along with people from all backgrounds and cultures. Enjoys learning new tasks and willing to train and work within a flexible schedule. A hardworking, responsible individual with a keen interest to work in the Health Care Sector. A person who has the ability to relate with people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Ability to deal with people in a tactful and sensitive manner. Fully responsible for planning and delivery of own workload to a high standard. Keen to undertake training to enhance personal development.

9 SECTION 5: IDENTIFYING YOUR SKILLS AND ACHIEVEMENTS It is very important that you are aware of the skills that you have and can demonstrate these to an employer. You should select up to six of your strongest skills that are most relevant to the job or type of work you are applying for. They should be bullet-pointed at the start of your CV (after your profile) and show, at a glance, that you have what it takes to do the job you are applying for. There are a range of assessment tools which can help you to analyse your skills e.g. online resources. Your tutor/ career adviser can also help you to consider the skills you have, through one to one or group work sessions or you can spend some time thinking about the skills you have used and developed in previous jobs or in school/college activities. Shown below are some examples of skills which you may have used in school, college, employment, hobbies or other activities. On the list circle the skills that most closely match those that you have, you may find that there are other ones that are not on the list too. People-based Skills Practical Skills Thinking Skills Skills using numbers, data and information Explaining things to people Using a keyboard Coming up with new ideas Keeping accurate records Dealing with complaints or enquiries Diagnosing faults and testing equipment Evaluating different ideas Making accurate measurements Organising people Handling materials or equipment with Thinking of improvements Using numbers accurately

10 Working effectively in a team Using IT word processing, databases, spreadsheets and internet Planning ahead and setting goals Providing information verbally or in writing Talking and listening to people Using hand tools Developing other people s ideas Researching information Selling, persuading, negotiating Using physical strength Sizing up a situation quickly Writing letters, memos and reports Motivating others Being creative/artistic Deciding between different options Extracting information from reports, books courses of action or manuals Being supportive to people Mending and repairing equipment Working out how to deal with things that have gone wrong Organising paperwork systems

11 INDENTIFYING YOUR SKILLS AND ACHIEVEMENTS continued From the skills you have circled on the previous list, choose SIX skills that you think are your strongest or the ones which you would like to highlight on your CV. List these SIX skills in the Left Hand column below. For each of these skills, list evidence of specific, detailed examples of when/where you have used it. For example, if you have organised a charity event at school/college you could use that as evidence for a number of different skills organising an event, organising people, working to deadlines, communicating etc. Skill or Achievement: Supporting Evidence:

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13 Section 6 SECTION 6: EXAMPLE CV - RETAIL NAME Address Mobile/Phone Address Personal Profile: (What do you want the employer to know?) An organised, reliable, hard working individual with a friendly, cheerful personality and a positive attitude to work; adaptable, flexible and able to reach targets within agreed deadlines. Polite, helpful and confident in communicating with members of the public along with the ability to perform well in a busy environment. Skills And Qualities: (Relevant Skills and Qualities) Customer service and communication skills Able to work successfully in a team or as an individual Trustworthy, having handled large amounts of money Planning ahead and setting goals Dealing with complaints and enquiries Employment History Marks and Spencer, Grimsby Duties: Sales Assistant Serving and advising customers, taking payment by cash or card Advising on the availability of stock, and ordering when necessary Handling complaints and re-directing to Manager as applicable

14 Arranging stock and merchandising Promoting special offers and store cards Oxfam, Grimsby Duties: Voluntary Sales Assistant Receiving and sorting through donations of clothing Labelling and pricing up stock Working as part of team Bar/Restaurant, Lacey Duties: Waitress/Bar person Greeting customers and showing them to their table Giving out menus and taking orders of food and drink Serving food and drink and cleaning tables afterwards Collecting payments and operating till Education and Training: Oasis Academy Immingham 6 th Form NVQ Level 2 in Retail Oasis Academy Immingham Secondary GCSEs: Maths C, English C, Physical Education B, Geography B, Science (C, C) Drama (C)

15 Hobbies and Interests: I am a member of my local netball team and also enjoy swimming; other interests include reading crime fiction books and biographies, along with cinema and theatre visits. References: Excellent references are available on request Section 7 Your Address Post code Telephone No Name of the Person the letter is going to Job Title Organisation Name Address Postcode Date Ref: Any reference or title Dear (Named Person or Sir/Madam),

16 I am writing to ask if you have any vacancies in (type of work) that would be open to someone of my age and experience. I am particularly interested in an apprenticeship or any vacancies that include training as.. (reasons for wanting an apprenticeship ) I am keen to work in (type of work) because (reasons). I have some experience in (type of work) which I gained by (brief details of work experience/part time/voluntary work). I am (brief details of the kind of person/potential employee you are). I enclose a copy of my CV with details of my education and experience. I will be leaving school/college at the end of June and will be available for work after that time. If you need further information please do not hesitate to contact me. I am available for interview at your convenience. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future. Yours sincerely (if Dear Named Person) Yours faithfully (if Dear Sir/Madam) Your Signature Type your name Enc CV

17 Section 8 Finally, a few do s and don t s of CV writing. A CV is obviously an individual document but follow these simple guidelines to give yourself the best chance of success: Produce a different version of your CV for every job you apply for highlighting your key skills and experiences most relevant to the job description and requirements. Employers receive a high number of CVs to look through make sure yours stands out, but don t use fancy borders, folders, paper etc. Think about the content employers want to see how you will add value to their organisation. Make sure you give them plenty of reason to read your CV. Keep the layout simple and uncluttered with clear section headings and well-organised information that is easy to understand. Always word process your CV and print onto good quality white A4 paper, using no more than 2 sides. You CV should show a continuous history for you from the end of secondary school up to date. You should explain honestly any gaps e.g. time spent travelling, bringing up a family or not employed. For periods of time not in paid employment, highlight any voluntary work, training or activities you did. Be honest about any hobbies or interests you include don t add things to impress as you may get caught out at interview. However, do try to include activities and interests which make a positive contribution to your employment prospects e.g. voluntary work, club membership, charity work. Never lie on a CV you will be found out. Check spelling and grammar. Ask someone to read it through for you. Don t use text speak, abbreviations or nicknames. Always use your full name and address.

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