CV / RESUME WRITING

• Length of CV

There is no absolute right or wrong way to write a CV and styles vary greatly from different continents. Your CV may also reflect some individuality and can say a lot more about you than purely the wording. However, it is generally accepted that a CV should be approximately two to four pages. It should be detailed enough to capture the attention of the reader and arouse their interest for interview, but not so lengthy that becomes tiresome to read. You will need to have plenty of detail left to discuss during the interview.

• Spell Checker

You would not believe how many CVs we receive with spelling mistakes. With Spell Checking functionality on every PC in the World there should be no excuse for not spending an additional five minutes double checking the spelling or asking a friend to check over your work.

• Layout

Your CV should be written in reverse chronological order i.e. current / most recent first. The more current your experience, the more relevant and more detail you should divulge. You should taper down your experience the older it becomes, particularly if it is largely irrelevant to the current career direction.

The front page should clearly show at a glance what job you are currently doing including job title, employer, duration of service etc. It is effective to include a Career Synopsis somewhere soon after your name. Busy executive recruiters will be able to gain a clear idea of your depth of experience, field of expertise, and aspirations at a glance, and without having to read highly narrative script over numerous pages.

• Use Quantifiable Statements

Avoid writing unquantifiable statements such as “I am a nice person, good team worker, and hard worker” etc. Instead, ensure that you are making factually quantifiable statements such as “ten years experience within the media industry…”, “two years experience on leading and managing a team…” and “I am a Marketing Director with two years acquisition & retention experience…”

• Use simple ‘Key Words’

Almost every recruitment consultancy utilises special recruitment software to store your details into a large database system. To ensure that you maximise your chances of being included in ‘key word’ searches it is worth writing your CV in such a way that your text is easily understood by recruitment consultants and database administrators.