Writing Effective CVs

This guide explains how to develop a professional and effective CV and Covering Letter suitable for a current student or recent graduate. Whilst there is no single CV format that you should follow, we have provided an example chronological CV as well as links to some additional example CVs that we feel are appropriate.

Your CV should be unique, reflecting your particular strengths whilst being clearly focused on the role you are applying for.

Key points to consider

Aim to produce a targeted CV that is written to demonstrate your suitability for the role you are seeking.

Start by identifying the skills, experience and knowledge required by the employer.

Prospects Job Profiles provide a useful insight into the skills needed for your chosen career

Explore relevant job vacancies. Check job descriptions and person specifications which should help spell out what the employer is looking for.

Think about what you’ve done in the past that may enable you to demonstrate the competencies and personal qualities that the employer is seeking.

Reflect on the full range of activities you have been involved with including your academic studies, work experience and extracurricular activities.

Describe your experiences in a way that provides evidence of these competencies.

Use short punchy sentences, avoid writing in the first person and start sentences with verbs or ‘active words’ – e.g. managed, supervised, initiated, co-ordinated etc.

See our leaflets covering Effective Vocabulary for CVs & Applications and Writing Success Statements, available on Surrey Pathfinder.

If you are considering applying for different types of jobs you are likely to need separate, targeted versions of your CV.

Use space appropriately - expand on the most important information such as your current studies or directly relevant experience and summarise less important information such as pre-university qualifications.

Presentation

An employer may receive many applications. Well known employers with vacancies in popular types of work sometimes receive thousands. It is your task to make sure that your content is both interesting and easy to read.

Top Tips to Make a Great First Impression with Your CV

Head the CV with your name, there is no need to use the title Curriculum Vitae.

A two-page CV is acceptable to most employers - more than that may put them off. Investment Banks tend to prefer a one-page CV.

Choose a suitable font that is clear and professional. Arial is a safe option, other suitable fonts include: Calibri, Cambria, Garamond, Helvetica and Verdana.

Main text should be font size 10 or 11. Use larger font sizes and bold for headings.

Each section of your CV should present information in reverse chronological order e.g. most recent events / qualifications first.

Try to use the space on the page sensibly. Avoid large blocks of text which can be difficult to read. Bullet points can be a helpful way to present key information.

As you will normally be emailing your CV, keep formatting simple. Saving your CV as a pdf can ensure your formatting is retained, but do check whether a pdf is a suitable document for the application.

Most UK employers will not want you to include a photograph on your CV.

Check spelling, grammar and punctuation… and check again! When applying for jobs in the UK it is a good idea to make sure your spell checker is set to UK English rather than US English.

What to include

A typical Chronological CV may include the following sections. This list is not exhaustive and when you look at CV examples you will find variations on this theme.

Personal Details

Head the CV with your name.

Address – most employers may not require your full address but would expect details of your general location e.g. Guildford, UK.

Telephone – a single point of contact, landline or mobile – ensure your voicemail message is professional!

Email – ensure your email address looks professional.

Do not include marital status, health, date of birth or age.

Personal Profile

Most employers like to see a well written personal profile statement providing a brief summary (three to five lines) of your key capabilities and experience.

The idea is to catch the employer’s attention and encourage them to read further. It is critical that the strengths you highlight in your profile are evidenced in what follows.

For further help drafting this type of statement see our leaflet Writing a Personal Profile for your CV on Surrey Pathfinder.

Education and Qualifications

Name of University attended and dates.

Degree subject, grades achieved to date and classification expected/attained.

Describe your degree but be selective and make it relevant to the employer.

Some employers (e.g. law firms) may like to see a detailed breakdown of all modules studied along with specific grades achieved. For other applications it may be better to be more selective listing only modules of relevance to the role.

Consider whether details of key projects and/or your dissertation may be of interest to the recruiter.

In addition, you may wish to emphasise skills gained through your course of study e.g. research skills, report writing, problem solving, teamwork, project management etc.

Include brief details of secondary education – provide A level Grades (or equivalent). Summarise earlier qualifications – e.g. 10 GCSEs (grades 6-9).

If your pre-university education took place outside the UK just present a summary of the qualifications you have taken with grades achieved, do not try to translate your qualifications into the UK system of UCAS points/A level grades.

Many employers will be familiar with international qualifications.

We can help you to establish how your qualifications equate to the UK system by using the services of UK ENIC. We hold a licence that allows us to access this help free of charge.

You can get further assistance from UK ENIC directly but you will be charged for this service.

Work History / Employment / Professional Experience

Firstly, choose a heading that best describes this section, depending on your experience.

It may be helpful to split your work activities into two sections covering Relevant Work Experience and Additional Work Experience. This allows you to give more prominence to activities that are related to the role you are seeking.

Instead of Relevant Work Experience you could use a heading that reflects your chosen career such as Engineering Work Experience, Legal Work Experience, Marketing Work Experience or similar.

Head up each job role or work activity you have undertaken including:
Name of employer, location, dates and job title.

Avoid irrelevant detail about the role. Focus on selling the relevant skills gained from your experience using short sentences starting with action words such as:
- Responsible for managing the day-to-day work of three part-time staff ensuring
adequate cover at all times.
- Regularly exceeded all targets in a high-pressure environment.
- Managed the demands of part-time employment alongside full-time study.

To help you draft suitable sentences, check our leaflet on Writing Success Statements, available on Surrey Pathfinder.

Try to ensure different job roles provide evidence of skills the employer is looking for.

If you have undertaken several roles that are simliar, you can group them together under a heading such as ‘various retail/catering posts’ and then provide some comments about skills gained throughout these roles.

Interests and Achievements / Positions of Responsibility / Extracurricular Activities

This section can cover anything that is not related to work and study.

Select a title for this section that reflects what you have done (there are three possible suggestions above).

Typical activities may include: course representative, involvement in clubs and societies or voluntary work.

Short online internships or courses you have undertaken can be included here.

Be selective – choose activities that have developed your skillset and prioritise recent activities. If the focus is solely on school activities the employer may assume you have done little during your time at university.

As with the employment section, emphasise relevant skills evidenced through these activities and refer to our leaflet on Writing Success Statements, available on Surrey Pathfinder.

Additional Skills

You may choose to include a section that briefly summarises tangible skills such as IT skills (make this relevant to the role), language skills and driving licence.

Referees

If space is limited, it is possible to just state ‘References available on request’.

If references are included, ideally there should be one academic referee from your current or most recent course, and a second referee who can provide an objective assessment of your character and capabilities.

This could be an employer or someone in a position of responsibility.

Always ask permission to include someone as a referee on your CV and keep them informed about the jobs you are applying for.

The CV structure outlined in this document relates to a typical chronological CV. This can be the most straightforward style of CV, however it is possible to produce a skills-based CV using skills headings - this can also be very effective.

Finally

Don’t forget we are always happy to help you with every aspect of your career planning and development, wherever you are in your journey. If you are unclear about where to start or what to focus on first, just make an appointment with a Careers Consultant via Surrey Pathfinder and we can help you develop a plan for moving forward.

Visit our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion careers resources to find out more about diversity initiatives, employer perspectives and support at Surrey.

If you would like more information, visit MySurrey Help to find answers to the most common questions and details on how to ask us a question if you require more support.