By neglecting to spend time on your CV you will be seriously limiting your career opportunities. When you submit your CV to apply for a job, you must remember the CV is the first step in your career path, so it incredibly important for improving your chances of securing the intended role.

The aim of a CV is to get an interview with a prospective employer. So your CV must shine like a star, because you must take into account every employer may inspect ten of hundred other applicants CV’s for the same role.

Your CV needs to demonstrate things like:

• An understanding of the job requirements
• Exact skills you have to fulfill the job needs
• The experience you have in the specific area
• You are relevant for the role, are the right sort of person

How to present your CV

You must ensure your CV looks professional and well planed; it should be short enough to read quickly, be clearly laid out and no more than a couple of A4 sheets long. When composing a CV always sticks to using a professional typeface that is easily readable (e.g. Arial, Times New Roman)

Things to remember:

• Check spelling and punctuation
• Structure the document with clear Sections
• Order your experience before education in order to highlight your most recent experience
• The employer is mostly interested in skills and experience that applies to the role you are applying for.
• Your most recent achievements will be more interesting to potential employers
• Again, in reverse chronological order, give brief details of your academic and professional qualifications along with the grades you achieved
• Include your name, address, contact numbers and email address so you can be easily contacted.
• Steer clear of long paragraphs
• Avoid using font sizes smaller than 11pt.
• Do not fill your CV with pointless images or colour

If you are changing careers completely or don’t have much experience in a specific role, you should always highlight your skills to potential employers. Any experiences in different areas that will be significantly helpful in achieving in the job you are applying for.