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Spring clean your CV with our top tips!

By: Cranberry Panda Team Tuesday, 17th of April 2012 - 3:10 pm

As a team who look at a lot of CVs, we think we are pretty well placed to pass judgment on them. (At least we hope we are!)  But it isn’t just your experience that we rate.  We’re sorry to say it, but first impressions count and your CV is your one chance to make an impact – so make it good!

1. There’s a lot to be said for bullet points - let’s face it, these days we are all‘the busiest person in the world’; so make it obvious or the finer detail in wordy CVs will be overlooked!
2. Keep it short and sweet – we appreciate that if you have achieved a lot you can’t always get it onto 2 pages but as a rule a 2 page CV is sufficient.  The Aussie’s may offer an entire portfolio but here in the UK we tend not to look past the second page. (Unless it’s really compelling of course!)
3. Keep your experience relevant – if you’re struggling to keep your CV to a suitable length then you may need to think about cutting out that bar job you did at Uni.  (We’ve all felt your pain!)
4. Put your employment history first – your current job is of most interest to anyone looking at your CV.  We want to know what you are doing now, not what you did all those years ago at school. 
5. Include dates of employment – ‘nuff said.
6. Sell yourself – a list of your responsibilities isn’t enough.  We can usually guess what your job involves, what we want to know is what you’ve achieved.  Demonstrate quantifiable results, whether it be an x% increase in site conversion or the success of a new marketing channel.
7. Avoid writing in the 3rd person – when you’ve spent time crafting your CV to sell yourself, why then make it look like someone else has written it for you? Give yourself credit – that’s what we say!
8. Presentation – boxes and tables might help you fit more on the page, but please make sure they line up.  Consistency is key; use a clear font and make your job title and employer stand out (it’s usually the first thing we want to know).
9. Show some personality – If you’ve got it, flaunt it.  There isn’t a great deal of opportunity to reflect your personality in your CV, so if you are including hobbies and interests, make them exciting.  Do you predictably spend your free time reading, or are you an adrenaline junkie who runs extreme endurance marathons? (No, just us?!)
10. If you’ve followed these tips, we’re probably going to want to get in touch – so be sure to include your contact details.  Email and mobile number are obvious but it would be good to know where you live too.  We aren’t planning to stalk you, but we don’t want to waste your time telling you about a job if it turns out it’s going to take you 2 hours to get there.

So there you go, some of our top tips for creating a first class CV – happy writing!

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