When creating a CV, your CV needs to focus on your relevant abilities and accomplishments to help increase your chances of getting invited to interview for a role. In this article, we define a CV, highlight why you need a good CV, how to write one, and a template and example of how to format a CV to help you write your own.
What is a CV?
You might be wondering, ‘What is a CV?’. A CV emphasises skills and achievements and also lists previous employment history. It incorporates elements including:
- Your relevant and transferable talents that distinguish you from other candidates. This is essential, especially for people with little relevant job experience for the role in which they are interested.
- Current and previous job experience in reverse chronological order, beginning with the most recent work experiences in the Work Experience section of your CV.
Look for relevant abilities that match the job description of the role you are interested in applying for. For example, if you have a little work experience, highlight the abilities you gained throughout if you have worked and relate them to your Skills.
Why do you need a CV?
You need a CV because employers usually require candidates to submit one when applying for a particular position. An effective CV can demonstrate to employers why you are suitable for a certain position. Here’s a list of other reasons why you require a CV when applying for a job:
Highlights the benefits you can provide to prospective employers
A CV can communicate to employers what you can offer an organisation. Try to incorporate descriptions to help convey your value as an employee.
Gains the attention of prospective employers
Along with your name and contact information, include the most critical and impressive information at the beginning of the document. Another strategy for gaining an employer’s attention is to use a template that is professional and concise rather than using many colours and fonts.
Matches you with the appropriate job
A strong CV aligns your abilities with job requirements. One approach to accomplish this is to ensure that your CV includes the same keywords as the job description. For instance, if the job description specifies understanding of Microsoft Word and Excel, or providing customer service, ensure that your CV includes the terms Microsoft software and customer service.
If you submit your CV online, some employers may automatically categorise it using keywords. If an employer uses an applicant tracking system, keywords are especially important, as these programmes filter applications based on keywords that are typically included in the job description.
How to write a combination style CV
Here’s a list of steps you can take to write an effective combination format CV:
- Begin with your name and contact information
- Your CV can begin with your name and contact information. This helps to make it easier for hiring managers to identify who submitted the application and contact you if they want to invite you for an interview. Verify that the information you provide is accurate and recent, including your current phone number and email address. Optional information can include URLs to online portfolios, which may be advantageous depending on your industry.
- Include your Professional Summary
- Your CV can include a concise summary that highlights your most impressive and relevant abilities, experiences and skills. Use active language to help hiring managers determine why you are a good fit for the role. If you’re new to the workforce and have little relevant experience, you can include a CV objective statement instead of a CV summary. This summarises your short-term and long-term professional objectives to helps convey your goals and ambitions.
- Add your Skills
- Include a section that outlines your expertise, knowledge, abilities and skills following the summary, in bullet points. When creating this section, be sure to review the job description and identify keywords. These may include any skills or abilities listed as necessary or desired by the company. You can include both technical skills and soft skills in your list.
- Create a section for Work Experience
- Your professional experience can help support your skills section. This section can help employers have a better understanding of your work abilities and talents by elaborating on how you acquired and used these skills. For example, if you’re currently employed in an entry-level sales role, your skills section may include soft skills such as collaboration skills and communication abilities and also hard skills such as customer relationship management software skills and experience with data analytics tools. When listing your work experience, you can include explanations of how you applied these skills, such as by saying, worked collaboratively with other sales employees to assist customers and processed payments using Point of Sale tools.
- List your education
- Education history and experience vary in importance depending on your level of professional experience. Including your educational achievements can be especially beneficial when you have limited professional experience. If you’re a recent university or secondary school graduate or have limited professional experience, you can consider including more information in this section, such as relevant coursework, grades, honours and extracurricular activities such as leadership positions, volunteer opportunities or club membership.
- Optional: List Hobbies & Interests
- End with References – Available on Request
Template for CV using combination format
Here’s a template you can use to follow the combination format CV:
[Name]
[Phone number]
[Email address]
[Location]
Professional Summary
[CV summary statement explaining your goals and most impressive skills]
Skills
[List of most impressive and well-developed skills that are applicable to the role]
Work history
Most Recent first
[Title]
[Company name]
[Date started-date employment ended]
[List of tasks and accomplishments for the role]
[Title]
[Company name]
[Date started-date employment ended]
[List of tasks and accomplishments for the role]
[Title]
[Company name]
[Date started-date employment ended]
[List of tasks and accomplishments for the role]
Education
Most Recent first
[Degree/A levels/BTEC/GCSE’s]
[School/College/University], [City]
[Start Month & Year – End Month & Year]
[Degree/A levels/BTEC/GCSE’s]
[School/College/University], [City]
[Start Month & Year – End Month & Year]
Hobbies & Interests:
[Hobbies eg. Pottery, Painting, DIY, Hiking, Gym, Running]
[Interests: eg Reading, Learning Languages,Creative Writing]
References:
[Available on request]