CV Basics

What is a CV?

Not such a stupid question.

CVs are called many things (like resumé in America) but what ever it is called (and you do not have to write - and in fact should not write - "curriculum vitae" on it any more than you write "letter" on the top of your letters) there are a few very simple rules that you ignore at your peril. A CV does one thing, and one thing only. It gets you an interview for a job. A CV is not a potted biography. It is not a record of every thing you have ever done. Think of it as a piece of highly-targeted direct mail. Direct to the one person who is going to put you on a short list.

What should my CV contain?

Only things that are germane for the job for which you are applying. You should produce a unique CV for every job for which you apply. A single general, one-size-fits-all CV will not do. That may sound like a lot of work, but an hours work to get a £75k+ return is not bad work.

How long will a recruitment consultant look at my CV?

Probably between 30 seconds and a minute. Really. What that means is you must have maximum impact and present information - not opinions, not puff - in the most succinct, direct and easily digestible manner.

The Golden rule of CVs

If you pay no attention to anything else in this article then remember this. Your CV should be no longer than 2-4 pages. Less is more. Two is much better than three unless you are a very senior director/CEO when it is just about acceptable to go to a third page. There are almost NO circumstances under which a CV should be longer than three pages.

Several hundred CVs arrive at Mortimer Spinks every day. Most of them contain information that is unnecessary, clutters up your CV and, for those who have paid attention to the two-page rule, has meant they have not included other, more important information.

All recruitment consultants have horror stories of the six, nine, ten, even 14 page CVs. Candidates with 14 page CVs will remain candidates for a long time.

What is a recruitment consultant looking for?

He or she will have a clear idea in their own head of the background and skills they are looking for. The first thing they will look at is the last employer you worked for and what job you were doing. If that experience is relevant, they will look deeper at your CV at what other experience you have. If the information is presented in a clear, immediately accessible way, you stand a much better chance of being selected for interview. If the information is buried deep in several pages of closely typed, poorly laid-out, badly spelt text, then no one is going to bother.

How do I organise my CV?

There are two main types of CV

• Time-based CV The traditional, and for most people, preferred layout. Arrange your career history with your current/most recent job first and work back. Make the job title and your employer clear. If your job title does not really explain what you did, then expand on it to provide enough detail. Jobs held more than 15 years ago should be very briefly dealt with.
• Skills-based CV Organised around your skills. May be more appropriate for some one who has moved jobs a lot or has significant experience gleaned from other areas, such as voluntary work. Also useful for candidates contemplating a major career switch so that previous experience needs to be put in context to make it relevant. Members of the Armed Forces may find it relevant. Commanding an aircraft carrier or drawing up plans to invade Iraq may need some interpretation for the civilian world. Not a popular format with recruiters.

What to put in? Facts. And only facts.

Whatever format you adopt, stick to the facts. Tell the consultant what you did, what your achievements were and provide the evidence for it. Avoid flannel. Use bullet points. Don't say you are a "world class leader" say "Head of 15-strong team in three locations worldwide. Implemented new training scheme that reduced turnover by 15% in three years."

Do not be tempted to lie.

If you are found out, you can be dismissed, and it is unlikely that the recruitment consultant will deal with you again. That does not mean you have to tell the whole truth - nor should you. There is no need, for example, to include details of exams you took, but failed.

Things you can safely leave out

The following list is not definitive. And don't forget, this kind of information can be presented later in the application process if you make it to the interview list.

• Marital status
• Number/ages/names/sex of children
• Details of your primary school
• Your O/GCSE level subjects and grades
• Almost certainly your A level grades unless you a very recent graduate
• Any exams/qualifications you failed
• Place of birth
• Nationality
• Hobbies and interests. If you have represented your country in the Olympics, have written a best-selling book, or hold the record for the largest stack of 2p pieces balanced on your nose while uni-cycling then you may include them. If your interests are gardening, DIY and golf, as most people's are, then leave it off.

What should my CV look like?

Above, we looked at the cardinal rule of CVs.

Your CV should be no longer than 2-3 pages Two is better than three. Unless you are retired President of the United States, a former Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or the Director General of the BBC, there is no excuse for not getting it onto two sides.

Why the obsession with two sides?

Two reasons:

• It shows you understand what a CV is for, and can order your thoughts and structure them in such a way as to convey the image you wish and
• No recruitment consultant has the time to wade through pages after page of your personal details. They want the facts and just the facts. Structure Put the information the recruitment consultant needs first. That means your name (but not your address) and your employment history starting with your most recent position.

Education, your home address, hobbies and pastimes, and all the other information goes at the end. Until you have been selected for interview, your address is not needed.

Make sure your contact details are clear however. You do not want to be selected for interview and then find that no one can get hold of you.

Layout For most people, unless you are going after a position in a creative industry, stick to a very simple, clear and straight forward design. Always keep in mind that your CV is going to be scanned. It will be a very key discipline to keeping it clear and readable, and should discourage you from the excesses of Microsoft Word's layout tools.

Typeface

Chose a clear, straight forward font. On the PC, Arial and Times New Roman are a good choice. You can use both - perhaps using Arial as your headline font, and Times New Roman as the body text. Do not use more than two font families in a document - although with careful use you can make use of Arial Black and Arial Condensed.

Type size

Fonts should never be used at less than 10pt - a typical broadsheet newspaper uses 8.5pt type - anything less than that and first the OCR will not pick it up, and secondly you are not going to make the person reading it terribly happy.

Type styles

Although there is no problem in using bold fonts, be sparing in the use of italic. OCR software can be fooled by italics. Avoid underlining for the same reason, and under no circumstances use black - or indeed any other colour - boxes with white text in them. The OCR will almost certainly fail to read the text. The same goes for shadow, outline and any other of those bizarre typestyles that Word allows you to use. That typographic disaster zone "Word Art" - which allows you to make you name appear to be shaped like a ball - is best left to publishers of the village newsletter and the corporate sport and social club, where it is much admired.

White space

Allow your text some space to breathe. Do not be tempted to set 1cm margins on the basis you can get more on the page. It will look cramped and unprofessional.

Consistency

Devise a style sheet and stick to it. Think about the hierarchy of headings - section headings: Profile, if you have to have one, Career and achievements, education, other information; then how are you going to present your job titles (dates, Job title, company name). This is where the use of different fonts can help. Use differing weights and font sizes to help the reader pick out the key information. Perhaps 14 point Arial for the main sections headings, then 12 point Arial bold for the second level headings, with 10 point Times Roman for the main body text.

Printing and paper

If you are sending in a paper CV (as opposed to sending a word attachment) then consider very carefully the quality of paper. You should use at least 100gsm paper, typical photocopier paper is only 80gsm and tends to look a bit flimsy. Conqueror weave is a very popular choice. Stick to white paper as your CV will almost certainly be photocopied. Preferably use a laser printer, although an ink jet on its highest setting on good quality paper is probably indiscernible. Stick to black and white.

Email

Find out if the company will take the CV as an attachment or requires it in the body of the email. If it is the latter there is not much you can do about layout. Keep your layout as simple as possible, and avoid formatting commands. Older email programs are not able to pass on even the simplest text commands, so make sure your CV is readable and clear as a text only file. Some companies will take CVs as email attachments. Sending attachments carries a risk of transmitting viruses. Do ensure you have anti-virus software installed. Apart from really annoying any prospective employer or consultant, if your CV is infected, most companies will quarantine your mail and it will never be seen. Like it or not, Microsoft Word is the de facto standard. If you do not have Word, then send you CV as an RTF document. Do not send other proprietary formats (.wps etc). Remember if you use a Mac to put the file extension on the filename.

Language

• Use bullet points
• Keep sentences short
• Active not passive verbs
• Stick to facts, not opinions
• Use standard job titles, not company specific ones. This will increase your chances of your CV being found in a key word search

Powerwords to use

Opening statement

• "I am a versatile, pro-active, board level manager with wide range of skills encompassing sales management, marketing, operation efficiency and corporate planning. Having worked in highly pressurised situations I have shown the necessary skill set to bring complex situations to a fruitful conclusion. I have been instrumental in orchestrating and managing teams during complex and innovative sales of technologically advanced...
• "A business leader with a natural ability to communicate effectively at all levels and build cohesive and functional teams. I have developed a strong understanding of how businesses really operate, the politics that influence decisions and how global issues affect them."
• I am a self-starter with the ability to build from nothing and also successfully lead change programmes... I look to 'add value' to an organisation, whether it is the company I work for, or a client. I base my success on establishing excellent rapport in my professional relationships, commitment to every task I undertake, and honesty and integrity in everything I do. I am highly ambitious and I have drive, determination, and the ability to succeed, whilst delivering results."
• Over 20 years experience in sales and implementation of high value adding IT solutions to the financial community throughout Europe"

What are they?

About half of CVs received by Harvey Nash have some kind of statement similar to the examples above on them. There seems to be a view among candidates that these kind of statements are needed. In a straw poll among consultants at Harvey Nash - not a scientific poll admittedly, but illustrative - not one consultant said they thought they were worthwhile, and no one actually read them.

Do you need one?

No. Should you have one?

That is up to you. Space on your CV is precious. The rule about CVs being about two sides, and certainly no longer than three should be a golden one. Therefore do you want to waste precious space on an area that is unlikely to be read?

However, many candidates feel it gives a useful overall summary of themselves. If you do want to include one there are some factors you must keep in mind. If you get it wrong, you can end up worse off by including a statement than if you had not put anything at all. Of the three "personal statements" above, only one is acceptable. The last one is short and factual.

Keep it factual

Although it may sound impressive to describe yourself as a "hands on proactive team player with business acumen and entrepreneurial flair who strives to exceed" it is, even if true, just so much flannel. Keep in mind two things: "Says who?" and the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davis "Well he would say that, wouldn't he?". In much the same way that there is no point newspapers describing someone as famous (if they are famous then you already know it, if they are not, then by definition you can't make them famous just by saying so) a list of your personal qualities does not become true just because you put them down on your CV.

This is an area where you can damage your chances. Too much of this kind of thing and interviewers are going to get suspicious. The question to ask yourself when considering what to put down is "what would the converse say about me?" No one is likely to be looking for a low-achiever, or someone who is not a team player, or sets low standards. This is definitely a case of less is more.

Keep it short

The grim truth is that recruitment consultants are going to spend at most a minute reading your CV when compiling a long list. A huge slab of text at the top of the page is not going to be read. Keep it to around three, bullet-pointed, sentences. One to outline in the most general terms your career to date including your current (or last) employer ("20 years experience in IT sales culminating in the position of VP Sales at Widget plc"), one to highlight your most significant experience ("Spent five years as deputy head of sales and marketing for EMEA for Widget plc") and one your most significant achievement ("Introduced new sales structure that increased year on year sales by 14 per cent with a cost reduction of three per cent"). Words to avoid in your statement

Anything that sounds like management waffle. Eg proactive, entrepreneurial (unless you are really an entrepreneur in which case call your self something else), hands-on, high standards, any sentence containing the phrase "core competencies", visionary, excellent, achiever, dynamic, veteran, drive, tenacity, outstanding, motivated, pressure, results-oriented, problem-solving, enthusiasm, creativity.

And above all do not refer to yourself in the third person.

Other points

If you work on the basis that a recruitment consultant may scan 400 CVs in a day, and yours is the 397th consider what would that person want to see. Something simple, easy to read, clear, which shows a clarity of thought and the ability to present the most salient facts concisely.

Layout, which will be covered in another article, is very important. Make your statement easy to read, in a simple, clear font (Times Roman or Arial are good solid fonts that scan well) at a reasonable size (nothing less than 10 point, nothing more than 12pt). No shading, no boxes. Short sentences with good use of white space.

Covering letter are we talking about envelopes and letters and stamps?

In the olden days, about three years ago, most job applications came in the post. And in those, more halcyon days, every CV was accompanied by a covering letter.

The covering letter, often even hand written, was a call to action by the candidate to the recruiter, be they a consultant or an employer. With the arrival of email, the covering letter has gone, at very least, into abeyance, and at worst is a terminal case.

Most applicants idea of a covering email is, if they have even thought that far, to cite the job reference and a single line along the lines "Here is my CV". And that is that. This is a mistake.

What should a covering letter do?

Help you to stand out from the crowd.

How?

Consider that your application, especially in these difficult days, is very likely to be one of possibly hundreds of applicants.

Just for a moment put yourself in the recruiter's shoes. He or she knows what they are looking for. They have a pile of several hundred CVs (either a literal pile or an electronic one) to wade through. It is getting on for 7pm, the time spent on each CV has dropped from about two minutes to under a minute.

A CV comes with a letter, a short letter, succinctly highlighting the applicant's relevant details and expanding on some of the information in the attached CV. The letter explains why they are the right person for the job. It is all there, in a few, tight paragraphs. It can make the difference between getting "Please can you contact us to arrange an interview …" letter and getting the "thank you for your recent application. However …" letter.

What should it contain?

A reference number

Every opportunity has a reference number. It is essential that that number be on the letter. Without it your application may well be binned. Speculative applications will be dealt with below.

An opening paragraph that explains why you are writing

Avoid stating the obvious. "I am writing in connection with your recent ad". You don't say. This is the first line. It should make an impact. Use it to get across your key message.

What you have to offer them

This is the hard sell. You have to sell your proposition in just three sentences. It is not about repeating your CV but about explaining your unique proposition.

• What you do
• Who you do it for
• How long you have been doing it

Anything on your CV that might need explaining

There is no stigma to being made redundant, but you might need to explain a long period, particularly if you have been undertaking freelance work. You might want to avoid salary details on your CV, in which case put them on the covering letter. It might also be worth mentioning your notice details.

Each covering letter, like the CV it goes with, is unique to that application. It has to be. How could you produce an effective sell if it is not tailored to the audience. A one-size-fits-all covering letter has as much style as a one-size-fits-all coat. Go through the advertisement or specification with a red pen, and underline the skills and experience they are looking for. Sell yourself in response to these, highlighting the features that show you are right for the job,

Style

As with everything to do with CVs, it needs to be brief and to the point.

• judicious use of bullet points
• short sentences
• Factual - not opinion. Make sure everything you say is backed up by your CV • Avoid any quasi-management waffle. Nobody ever "leveraged their core competencies." Ever.

Tone

In a way think of your covering letter almost as a press release - in as much as it has to cover the same ground. It needs to answer the same questions: who, why, what, where, when and how.

Ending

Don't just tail off with a rather lame, "yours sincerely". At the very least explain if you are not going to be available for interview because of commitments. But this is the call to action. Even if you say no more than you are very much looking forward to hearing from them, it is better than simply stopping.

Don't, however, be tempted to go to far and turn the ending into some over-the-top paean of self-indulgent praise. Stick to the facts.

Speculative applications

The principles are no different, simply that you have to do more work in a speculative application.

In replying to an advertised position the recruiter is expecting to receive your letter. Speculative applications come out of the blue.

The absolute rule is that they must be addressed to the right person.

How do you find the right person?

Pick up the phone and ask them. It really is that simple.

Call the company, ask to speak to the HR department and ask them to whom you should address the letter. Do make sure you get the right address and that you know how to spell their name. A name as simple as Stephen Smith could be Steven, or Smyth, or even Smythe. Getting the person's name wrong is not going to help you case.

Find out how they want to receive the application. Some companies even today do not take applications by email. If they do use email, find out if they accept MS word documents. Some companies insist on text only, or RTF format.

Old fashioned print

Should you actually have to print it out and stick it in an envelope then remember some basic layout points. It should be no more than a single side. Give yourself generous margins - at least 1.5cm either side. Single line spacing is fine.

Use a decent weight of paper - not the stuff you took out of the photocopier drawer.

Send it first class. One HR manager chucks away applications sent in second class letters, on the grounds that if they don't value themselves enough to warrant a first class stamp, then nor should she.