CV advice
So, you know you’re the right person for the role, but you just need that opportunity to get in front of the recruiting officer at an interview to convince them of that.
OK so you’re CV is where you need to start.
Most employers will spend a few seconds scanning a CV to identify if someone is suitable or not.
Reasons why employers will discard a CV:
- No personal details on it – you need to make it as easy as possible for the employer to get back in touch
- Too long – they don’t want your full life story just a brief synopsis and focus on the relevant details….no more than 2 pages of A4!
- Too sparse – i.e. very little detail to say what you have actually done in work experience. Make a point of bullet pointing the main tasks in any of the relevant roles you have had.
E.g
- Keyworker for 4 children in 2- 3 room
- Liaised with parents
- Completed quality observations
- Planned activities and next steps in line with EYFS
- Supported children at meal times
- Prepared snacks
- Series of spelling and grammatical mistakes – obviously we all make mistakes and people are not going to discard your CV over a minor error; however if the job you want involves teaching young people or children basic reading/writing skills, or the role involves important report writing this could be a problem. If your CV is littered with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes it won’t look good. These days there is no excuse thanks to most office programmes having spelling and grammar checks built in. Make sure you read your CV through and get someone else to read it through first before you start sending it off to employers.
Useful things to be mindful of:
- Include a profile or personal statement – Just a brief paragraph summarising your experience to date, and your career goals that obviously should fit in with the job you are applying for (sometimes you may need to change this profile to adapt to the position you apply for).
- Don’t leave gaps – we live in a cynical world and any gaps in a CV can get an employer’s mind whirring (why did they leave the last place? Why can’t they get another job? Where have they been?). It is always best to ensure all dates run concurrently and any gaps you have had are explained.
e.g. April 19 – Jan 20 – travelling round Australia and Asia
OR April 18 – Feb 19 – caring for a family member
OR Feb 17 – May 17 – claiming unemployment benefits whilst actively seeking a new role
- Keep your CV up to date. Its easy to forget to add something you have done more recently when you are sending your CV out to multiple roles, but take the time to ensure it is current i.e. your most up to date training is on here, any additional experiences you have gained are recorded and your profile reflects your new experiences.
- Don’t lie – Employers rate honesty and transparency high in their list of positive characteristics to look for in a future employee. If you are caught out in a lie its game over the trust has gone and depending what sector you work in it is a small world so be honest!
- Devils in the detail – Make sure you include relevant information we receive many CVs where the work related educ https://www.cypnow.co.uk/residential-childrens-care ation is not clear. By this they may say they have Level 3 childcare qualification, but it does not details the awarding body and the actual mane of the qualification – this is crucial as there are many childcare qualifications that have been found as not full and relevant qualifications and as such most employers want to identify this as soon as possible to avoid any disappointment from both sides
Please find some examples of good CVs here (link here to a hidden page where we can add a couple of examples of good CVs (see attached documents for this)
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