A Graduate's Advice- CVs

Ah the curriculum vitae, the dreaded foe of any graduate. So many questions. What font? What do I say? Only two pages? WTF? It is horrible and time consuming and then you have to tailor it to each job and you’re left wondering why employers won’t just give you a job because of your dazzling personality. However, it is one of the hurdles of a graduate or even younger when applying for part time jobs that just has to be done. I’ve read everything on the interwebs about what will make your CV stand out and here are just a couple of tips I’ve picked up along the way which will hopefully help, though I’m not expert.

1.    Font, sizing and margins.
One of the key things for the CV is readability. It’s the same thing you were always taught in school/uni about examiners, make it easy for them and you’ll no doubt get extra marks and I see the CV in a similar light. Make bold headings, use a readable font, make everything aligned and clean. It is common sense but having a flowing CV is the first step of not getting it thrown in the bin. What I use is put the margins in narrow, put the font in Verdana, put headings in size 14, my name in 18, and the general words in 10. It looks if I do say so myself, quite professional.

2.    Use buzz words.

Every time in careers class when the dreaded buzz words came up usually I tuned out but really opening your bullet point with words such as led, sold, developed, managed etc. really does sound better. Not only is it succinct which gives you more space to talk about your awesome self but some companies scan for these words so if your CVs littered with them then you’re more than likely to get the interview. This does NOT mean you cover your CV with white buzzwords, that’s not cool. However, do put them in everywhere you can, like liaised, I like that word, I’ll liaise with your dog if it looked good on my CV but just make sure it looks neat, succinct and paints you in your best light.

3.    Brag, brag, brag.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a job, brag about everything you do, you’re an awesome individual. My boyfriend has (as of time of writing) never had a job but he has a CV chock full of his experiences. All the silly things you put off such as that charity abseil all count at showing your dedication, your motivation, really anything. Work with your church put it in, in the case of my boyfriend it was his leadership at Scouts. Things you don’t think about are CV worthy. Just brag and make an impact on those two pages.