CV Writing Basics

So you'd like to move on and change your job?

Or, maybe you're fresh out of college and new to the job market entirely?

Think you can just get by borrowing a friend's CV and doing a sneaky cut-and-paste job with your details ?

"Surely not!"

CV writing is an art. CV writing is a science. CV writing isn't as easy as you think.

Then again - it's not rocket science.

There are, however, certain rules, traditions and tested techniques to learn and employ when putting together a CV. Writing a successful CV takes a great deal of time (unless you get a cv writing service to do it for you.) So, if you're going to spend all that time researching and writing, you should prepare yourself properly and get to grips with a few ground rules.

CV Writing Basics

There are many different styles of CV - the chronological CV, the functional CV, the combined format CV, the skills-based CV, the structured interview CV, the skills-based CV....

(I could go on. But for your sake I won't.)

All of these differing CV formats, very different though some of them appear, share certain standard features which you should always include. Not only should these elements always be included, they should always be included in a particular way.

CV Structure (Part 1) - Name, Address, Contact Details

Your name should always appear at the very head of your CV and always in a text size larger than any other font size employed elsewhere on your CV. From a stylistic point of view, aligning your name to the left or centre works best. This is not because right-aligning your name on the page looks wrong in any absolute way, just that recruiters are usually conservative in terms of what they expect to encounter on a CV.

The name you give on your CV should be the one you use normally, as opposed to your full formal name (unless your full formal corresponds to what you normally use). For example, if your full formal name is Alexander James Charles Smith, but you refer to yourself normally as Alex Smith, then you should use the latter name. Don't refer to yourself as Mr, Mrs, Ms or similar. The only instance when this would be acceptable is when your name makes it ambiguous what your gender is. Even then you should place brackets around the Mr or Ms or Mrs bit. Better still just add a one line entry in your personal information section - i.e.
Gender: Female

The only other titles you may want to include are professional titles such as Dr. or Professor. This kind of title may be placed before the name.

One last thing on titles - only consider using them where you are sure that doing so will be to your advantage. If you have a PhD but you're trying to line up a job in a call centre (for whatever reason) you'd be better advised not to head up you CV with the Dr. abbrevation before your name.

Addresses

Whilst it is not set in stone anywhere (I don't believe there are a Ten Commandments of CV Writing - but maybe there should be) including your address immediately beneath your name at the head of your CV is a good idea. Like this:

It's important that all elements of your CV are immediately identifiable and that includes your contact details. The norm is to present these on the first page and consequently recruiters will naturally look there to find them. It may appear a trivial matter, but a stressed out recruiter with a position to fill and a sack load of CVs to analyse, may well become riled by something as banal as not being able to immediately find your email address.

These days a recruiter may not ever make use of your full postal address, contacting you only by email or by 'phone. Nonetheless, don't make assumptions - not every employer is the same and if they do want to post candidates invitations to interview or further information, they'll be baffled by the absence of an address. So much so that they will probably discard your CV. You must therefore include a full postal address.

After all - they'll need somewhere to send the contract once you land the job, right?

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