Time to update your CV?

Your CV is an advertisement and you are the product. Your goal is to get potential employers to buy into what you’re selling and polishing up your CV should be your first step when job hunting.

Employers are attracted to well-formatted CV's with attention-grabbing details. To stand out from the crowd, it’s important that you know what to add to your CV, to quickly demonstrate your abilities. Otherwise, it might get thrown into the “no” pile, before the hiring manager sees the full extent of your skillset.

When you finish your CV, don’t forget to write a matching Cover Letter and adapt each one to match the job description requirements, for every application you do. We have listed some tips and tricks to help guide you below:

• Tips for creating a NZ-style CV
• Free CV template
• CV templates and tips
• CV tips

CV FAQ's

What is a CV anyway?!?

CV stands for Curriculum Vitae. It's your Resume and shows an employer the great skills and experience you have, for their advertised job. The purpose of your CV is to get you an interview for that job, by demonstrating relevant information that they would be interested to know.

What’s in a CV?

Your CV should include:

1. Contact details
2. Personal statement
3. Skills and Attributes
4. Achievements and Qualifications (remember to include driving licenses and anything else appropriate/relevant)
5. Work and/or Volunteer history
6. Education history
7. Interests and Hobbies (optional, but preferable - remember you're an individual, not just an employee!)
8. Referees (two professional and personal referees, including their contact details - these shouldn't be friends or family)

What font should I use?

Use a clear font, 11 or 12 point size is good. Although it's good to be individual, if a recruiter has 80 CVs to look through, they might spend 20 seconds on each one, so make sure the font is easy to read!

My tourism role has been made redundant. How can I show I have transferable skills on my CV?

Think about all your career skills (reading your previous job descriptions may help). What skills could apply to a different role or industry? E.g. communication, leadership, problem-solving, interpersonal skills etc. Now look at online job sites like Seek or Indeed and see where your transferrable skills could apply to a job that appeals to you. You might want to discuss this with a career consultant.

How long or short should my CV be? I want to stand out to a future employer.

A good length is two pages. Any more and it’s just too much to read, any less is not usually enough to fully explain your skills. If you don't have enough work experience to fill two pages, you can include personal experience from hobbies, sports or volunteering, instead.

I don’t know what to write in the Personal Statement! I find it hard to talk about myself.

Try to make your personal statement sincere. Read it out loud to yourself, if you can’t easily write it down. It should be a short summary about yourself and 'sell' you to the employer. Try not to use common CV jargon such as loyal, energetic, hardworking, self-starter, team player etc. and don’t use abbreviations. Just talk about the skills and experience that you have, that match the job you’re going for and what goals you're hoping to achieve. About 50 words, or four lines is enough.

On my CV should I put my work history or education first?

Usually work history goes first, unless you have not worked before, because it's the most useful information for an employer to read. Make sure you list things chronologically, with the most recent experience first, as it's most relevant.

Are my previous jobs the most important part of my CV?

No, the most important part is the Skills and Attributes section, which should always be on the first page just under the Summary or Personal Objective section. This is where you list the skills and attributes you have that match the job you’re applying for.

The Skills section is the part the recruiter or employer looks at to see how well they match their job advertisement.

For more information contact Career Consultant Merrie McDougall - [email protected]

Writing a CV

An effective CV is your most important marketing tool and can be the difference between you getting an interview or not. You will need to write an accurate, easy to read and appropriate CV, yet ensure that it reflects your uniqueness, strengths and achievements, and encourages the reader to keep turning the pages. Try not to make your CV look exactly the same as everyone else's!

A CV is a chronological record of your employment history, achievements, skills, education and is historically based. It could be one of 50 to 100 in a pile to be read by a manager, recruiter or HR department. The reader often won't read every word and may only take 15 to 20 seconds to scan it and decide if it is worth further consideration.

Rules for writing a CV:

• The format should be easy to read and be able to be skimmed quickly; employers don't want to have to hunt for key information
• Formatting, font styles and sizes should be consistent, throughout
• Use of headings can organise the content
• 2 pages is optimal
• Single or 1.5 line spacing is recommended
• Use plain, simple language in a professional and business-like style
• Avoid jargon, abbreviations, brackets or any formatting which may distract from the content
• Use bullets points to emphasize important information
• Check for spelling and grammar, prior to sending
• If you print, use white, A4-sized paper
• There should be no title page or cover sheet
• Emailed versions are preferred by employers
• Make sure every word is positive and necessary
• Avoid blocks of solid text that are hard to read – 2 to 3 lines maximum

Front page:

Dispense with a cover sheet, don’t use photographs and, for paper-based copies, don’t use bindings and plastic covers. Your contact details should be on the front page and easily located. You are not required to include age, marital status, dependents etc. in NZ job applications. We recommend that all CV’s contain a skill or professional profile at the beginning of the document. There should be a summary of your core experience, skills and achievements that are most relevant to the job you are applying for.

Personal Statement, Profile Statement or Career Objective:

If this is included, it should be in the first section on the front page, under your personal contact details. It is not mandatory to include in a CV and you may opt to leave it out. The only time you should include one is where there is a strong and unique message such as just returned to NZ, leaving a prestigious job or organisation or just graduated etc.

If included, provide a brief one paragraph statement outlining the most significant statement about you to act as an incentive for the reader to keep reading. It could be significant achievements; what you believe you offer to a prospective employer or identification of your key career goal.

Examples:

A professionally qualified engineer with 10 years of local body experience, coupled with proven success as a manager. Enjoys motivating others, coaching and building strong teams. Seeking a challenging career progression where both technical and leadership skills can be fully utilised.

An experienced administrator with demonstrated skills in planning and organising systems, processes and people in busy local government contexts. Exceptional reputation for building highly productive relationships, accuracy, attention to detail and thriving on pressure.

I am an organised and dedicated employee, with excellent attention to detail and strong time management skills. I enjoy work that is challenging, interesting and allows me to take ownership. My current role is as a Team Leader in a busy Call Centre, working for ABC Company, a small energy company in Hawke's Bay.

Skill Profile or Professional Profile or Key Skills:

A skill or professional profile at the beginning of a CV is strongly recommended. This should be a summary of your core experience, skills and achievements that are most relevant to the types of jobs you are applying for. Some of these could change depending on the specific job you are applying for e.g. you may have a statement that relates to a specific industry. Try to keep each bullet point to 3 lines maximum.

Examples could be:

Training: Extensive experience in the preparation and delivery of technical product information seminars and attendance at local and international trade displays. Skilled in the provision of technical support to customers and staff.

Retail management: 4 years’ experience in all aspects of large store retail management for ABC Store including staff hiring and supervision, team building, performance management, operational management, merchandising and customer service management.

Specialist statements could include:

Sales support skills:

Budget management, pricing, preparing quotations, maintenance of customer records, correspondence, development of promotional materials

Marketing management:

Successful track record in marketing management roles including category management with specific experience in managing promotion, visual merchandising, space management and brand management. Demonstrated skills in the roll out of new retail store planning and implementation in core product categories.

Customer service focus:

A strong commitment to developing a retail culture and systems that genuinely focus on meeting and exceeding customer expectations. Extensive understanding of the New Zealand retail marketplace.

Team management skills:

Skilled in managing supervisors and teams of up to 40 employees. Excellent operational management skills including scheduling, rosters, working towards targets and handling customer service management issues. Skilled in all aspects of people management including recruitment, training, coaching.

Training & facilitation:

Exceptional skills, knowledge and experience in training need analysis, development of training programmes, selection of methodologies and preparation of learning resources and manuals. Programmes include xxx operational skills, induction, supervisory skills, competency assessment, mentoring etc.

Generic statements could include:

Communication and interpersonal:

Excellent verbal communication and interpersonal skills with extensive experience in presenting to large or small groups or working one on one with others. Skilled in quickly building rapport and relationships with people.

Personal attributes:

Highly autonomous and independent worker. Flexible and adaptable, works well within tams and is an efficient and effective time manager with a strong attention to detail.

Computer literacy:

Excellent keyboard and database management skills. Conversant in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SPSS

Employment History

• Include your history in reverse order i.e. current job first
• Use the present tense to describe your current job and then use past tense for all other jobs
• Include the name of your employing organisation, dates of employment and your job title, or titles
• If relevant, include the scope of the job e.g. budget responsibility, number of direct and indirect reports or the title of the person you reported to, if significant
• For each job, include the key aspects of the job – what you did and in a logical order
• Use an active verb to start each bullet point e.g. managing, leading, organising etc.
• There is general consensus that full employment information should be contained within a CV, i.e. all jobs of reasonable duration be included excluding the occasional 2/3 month contract between jobs or supplementary part-time work
• However, the general rule is to expand jobs that you have held in the last 10 years (if they are relevant to the one you are applying for) and just include employer, title and dates for the rest
• Do not include salary or reasons for leaving jobs
• If you have gaps in your employment you could show your job history in years rather than months and years, or state the reason for the gap e.g. travel, a sabbatical, childcare etc.
• Working long term for one employer? List all positions you have held to clearly show how your career has progressed within the business

Key Achievements:

An achievement is a job-related task, project outcome or goal that you have achieved over and above the targets and expectations defined in your job description. Achieved all my KPI’s is not an achievement – it is what you are paid to do. To impress the reader, you will need to quantify an achievement in some way, i.e. by over-achievement, within very tight timeframe or difficult or complex circumstances

• Managed a sales team that overachieved annual targets – is not impressive enough
• Managed a sales team of 10 that increased profits by 25% in the 2008 year, resulting in an increase in sales from $5 million to $6.7 million – is impressive

Education and Training:

This information should be included in chronological date order, with most recent first. Include the education or training provider, dates and course title or qualification. Include major and minor subject specialisations for tertiary qualifications. Use an appendix if you consider it to be critical to add a university transcript. If you have extensive data, then you can separate information into two sections of education that could include tertiary first and secondary second and then professional training.

Professional Associations, Awards, Voluntary Work and Memberships:

Include those that are related to your current or previous employment or add some important skills or experience to your profile.

Personal Interests:

This section should include your out of work recreational interests or voluntary work experience.

Referees:

You do not have to include names of your referees in your CV, you can state that they will be supplied on request. This gives you the opportunity to provide those most relevant to the role. You must remember to ask referees prior to listing them on your CV, whether they are happy to provide you with a reference. This way, they can prepare to be contacted, when you start applying for roles. Choose referees who will provide a positive review and do not choose friends or family members, they must be professional contacts; either an employer, coach or mentor (if you have no employment experience).