Writing a CV from scratch can feel somewhat daunting, so at StackHire we’ve put together our 12 top tips to help you create a CV that gets you interviews. By utilising these tips, you’ll no doubt increase your chance of securing an interview for your dream job!
Choose the Right Format:
Use a clean, professional format with clear headings and bullet points. We find clients like to digest information in the following order, so writing the CV in this format works well:
Contact Information
Personal Profile
Key Skills
Career History
Academic Background / Certifications
Hobbies & Interests
We’ve added a basic template in a link at the bottom to help!
Contact Information:
Include your full name, phone number, email address, and a link to your LinkedIn profile, if you have one.
Your contact information should also include where you are based, or where you are looking for work. There’s no need to put your full address on the CV, but we do need to know where you want to work!
Personal Profile:
Write a brief, targeted personal profile or objective statement that highlights your career goals and what you can bring to the employer. This is a great opportunity to personalise your CV towards the role you are applying for! Aim for one long paragraph or two shorter paragraphs for this section.
Highlight your key skills
This is so important for technical and professional roles. It should include a list of your main skills you have which are applicable to the role you are applying for. The best CV’s we see have a list of 5-7 Key Skills, with a very brief description to compliment each one.
Tailor Your CV:
Customise your CV for each job application by emphasising the most relevant skills and experiences. Most people have a generic CV they use for each role, but by tailoring your CV slightly for each one, you’ll significantly improve your chances of securing an interview.
Use keywords from the job description to show how you align with the job requirements.
Career History / Experience
Start with the most recent role, and work backwards!
There’s no rules for creating a CV, but we’ve found clients prefer to see the following information about each role:
Company
Dates of Employment
Job Title
A short paragraph outlining the most important element of your role
Key responsibilities (3-5 bullet points is ideal)
Key Achievements (1-2 bullet points is ideal)
The above is ideal for all recent roles. If you have had a long career, then we recommend condensing the above for any roles over 7-10 years ago.
Education:
Mention your highest level of education first, including the course, grade achieved, institution, graduation date, and any relevant honours or awards.
For recent Graduates looking to create a CV that gets you interviews, add more information here about the module you studied and individual module grades if applicable to the role you are applying for.
Use Action Verbs:
Start bullet points with strong action verbs (e.g., “Managed,” “Developed,” “Led”) to describe your accomplishments. Always quantify achievements with statistics too!
Keep it Concise:
Aim for a CV length of 2 pages, focusing on the most important and relevant information. For fresh Graduates, 1 page will often suffice. For those who have had longer careers, or contractors, we advise staying within 3 pages.
Proofread and Edit:
Check for grammatical errors, typos, and formatting issues. Small things like everything being in the same font and uniform colours really do make a difference!
For some, this can be challenging. At StackHire we will always help you with this should you need it.
References:
It’s not necessary to include references on your CV. You can provide them separately when asked during the interview process.
Hobbies & Interests:
This is a big topic for debate among Recruiters. Many err on the side of leaving them out, but we firmly believe that any interesting hobbies or interests you have can spark a mutual interest with a potential employer.
It’s completely up to you though, but it’s a good opportunity for you to stand out to the client.
If you need some additional help, our CV template can be found here. If you can’t quite put together what you want, then get in touch with us and we’ll happily help you create a CV that gets you interviews.
