Candidates - CV Preparation


Getting the right structure and content of your cv is essential as it is your first opportunity to make a strong impression and promote yourself to a potential employer.

Your cv should be objective, factual and will include the following information:

  • Full name, address and contact details
  • Nationality
  • Education including academics, dates and where you studied
  • Professional qualifications including where and when they were obtained
  • IT skills and qualifications
  • Languages
  • A short profile providing a summary of the experience you possess and achievements which you feel are relevant to the vacancy you are applying for. This can be adapted to each individual job application
  • Career history including dates (months and years), job title, responsibilities and key achievements
  • Marketing - always include any relevant marketing/client events attended or involved in
  • Hobbies and interests
  • Potential employers will wish to see consistency of employment and as a consequence, you should include clear dates of the time you have spent in previous roles, covering any gaps such as periods of unemployment, sabbaticals, travelling etc.

You should include the title of your role together with a list of your duties and responsibilities for each period of employment, starting with your most recent role first. Listing responsibilities in bullet point format works extremely well and will enable you to summarise key points which you wish to draw to the attention of the reader. It is also important to highlight key achievements and successes you have had in each role.

Identify the areas of work in which you have experience, including technical detail and where possible, provide examples. This will also give you an excellent opportunity to prepare for competency based questions which regularly arise at interview stage.
The hobbies and interests section of a cv can often be overlooked, but it is important to provide the interviewer with a subject matter other than work, to enable them to establish your suitability in terms of cultural fit into their team.


Never include false information in your cv and always check it for spelling, grammatical or typographical errors before submitting it to anyone.

Overall, ensure that you are confident in discussing the entire content of your cv and can comfortably answer any questions raised in relation to it.

One thing you can't recycle is wasted time - Anon