In the workplace you
need to strike the balance of being confident in yourself but not arrogant, but
also have confidence in your colleagues and the company you work for.
· Make the most of
university life and extra-curricular activities to develop your general skills.
· Plan early to get
relevant work experience and voluntary work which will give you transferable
that will make you work ready: have something lined up for each vacation, and
get ready for formal placement and internship applications at the beginning of
your second year.
· Religiously record
the skills you gain and work experience activities you do so that you can pull
out good examples on applications and in interviews. If you want to identify
your key strengths (and weaknesses you need to work on) sign in and use our
free careers report tool.
· Network! Use family,
friends and contacts to get work experience and to find out more about career
areas that interest you.
· Visit careers
service: find out whether it runs any employability skills sessions; sign up
for relevant courses and workshops; get help from a careers adviser to write a
CV that really showcases your competences and abilities.
· Take advantage of
careers fairs and employer presentations: talk direct to recruiters to find out
what they look for.
· Always do your
homework before applying for jobs. Employer research will help you identify the
skills and competences a particular organisation places most emphasis on. In
turn, you can tailor your application so that it stands out.
You need to
write only those skills that match with your job: There is a possibility that you are
multi-skilled person that possess numerous qualities. But there is no need to
jot down about each and every quality of yours. You have to write only about
those skill set that matches perfectly with the job vacancy you are targeting.
This much information can be nicely presented.
Activities/
Interests
· Choose
subheadings relevant in job sought (e.g. liaison/organization, communications,
teamwork)
· Indicate
scope of activity, results achieved and your contribution.
· Explain
any obscure references e.g. ‘Blood Donor Club’
· Don’t
list too many ‘passive’ Pursuits (Films, Reading) etc.
· Travel:
employers value experience of other cultures: indicate countries visited and
extent of familiarity with them.
Publications
If
your publications can make or break your chances of getting hired, list them on
a separate document or separate page and attach that document to your
application. Mention the attachment in your cover letter. Title the document
with your name followed by “Publications” or “Recent Publications.” Then list
each published project by the title of your work, followed by the venue that
published you (including the edition if the outlet is a book, and the volume
and issue if the outlet is a professional journal) and then the date. If you’ve
been published online, list the title, the venue, and the date, and attach a
URL.
If
you’d rather not list each individual publication, but you want your reviewer
to know that you do, in fact, have formal publications to support your claims
of expertise, add a new subheading to your resume titled “Publications.” Insert
this subheading between your “Education” and “Work History” section. Choose
your five most impressive titles or venues and list them separately.
If
your publications will only be a minor selling feature to employers in your
field, express yourself in paragraph form, as in: “My work has been featured in
Knowledge Magazine, The Popular Review, Information Weekly, and the Quarterly
Journal.” Insert this paragraph below your work history, or include it in your
Accomplishments section.
References
The References section on your CV is a vital part which
cannot be entirely omitted. Do your references communicate in a positive
way? Think back to your reviews. Did they focus on the positive or the
negative? Even if all of the reference letters
are positive, you don’t need to include them all. References in your CV should
be limited to two or three names.
A strong reference
will fit all of the following criteria: Knowledge of your work. A strong
reference will be one who has worked directly with you for at least six months,
if not several years, and who can speak in-depth about your skills and
accomplishments. And, of course, this should be someone who liked you.
Articulate. You’ve worked with your references long enough (hopefully) to know
if they communicate well. If they sound ditzy or speak with terrible grammar,
they may not inspire confidence when they speak about your intelligence. You
want someone who can elaborate just the right amount and can cite concrete
examples.
Look
at your reference list carefully to decide which ones are best for you to
include in your CV or resume. After you decide which references in your CV or
resume will work best, take the time to call each person. Thank them for
writing the letter and ask if it is alright for you to give out their contact
information. Also ask what phone number and email they prefer to use.
If you have personal
differences with your current boss, this will likely not present an issue. A
prospective company should never call your current company without your
permission. If you have had the experience of working with top
executives in your industry, mentioning their names in your CV might help you
gain some credibility. Apart from mentioning them in your CV, you can also ask
them for a reference.
You do not need to provide the same
references for every job. In fact, if you’re applying for a variety of roles,
you should vary your references, depending on the skills required.
Benefits of including references on your CV
· Your reference may be a respectable and well-known person
which would impress the reader;
· It makes life easier for the employers; they can instantly
‘check you out’;
· It fills up the empty space and makes your CV look complete
and finished;
· It gives your CV a little more ‘weight’; that you are
confident and that you have nothing to hide.
Who Makes a Strong Reference?
One of your references should be
your current or previous employer, the second referee can be any person who
knows you well. They can be your:
· Previous employer
· Current employer
· Manager
· Supervisor
· Teacher / Tutor / Lecturer
· Coach
· Member of clergy
· Community Leader
The
following are some good attributes that your references should have:
· Clear and well-spoken
· Friendly and engaging
· Authoritative and professional
Following the steps
below will ensure you a much stronger reference, and will earn the appreciation
of everyone involved as well.
·
Ask
permission. Every time you distribute a reference’s name, you need to ask the
reference’s permission and confirm the contact information. The reference might
have moved on, or he might simply be traveling and prefer to be contacted on
his personal phone or e-mail.
·
Describe
the position. Tell your reference about the position. Refresh their memory.
Your reference might have forgotten about some of your greatest
accomplishments. Remind her of what your responsibilities were, what your
accomplishments were, how you accomplished them, and Cover Letters and
References.
·
What
your greatest challenges were. At a minimum, if your reference would be
expected to know about some of your accomplishments listed on your CV, make
sure to discuss the details of these with him/her. Update them. If you’ve taken
any additional courses or had any significant experiences, describe these to
your reference. These may come in handy.
·
Suggest
areas to emphasize. While you can never ask your reference to lie, offering
suggestions on areas to stress is acceptable and even helpful. If you want to make
sure that the caller knows that you’re a strong negotiator, you can mention
this to your contact.
·
Discuss
the bad stuff. Your reference will almost surely be asked for your weaknesses
or for examples of mistakes you’ve made. Although this can be awkward to
discuss, it’s better to do so now than for your reference to have to make
something up on the spot. You can mention a few different topics, and let her
decide what to discuss.
· Follow up. Thank your
reference for his assistance, and make sure to follow up with him about what
happens. This conversation should ideally happen over the phone. If so, you
should follow up with an e-mail reiterating the major topics, and reminding
your reference of the company name and position. Problems with References: What
Can Go Wrong If you seem to lose the job offer just past the reference-checking
stage, your references may (or may not) be the culprit. How will you ever know?
I’ll leave it to you to analyze the ethics of this, but some candidates have
engaged friends to call references and investigate these concerns.
For each
of your referees include the following details:
· Full name
· Title/position
· (Work) Address
· Telephone number
· Email address
Yes, it is true that having
references on your CV can have some advantages. But (and this is a very
big but) the disadvantages are far greater than its advantages.
· References at this early stage of the application process
are irrelevant
· It takes up valuable space which can be used for other more
useful things
· It could raise more questions if you cannot include your
current/previous Employer
· References can be provided upon request, hence; ‘Available
upon request.’
· It can take up a lot of time to find references, ask their
personal details and ask for their permission to use their details on your CV,
etc.
The
Internet has made it easier than ever for employers to check your references.
Companies no longer have to wait until they have finished interviewing to begin
investigating. Many job applications now request that you include your
references in your resume. Even if they don’t, it’s always a good idea to have
them ready to go so you aren’t surprised with a request during an
interview.
When you select your
references, think about what skills are most important to a new position. Your
references could come from a number of sources, including peers, mentors,
vendors, or even customers. Your most recent supervisor is often the best
reference if you’ve left the company and did so on good terms. In fact, not
offering this person as a reference will often raise red flags.
A more direct
approach is to just ask your references to run them through what they’ve been
asked, and what their responses have been. Encourage them to be open about the
negative things as well, because, after all, a 100 percent positive review is
never credible.
The following image shows
a good example of how a References section on your CV should look
like:
REFEREES
Prof David
Thomas, Prof
John Townsend,
Dept. Plant
Sciences, Oxford University, Nottingham
University,
Tel. 01865 673124
Tel.
01509 443675
david.thomas@plants.ox.ac.uk
john.townsend@notts.ac.uk
CV TIPS
Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors
A
grammar error or misspelling can stand out like a sore thumb and tell the
employer that you’re careless. Employers do look for mistakes on CVs and if
they find them, it makes you look really bad. With most employers experiencing
massive volumes of applicants right now, giving them the excuse to dismiss your
application because of avoidable errors is not going to help you secure an
interview. Many employers will discard CVs if they spot a spelling mistake
or grammatical error remember, if they've got hundreds to go through, they'll
be looking for ways to filter them down. Luckily, these mistakes are easily
avoidable. Spell check, but don’t rely on spell check to do all of the work for
you.
Take
the extra time to re-read your CV several times or have an English major friend
look it over for you. It’s easy to miss even big, embarrassing mistakes when
you’ve been looking at your CV for too long.
Formatting and fonts
You
want your CV to stand out, but there is such a thing as standing out in a bad
way. You may think it’s creative to use 6 different fonts and colors, but that
kind of creativity tends to just look clumsy. Avoid too many font types and
steer clear of font sizes that are too big or too small. Small fonts may help
you keep your CV to one page.
Use
white space and bullets to make your CV format easy on the eye. Use of bullets
can also ensure better reader comprehension when visually scanned. Leave
comfortable margins on the page and make sure that everything is neatly
aligned. Look neat. Look smart. Also, avoid using weird colors, weird
formats or weird paper stock. Your CV should be simple and elegant. Go
minimalist and let the words speak for themselves.
Clean, Professional,
Concise and Use appropriate font sizes, Highlight your contact
information. Ensure that your contact details, especially your email address
and phone number are correct and clearly listed. Make sure that that your fonts
are big enough and are clearly readable. Preferably use 12pt - 14pt font for
the body and 24pt - 30pt font for headings. Use italics and boldfacing to add
emphasis, Use italics and boldfacing moderately to make certain sections more
evident. Refrain from underlining text as it makes your CV lose some visual
clarity. Your
margins should ideally be one inch, but certainly no less than 0.75 inch. Use a
standard font, like Times New Roman or Arial, and don’t use fonts smaller than
10 pt. Comic Sans is never acceptable. Never use all uppercase
letters, Use serif fonts if possible. Here is a list of some common serif fonts
-
• Century Schoolbook
• Courier
• Times New Roman
• Times
If
you’re presenting a hard copy of your CV in person, make sure it doesn’t look
like it was just pulled out of the trash can (or it’s very likely to end up back in the
circular file).
Having a multipage CV
does not make you look more experienced it just makes you look less concise.
You should keep your CV to one page if you have less than 10 years of
experience, and two pages if you have more. You really don’t need more space
than that it won’t win you any favors.
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