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Guide to Making a British CV

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I attended a seminar in January on “How to make a British CV” in Leeds University Union. This event was held by the Career Centre to teach students the correct way to create a standard British CV and cover letter. Before they focused on the main topic, the career centre shared these tips for job hunting:

  •  Make sure you enjoy the role details and environment of the job you are considering.
  •  Make sure to develop a network while working or volunteering, as professionals tend to work together.

CV is an abbreviation of Curriculum Vitae. It is a personal document that is filled with information including your personal detail, education, experiences, skills and interest. You use this to apply for jobs and any other opportunities, such as volunteering. This document is important as it shows your suitability for a role, hoping this document will encourage the employer to hire us. The cover letter on the other hand, is an optional document to be sent to the employer. It backs up the skills and experiences that have been mentioned in the CV in more detail.

Starting a CV is not easy, you must make it appealing so the employer will look it. On average, an employer will only look at your CV for 3 SECONDS. If it is interesting, then they will continue to read it. If it is not, they will move on to the next CV. But don’t worry! Following these tips will keep your CV interesting 🙂

The golden rules to make our CV appealing are:

  • Make it to the point! Do not exceed 2 pages (it is not an academic report), make it as brief yet still represent your experience in detail.
  • Keep it tidy! Headings must in parallel with each other, clear and differentiated (e.g. make them bold)

Did you know sometimes you can make different kinds of CVs? This includes a two-page CV, a one-page CV, and a skill-based CV. However, along with information on a cover letter, this seminar only discussed about the making a two-page CVs and a skill-based CV.

The British CV must contain (in order):

  1. Personal detail
  2. Personal profile
  3. Education history
  4. Work experience
  5. Additional experience (optional)
  6. Skills
  7. Interest and achievements
  8. Reference

Moreover, every skill that is mentioned must also be backed up with evidence of how we achieved that skills. For instance, when I mention time management and critical thinking skills in my British CV, I have included examples:

  • Time management: Able to divide time between working on school assignments, part-time job, society, and social life.
  • Critical Thinking: Criticise environment surrounding with knowledge

Let’s go through this in more detail…

Personal details:

  • Name: must be your full name.
  • Contact details: can be telephone number and email.
  • Professional social media (optional): LinkedIn, Twitter, Website, Blog.
  • Avoid: profile pictures- you must not include your picture in the personal detail section. This regulation is to avoid discriminatory in recruitment as employer might recruit people based on their looks. Other discriminatory data: age, marital status

Personal profile:

  • Highlight skills and experiences in a short paragraph, briefly write prove of those skills and experiences. Only use this for recruiters that doesn’t ask for cover letter.

Education

  • For fresh graduates and students, this must come first as this is the best and most recent experience. Consider the transferable skills you've gained as a student. Mention A-Levels/High school: you can mention the A-Level grades if it is relevant, remove after graduation. Be sure to align everything so it is relevant.
  • Avoid: mentioning bad grades – we determine what to include in our CV. Time gaps- employer might question that gap.

Work Experience

  • Format: Reverse chronological order (newest to oldest experiences)
  • Job title and timeline written in one line.
  • Use bullet points: bullet points are easier to be scanned than lines and keep to two sentences.
  • Put impressive experience- this does not have to be related to the specific role – every experience generates transferable skills.
  • Be selective on things that we include:
    • E.g. if I worked as a waitress, do not say “sweeping the floor” but say “hit the target by cleaning the restaurant in 20 minutes”
  • Use quantifiable information – justify our achievement or skills using countable things
    • E.g. for a retail employee, they can say “reduced costumer complaints by 60%

Volunteer (optional)

  • Although it is an optional section, volunteering shows employers passion about something although already gaining work experience. It is also useful for fresh graduates or students that do not have any work experience.

Other skills- should reflect your professional experience

  • Languages skills: only show this for an intended foreign country
  • IT: include if can use specific softwares
  • Avoid: Ms. Office skills (e.g. Ms. Word, Ms. Excel) because it is common knowledge now! Behavioural skills (e.g. communication skills, teamworking skills)

Interest and Achievements: this section is important in the UK as employer want to know a little bit more about you. State achievements that reflect well in the job, dedication and responsibilities undertaken well.

References

  • You do not need to add name, job title and address of referee. Only include them when we have a relevant person in that industry.
  • Just put “available on request”

All of the mentioned headings with explanation are for traditional 2 pages CV. However, if you have not got any work experience, you could boast your skills instead aka making a skill based CV! In this CV, you can mention all the skills in the work requirements and explain with experiences on how you gained those skills.

In the session, we also learned why some CVs rejected:
a. The CV is not tailored for the specific job
b. Initial impression: if it looks poor, it shows that we do not care.
c. Length: too short or too long CV are rejected.
d. Spell checks: misspelling might make employer think you are not competent.
e. Not Consistent: for instance, if we put “teamwork” in the beginning, we cannot use “team work” later on.
f. Negative things: must avoid every negative word. For instance, do not use I think. Use I can.

Now that the CVs have been covered…let’s move on to cover letter.
The format:
• Left align no central align
• My address: top right-hand side
• Corporate address: top left-hand side.
• Avoid chunky paragraphs.

Layout and content
1. Personal details – must have a unique selling point. Give a reason to why you are writing the cover letter and relate it to your current occupation.
2. Do research on the company and write what interests you about them
3. Mention why you are a good candidate for the role and the company
4. Quick summary – thank the recruiter and sign off.

TOP TIPS:
Do not be repetitive.
Link the company to values you have yourself.
Pick the best skills mentioned in your CV

That’s it! Now you can write the best CV and cover letter 😊
There are also examples of good traditional and skill based CV and cover letter in the career centre’s website which can be accessed here: http://careerweb.leeds.ac.uk 

Once you are a student, you can access many of the resources the career centre has including: 24/7 CV checking, private appointments and more workshops like this one!