Your CV (Curriculum Vitae) will support your job application. Your skills, qualifications and work experience should be detailed in your CV.
Update your CV for each job application, as in this way you can give the most appropriate record of your employment.
Information in most CVs come under the following headings:
- Personal details
- Qualifications
- Work experience
- Skills and knowledge
- Specialisms
- Voluntary work and positions
- Languages
- Hobbies
- References
The order of information in a CV should run from the most recent to the earliest experience. This means that you need to start the list with your latest details. The CV should be clear and to the point and emphasis should be placed on those details which are relevant to the job application in question. Just as with your actual job application, it is also good practice to let somebody else read your CV through before you send it off. Maximum recommended length of a CV is two (A4) sheets.
When listing work experience, the young job seeker should mention every relevant job even if it entails no more than cutting the neighbour’s lawn or baby-sitting. If applicants are too young to have a long history of employment, everything they have done will certainly be taken into account. If you have been active in any school or college body or club, you could mention this under the heading of voluntary work and positions. If you have been involved in voluntary work or attended a language course, you should include these activities in your CV.
You could give the name of a former employer or a superviser, a work mate, a teacher or an instructor of any of your leisure activities as a reference. However, always remember beforehand to ask the persons concerned to give permission for their name to be used as reference.
The details in your CV must be true and correct. There should be no gaps in your work and educational history. If you had, for example, a gap year or two after leaving school, describe what you did during that time.
In addition to the job application and your CV, no further attachments, such as copies of certificates, should be submitted unless these have been specifically requested.
Your job application and CV become your personal advertisement: On the basis of these you will either be invited to a job interview or not. Therefore, it is worth your while to spend some time on these and to draft them carefully!