CV Tips

It is crucial that the CV represents you accurately and sells your main skills and attributes effectively. This is your main marketing tool, and based on your CV an employer will decide whether or not to interview you. If you are looking for interim positions, your CV may actually be enough to get you the job, but only if it is good enough. Therefore it is well worth spending a few hours of your time to get it right. When you register with Accountancy Recruitment Wales Ltd., we will meet you and give you advice on your CV if you so wish.

A typical CV may contain the following:

Heading

You do not necessarily need to spell out Curriculum Vitae at the top of your CV, but if you do spell it out, make sure you spell it correctly!

Personal Details

Put your name in a larger font at the top of the document, and if you have any letters after your name, don’t be afraid to use them. Include all methods of contacting you, including a mobile phone number and email address if you have them.

Personal Profile

Opinions vary as to the value of these, as they are notoriously difficult to write. However, when written correctly they can be a powerful, memorable summary of your key attributes. They can include information about your key achievements, worthy personality traits and your main ambitions.

Career History

Make sure that you start your career history on page one and that you begin with your current role and work backwards. How much detail to put in is a key question in CV writing. Opinions vary, and some people advocate that CVs should be no more than 2 sides long. However if you have had a diverse career, or if your jobs have been particularly varied then you may need to extend it to more pages. When deciding how much detail to put in, it is always worth writing down absolutely everything initially and then cutting it down. Leave anything which is relevant and which may be useful in obtaining a future role. Generally it is best to include too much detail rather than too little, as if you leave something off a CV then an employer will assume that you do not have the experience.

Always use bullet points for your career history, and avoid long paragraphs. If you have had any breaks in your career then make sure you spell out why. For example if you have been travelling, put a positive spin on it and make it sound interesting!

Finally, make sure that you think of a couple of key achievements for each role on your CV. If you are having difficulty in thinking of achievements or even of what you actually do day to day, then talk it over with someone. You may be surprised at the variety of duties involved in even a seemingly straightforward role.

Education

The amount of detail you put in this section depends on what level of role you are looking for: it’s not worth listing your GCSE grades if you are a Director of Finance. However, don’t be afraid to brag; if you achieved first time passes in your professional exams, spell it out! If you have been on relevant professional courses then list these also.

Further information

If you are particularly strong on IT for example, it may be worth listing the systems you are familiar with, and your level of competence in each. You could also include a section on ‘Hobbies and Interests’, especially if you have any interesting or unusual pastimes.

Make sure that your CV does not contain any spelling or typographical errors. Run one last spelling check on the document, and if possible get someone else to read through it – a fresh pair of eyes will often spot any lingering errors.

Finally, a note on appropriate fonts for CVs. It is important that you use a ‘serif’ font such as Garamond, or Cambria. These are easy to read and create a professional impression. ‘Serif’ fonts lead the eye horizontally, and are proven to be much more readable for longer documents. However, although it is a ‘Serif’ font, don’t use Times New Roman for a CV; it was designed to hold the attention of newspaper readers (i.e. it is suited to narrow columns with justified margins, not to a CV). Cambria was developed especially to be read on a screen, so it is a good font to use if emailing your CV.

‘Sans Serif’ fonts such as Arial, Kartika and Latha have their place in short headlines and captions, but not on a CV. They draw the eye vertically, and are difficult to read in longer bodies of text.

Now read through your CV one last time. Have you repeated yourself from job to job? Have you oversold yourself, or undersold yourself? Remember, it is worth spending a lot of time getting it perfect. Please feel free to contact us at Accountancy Recruitment Wales Ltd if you would like a second opinion.

ARWLtd

It has been a pleasure working with you

HR Manager, Gwent Valleys

Thank you Sue and Colin for all your help. Also for helping me get this job in the first place

CIMA Qualified Accountant, Torfaen

I recently had the pleasure of working with Sue and Colin at Accountancy Recruitment Wales and cannot recommend them highly enough

CIMA FC/FD, Cardiff Valleys