Have a strong opening line to attract this attention, a banner of two to three lines that summarises your main selling points. It should make the reader want to find out more. You must write your own profile - using words and phrases that you are comfortable with.

The employer needs to know where you are and how you can be contacted.

• You may or may not want to include your marital status and details of children in your CV. Some employers like to know this information, if you would need to move home or travel with the role.
• Depending on the job it may be worth noting that you are a driver/own a car/have a clean licence or that you are a non-smoker.

• Formal education includes school from the age of 11 and any college courses such as apprenticeships or day release.
• Other training includes any other courses taken since leaving school either at work or outside. These may or may not have led to a qualification.
• Include details of where and when you studied (the year will do, don’t worry about exact dates).
• This information tells the employer about your level of skills, knowledge, ability and motivation. For example have you studied recently?
• Don’t worry if you don’t have any qualifications, they are not always relevant.

• Starting with your most recent job.
• Dates - years and possibly months only, no need to include days.
• Make sure that there are no major gaps in your history. If you were unemployed, or spent time working at home as a housewife/husband, include details. The employer will be suspicious of any gaps, even if you have perfectly good reasons for them.
• For these periods highlight any skills gained, eg household budgeting, involvement in community or school activities.
• Duties and responsibilities are what you have done. Write down all you can think of at this stage and decide later how relevant it is.
• Achievements show how well you have carried out your duties and what benefit they were to the employer. you are trying to make the employer think if they can do that for one company, they can do the same for me.
• Quantify achievements where you can eg "devised a system which reduced down-time from around three hours to one hours, saving the company on average £10,000 per month."
• The employer is interested about your most recent experience, not that earlier in your working career.

• Reading books and television probably won’t add much to the impression that the employer has of you.
• Most employers like to see a balance between physical, mental, and individual activity. But don’t put so much down there that they may wonder that you have time to work.
• Be honest about your hobbies - as you may be asked at interview to expand (the interviewer may be an expert in that particular area you have chosen to impress).
• Avoid putting down hobbies that may be viewed as controversial eg blood sports. Employers may have their own prejudices/views and rightly or wrongly react against this.

This is the information that you want to include, but which doesn’t appear anywhere else (eg any languages you are fluent in, a round the world trip, some special achievement outside of work).

It used to be common to put references on a CV but nowadays it is more common to mention them in a covering letter - "References available upon request". It is usual for employers to ask for two references, one from your current employer and one from your last. Make sure you ask the referees if they mind being contacted.

There are no rules about what should go where, but here are some suggestions:

• The CV must be easy to read and understandable - leave plenty of space and make the different sections easy to pick out.
• Your name, address and phone number should be at the top.
• If you are including a Profile this will be next.
• Employment record can be shown in different ways.

• Your jobs should appear with the most recent at the top, then working back to your first job after leaving school.
• Your actual experience and skills gained can then either be entered under the appropriate job title, or in a separate section. In this case, the list of jobs will only be a short summary.

• You can use the layout to draw attention to key information and play down those points which are not so important for the job in question. For instance:

• You can make your selling points stand out by putting a box round them or using a more noticeable typeface.
• If there are parts which are less impressive, e.g. if you have very few qualifications, you might want to make that section less obvious by putting it later on in the CV, perhaps on the second page.
• If you are worried about your age (young or old) or marital status you might find it more helpful to leave these towards the end.

• Keep it brief - one or two pages is best, three is just about OK, four is too long
• Use plain English - short words and sentences
• Tell the truth
• Use positive language
• Make sure there are no major gaps in your history
• Avoid jargon - use titles and descriptions which can be understood outside your industry
• Check, check and check again - spelling, dates, spacing, grammar etc
• It is vital that your CV is neat and accurate
• It always pays to have someone else look it over for you
• If you find any errors, start again. Corrections will create a bad impression
• Have it typed or printed
• Use good quality paper - A4, plain white, one side only
• A4 sized envelopes, so you don’t have to fold it. A piece of card will stop it being bent in the post.
• Always send a covering letter with your CV

Remember when you are sending a CV, an employer may only have a very short period of time to look over it. It is important therefore that you use the covering letter to highlight the importanrt selling points. This will be achieved by focusing on the essential and desirable characteristics that the employer is looking for.

• Keep it short, concise and interesting.
• Type it unless specified in the job advert.
• Use plain white, unlined paper to match you CV, ideally good quality paper.
• Address it to a named person when possible.
• Start by saying where you saw the advert and why you want the job.
• Match three or four of your key assets with the qualities asked for in the advert.
• Show some knowledge of the company.
• Get a second pair of eyes to read and check the letter.
• Copy it before posting.
• Post it in a n A4 sized envelope (a piece of card to stop it being bent in the post is ideal).

It’s a selling document - so sell yourself!

Make sure the CV shows you up in your best light.

Ask yourself - if you only had 30 seconds to read it, what impression would your CV give? Am I doing myself justice? Will it sell me to the employer? Be proud of your skills and achievements.