Your CV is a very important tool when looking to secure a new job. It is what sells you to potential employers and what helps them to decide whether they want to meet you or not.

Your CV should be well presented and neatly laid out. It should also hold as much relevant information about your self as possible. Make sure you choose a presentable font which is easily read and looks tidy.

You should aim to keep your CV to two A4 pages which means you will have to be pretty ruthless with what information stays in. Give only enough information under each section to whet the reader's appetite and make them want to ask more questions at an interview.

Below is a basic template of how a CV should be laid out and also examples of what information should be included and in which order.

Name:
Address:
Contact Numbers: (home and mobile)
Email:
DOB: (optional)
Marital Status: (optinal)


Your personal statement should be 2 or 3 sentences which describes you, your current situation, your career goals and a quick summary of why you are qualified to achieve them. This is a very important section of the CV as it will catch their eye and should make them want to read on with much interest. This may also be something that you can easily tailor to each individual job application.


List here any relevant school, college or university qualifications for example; GCSE’s, O Levels, A Levels, NVQ’s, HND’s, GNVQ’s or Degrees. Also list what schools, colleges or universities you obtained your qualifications from as well as the start and finish dates you attended.

Although this is an important section, take care to keep it brief and relevant. For example, if you have a degree, simply listing your GCSE’s and A levels is probably sufficient.

If your degree or other qualification is directly relevant to the job you are applying for then please elaborate with further details.


This is the section where you would list any previous employments, including any part time or temporary work. List the employer/company you worked for, your job title, level of responsibility and a brief outline of what your job entailed.

If you have been working for a number of years you probably do not need to include any part-time jobs, vacation jobs, voluntary work or unpaid work experience. Charity work could be included in your interests. However you might want to include these jobs if they covered a period of unemployment, or a time when you were not working for any other reason, or you feel that some of the experience you gained will be useful in your next job. You should normally concentrate on your two most recent jobs (unless you were only there for a short time), because employers are usually most interested in these.

It is important to start with your most recent job and work backwards as this keeps the most relevant information at the top of your CV.


Here you should list any other qualifications and experience you have, including any professional development or involvement with clubs, association or professional institutions. Examples of this could be RYA qualifications or any logged sea miles. You could also list other skills such as computer programs you've used or any languages you've had experience with.


List here any hobbies or interests you may have. You can include things like sporting activities, weekend interests or even any life aims or goals you may have. Try to keep this fairly brief but use it to paint a picture of what you are like as a person.


This is the last section of your CV. You should ideally list 2 referees. A referee is someone who your potential employer can contact to find out a bit more about you, your personality and/or what you are like to work with. You can list an employment referee; this can be an old manager or senior work colleague. You can also list a personal referee; this could be a friend of the family. If you are going to use one personal referee we suggest you include 2 further employment referees. Alternatively you can just list 2 employment referees.


You should now have a great looking, well laid out CV which is going to catch the eye of some fantastic potential new employers and land you your dream job!