Writing a CV can be daunting and especially hard to know where to start. Striking the right balance between composing a concise CV while at the same time making sure you’ve included enough information to meet recruiter requirements can be especially tough. I’ve picked up a few tips with my own CV composition that I’d like to share with you. This guide aims to provide an overview of the most important aspects to focus so you can make your CV stand out when applying for graduate jobs. If you have an existing CV that you’re happy with these tips should also help serve as a CV checklist to make sure you’re hitting all the relevant points before sending your CV off to apply for graduate positions. My 5 CV tips are as follows.

1. Format your CV

Make sure the layout of your CV is in order with the relevant content for each topic underneath. A suggested flowing format for your CV is to start with contact information followed by a personal statement and then include your education, skills, hobbies and additional information such as certifications. In addition to the flow of your content, make sure your CV is clearly presented so that your it is easy to read and the information is easy for the viewer to extract from the page. A simple presentation format such as using a readable font and having clear headings and bullet points can help to simply convey your experience.

2. A Tailored Personal Statement

Make sure you compose a strong personal statement as it provides an insight into why you are applying for the job and why you’re suitable for the role. Personal statements also help the employer get a sense of the candidate that's applying for the role. Tailor your personal statement to the individual role and company you're applying for to show the recruiter why it is that you want that specific job and to work for that particular company.

3. Coherent, Concise and Compound

Keep your CV concise and to the point. Make sure to only include the most relevant information. Tailor your CV to the type of job you’re applying for. Your looking for CV efficiency and any waffle should be excluded from CV. Strong detailed sentences should express why your suitable for the graduate job you’re applying for.

4. Emphasise your skills and achievements

Employers want to see what skills you have and how they’re relevant and transferable to the job you're applying for. Specifically, employers like to see how you've used your skills to achieve attainable results. These skills could be demonstrated be talking about a successful college project you were part of or talk about a part time job where you achieved measurable results.

5. Proofread, proofread and proofread!

Proofread your CV numerous times and scan with forensic detail for grammatical errors. Simple avoidable errors like typos will retrain you from entering into the next round of the recruitment process. It would be a shame to let slip up in such a simple way especially after spending swathes of time, effort and thought building and preparing your CV. Once you’re happy with your CV you should get someone with professional experience to look over it and provide feedback on the it. Getting an external individual to review your CV will put a fresh pair of eyes on the document to see what areas can be improved.

A final note

Your CV is the starting point to launching a successful career. Hopefully these tips help refine any areas you’ve have difficulty with, or they have provided some fresh points for consideration. Remember to take your time to go through each section of your CV and even use a checklist to make sure all the important areas are covered.