How To Write Your First Ever CV

You might think it's a pretty daunting task, writing your first ever CV - but don't panic. As long as you cover the basics, get in some good general information and learn to tailor your CV for each position then you'll find it a breeze.The Basics

There are some basic rules to the CV, it should be no longer than two pages, but don't worry if it's just one page to start off with. It should look neat and be checked, double checked and triple checked (by different people) for spelling and grammatical inaccuracies.

Biographical information - name, age, qualifications achieved. Do you have a driving licence?

Relevant experience - see the section on tailoring your CV below.

Personal statement - these are optional but sometimes people like to spend a paragraph saying who they are and what they're hoping to achieve - the key here is to communicate your passion - the employer should be impressed with your energy and vitality.

Referees - these are people (usually employers or perhaps suitable teachers) who are willing (you should ask them first) to say some nice words about you.

General Information To Get In

Employers won't be expecting a great deal of information about what you've done, but they'll still be very interested to know who you areif you:

• Have a good sense of responsibility

• Are reliable

• Can demonstrate a good work ethic

• Can work within a team

• Have good communication skills

• Have good interpersonal skills

• Have good time-management skills - and that includes punctuality.

Have a good sense of responsibility

Are reliable

Can demonstrate a good work ethic

Can work within a team

Have good communication skills

Have good interpersonal skills

Have good time-management skills - and that includes punctuality.

If you can show you're that kind of person in your CV, you're halfway to your first interview. But halfway isn't good enough, so now you need to go through what your future employer is telling you about the position on offer.

Tailoring your CV

Look for clues about how you can position yourself as the ideal candidate for the job. What kind of skills do they say they're looking for? Once you've identified those, now's the time to think back to a time when you've used each of them in any kind of situation.

For example, if your future employer is looking for someone who's capable of handling cash, you should describe the time you were helping out on a stall at the school summer fete, so they know you've got the experience they're looking for. If you can add to that some kind of related accomplishment like re-counting all the coins to confirm how much that stall raised, so much the better because it gives the employer a clearer idea of your capabilities.

If they're looking for someone who can make sure people do what they're supposed to be doing, say how you were regularly called on to keep the class in order when you were a prefect, and how you got everybody to stay quiet and finish their classwork before the teacher returned.

OK, so that might come under the heading of fantasy, but the trick is to give an example of achieving positive results using the skills employers are looking for.

In short, you need to tailor your first CV to the employer's requirements by researching the role, listing the qualifications, skills and talents you have that the role requires and saying what you achieved with them. This way, you’ll create the CV that tells your soon-to-be employer you’re exactly the person they’re looking for.

Put all of that together and you should have a targeted document which explains exactly who you are and why they'd be crazy not to employ you...