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Information, Advice and sources of support for young people in Suffolk
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Write a job worthy CV and Personal Statement

Posted on by Maddie Pawlowicz

A survey from the National Citizen Service has found that employers spend less than 9 seconds on average scanning a CV before moving on to the next.

And it isn’t just the top big businesses either – this was a big survey, with responses from 500 employers!

That means it’s more important than ever that your CV grabs an employer’s attention in those precious few seconds.

So how do you do it?

We have some great tips and advice to make sure your CV stands out from the rest.

It’s all about making it as easy as possible for the employer. Pick your most valuable skills and experiences for the job, and present them in a way that is easy to read with a clear structure.

Make your CV look good

  • Chunk it into sections by using paragraphs, headings and different font sizes – this is so much easier to read than a full page of writing without spaces. Bullet points also help.

Target your CV at each employer

  • There is no point sending out the same CV to loads of different companies – you need to adapt your CV to each job you are applying for.
  • You need to think about the skills that will be required for the job, and reflect these in your CV. This doesn’t mean you have to spend hours rewriting it from scratch with every job – just small tweaks here and there can make a huge difference!

Keep it short and sweet

  • Make sure your CV is kept to 1-2 A4 pages. Don’t ramble – only mention your experiences and skills that are relevant to the job.

Put your most recent experiences first

  • For example, if you are at college put that before secondary school.
  • If your employment or work experience is more relevant then put that before your education (especially if your education achievements aren’t something you want to shout about or not particularly relevant).

Include voluntary work

  • Voluntary work looks great to employers on your CV and makes you stand out, as well as adding to your work and life experience.
  • Have you thought about doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award? You can volunteer as part of the award, develop your skills, and go on fun expeditions!

For more advice on CV writing, have a look at these tips to make your CV stand out.

You can also check out these 10 CV mistakes to avoid when writing a CV.

If you haven’t written a CV before and aren’t sure where to begin, get started with our CV Builder.

“I need help writing my Personal Statement”

The personal statement is your first opportunity to grab an employer’s attention. What you want to do is demonstrate your skills, highlight what you’re good at, and what you will do for them:

  1. Aim to use no more than 50 words, making each sentence a key selling point.
  2. Don’t use the personal statement to explain what you’ve done, that’s what the education and employment history sections are for.
  3. Instead of just listing key skills e.g. communication, write a sentence about how you would you use that skill, “use my communication skills to build relationships with customers”.
  4. Tell them straight that you can help their business. Employers want to know what you will do for them.
  5. When you’re finished read it out loud to yourself. Imagine it was a television advert – would you buy the product? If the result is YES and you would continue reading the rest of the CV, then job done, you’ve created an excellent personal statement. 

Read the full article at Monster.co.uk

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