CVs

It is tempting to rush straight into writing your CV but a couple of quick tasks before you begin may save you time in the long run and help you tailor your CV appropriately.

• Investigate the employer and the business sector. You should try to demonstrate your understanding of both of these throughout the application process. This is known as commercial awareness.
• Research what the employer is looking for. Start with the job description - what skills and experience are required? Demonstrate you have the experience and skills by using examples from your degree, previous jobs or internships and  extracurricular activities. 

Chronological and skills-based CVs

Which CV format should I use?

• If you have relevant work experience and especially if it’s with an employer relevant to the career you’re applying for then a chronological CV may work well.
• If you’ve got very little direct, relevant experience in the job you’re applying for, then a skills-based CV can be a good way to show how skills you’ve gained from other activities are transferable to the job you’re applying for.

CV for an international student

• CVs should be one or two pages long. CVs for academic roles may be longer - find out more on our Postgraduate Researcher website
• Some organisations will specify that they want a one-page CV, but it’s usually up to you to choose
• The Academic Language and Communication Skills (ALACS) team can support you with language choice, formality, sentence and paragraph structure, to help your application stand out
• Experience (including paid work, internships and volunteering.) gained outside of the UK is valid for a UK CV, just make sure that the experience is relevant

International student CV example

CV with little in-person experience as a result of the pandemic

During the pandemic, there were fewer opportunities for in-person internships, part-time jobs and volunteering experiences but online activities boomed. From these online activities, you will have developed a range of new skills, for example collaborating online and communicating using a range of new platforms.

We have created a CV and covering letter in response to a job vacancy to highlight how you can showcase your experience gained during the pandemic and skills developed. More on covering letters.

Job description 

Covering letter 

CV 

Other CV examples

LinkedIn profile - your digital CV

LinkedIn is a professional networking tool where you can connect with individuals, groups and companies. If you have a LinkedIn personal profile, you can showcase your experience, knowledge and skills and use it to contact others. It's basically your digital CV.  Find out more about LinkedIn and get advice from our team on creating your profile.

At first glance your CV needs to look impressive. It should appear neat and stylish and demonstrate that you have taken care to ensure excellent presentation.

• Always check spelling and grammar
• As a guide, a two-page CV is the accepted norm. However, some industries prefer shorter one-page CVs that are very concise, whereas an academic CV tends to be longer and can include more information
• Avoid a very text heavy appearance – be concise and use short bullet points, try not to use lengthy paragraphs
• Be consistent with formatting – emphasise headings by using a larger text size and/or bold. Choose font styles carefully, they should be easy to read. Align text neatly
• Use creativity with caution – it may be appropriate to introduce colour, graphics, or images when applying for certain roles and this can really help to get your CV noticed
• Try to draw attention to the most relevant items on your CV by locating them on the first page, by doing this an employer should be able to quickly see that you are a strong candidate and have the necessary attributes

Contact details

• No need to put a title to your CV. Just include your name, email and phone number as it’s obvious what the copy is
• Use a professional sounding email address and remember that your university email address will not be available after you graduate.
• Consider including links to your LinkedIn profile, personal blog, or professional Twitter page if the online content is appropriate.

Personal statement or career objective

If you decide to include a personal statement or career objective, then it should be a couple of sentences that states clearly who you are, what you have to offer and why you’re applying for the job or career area. 

Avoid cliché buzz words like hardworking and responsible – would anybody say they weren’t hardworking and responsible?

Education and qualifications 

List dates, institutions and overall grade with most recent education first.  If it’s relevant to the job you’re applying for, include details of:

• titles of relevant modules studied
• the title of your dissertation or a significant piece of work
• key academic or transferable skills gained
• work placements or industry experience included in the course
• any competitive scholarships or academic awards achieved

Employment history and work experience for a chronological CV

• Stress any work experience that is directly relevant first.  
• List the employer, location and dates and then bullet point your main responsibilities and key achievements.  
• If you have had a lot of general part-time work experience and are short of space on your CV, you could group these jobs together and list the key skills you feel you have gained. 

What if I don't have any experience?

• Make a list of all your activities such as your degree; any work or placement experience, spare time activities and sports
• Analyse the transferable skills you are gaining from these experiences and use them as examples for your CV. 
• Have a look at this blog post for some great ideas.
• You could book an appointment to talk about this with an adviser.  

Skills profile for a skills-based CV

• A skills profile lists the key skills needed for a specific job and gives examples from across your experience that shows you have these.
• From the job description, decide what the most important three to five key skills required are.

• Use these key skills as subheadings.

• Under each subheading give brief, bulleted, examples of how you’ve demonstrated this skill.

Additional qualifications and skills

Other qualifications such as language qualifications, IT skills, medical or first aid qualifications and having a driving licence could go in this section.

Additional achievements

You can include details of any other significant achievements but consider the relevance of these and suggest how your achievement can be transferred to another context. 

Positions of responsibility

If you include significant positions of responsibility, remember to consider the relevance of these and suggest how your experience can be used in another context. 

References

• On your CV you can either list your referees’ name, job title and contact details or state ‘References available on request.’  If you’re running short of space it’s not even crucial to do this as employers assume you will have referees available.
• Ideally have one academic referee and one from a work situation or a position of responsibility.  Make sure you have asked your referees and if you get an interview, let referees know and send them details of the job you have applied for.

Read our blog: References - What, Why, Who, When, Where

Sharing Information About Disability

Telling a perspective employer any information about a disability(s) is a personal choice. It is up to you if, when and how. If you are unsure at any stage, consider what would be the advantage of sharing at that point. If you decide that you want to, think about what would be most relevant for the employer to know at that specific stage of the recruitment process. For more information, see our page on applying with a disability

How you use language is important. You can dramatically strengthen your statements by using simple language techniques effectively.

Make verbs work for you

• Use active verbs rather than passive verbs. For example: I organised a programme of speakers, I motivated the team or I analysed research data
• Combine action verbs to further emphasise your achievements. For example: I researched alternative options and negotiated a better deal, I managed the project and delegated responsibilities to team members or I designed and implemented a new system
• Use the list of action verbs provided to ensure that you demonstrate a range of experience and abilities.
• Avoid weak verbs, for example: I tried to..,  I hoped to... or I attempted to...

Go to our list of action verbs

Add detail to your examples

Explain your contribution clearly by adding appropriate details. This will help to quantify the level of your actions and emphasise your achievements. For example:

• Increased sales by 25%
• I organised a charity ball for 150 guests and 12 VIPs
• I resolved customer enquiries efficiently by responding to all enquiries within 24 hours
• I achieved consistently positive feedback from customers; 85% ranked the service they received as excellent.

Cut the padding

Try not to use overly long sentences or lengthy paragraphs. It is important to be concise in order to quickly impress.

Unlike writing an essay when putting your CV together it isn’t essential to use joining words such as: ‘however’, ‘furthermore’, and ‘nevertheless’.

And, it is also useful to limit your use of stock phrases such as: ‘as a result of this...’, ‘in response to this...’, ‘in order to...’

When looking at job applications I'm as interested in the contents of the CV and cover letter as I am academic performance.

Clearly, good grades are a litmus test for taking the conversation further, but I want to know more about what you can bring to our company and how we can develop you too.

Extracurricular activities, self-development and society interactions are a few of these indicators of a great candidate.

Aaron Dicks, Managing Director, Impression (Digital Marketing Agency) Nottingham