• The purpose of a CV is to get you an interview, nothing more, nothing less. Don’t overcomplicate it.

• Your CV should sound like you. You can be professional without being stuffy. Don’t write using formal words you would never use in real life.

• Stay away from using generic words that could apply to anyone, focus on your unique value.

• Don’t assume that the first person to read your CV will be familiar with your industry or the specifics of what you do. Keep jargon to a minimum and keep it easy to understand.

• Your CV does NOT have to be one or two pages long. I would say the opposite is true, especially once you’ve reached a certain level of experience. One or two pages is not long enough to give an adequate level of depth on what you’ve done and achieved. Around four is good, over five and I would look to cut it down.

• You should have a ‘master’ version of your CV that you then customise for each specific role you apply for.

• Many recruiters I know don’t read cover letters, so unless you have been asked to include one I wouldn’t spend the time on it.

• Should you use AI tools like Chat GPT? I don’t think so. The language used is quite generic and when you read a lot of CVs it’s quite easy to spot the AI generated ones. Having said that AI could be helpful as a starting point to give you a framework, which you then rewrite or make more specific to you.

Design and layout:

• Don’t get hung up on the format, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s clear and easy to read, that’s all you need. You’ll find great templates on Seek or Canva, even via Google. The only caveat to this is if you work in a creative industry, you may want to do something which better reflects your skills.

• Contact details, phone, email and location. You could also include a link to your LinkedIn.

• A personal profile or summary is a great way to start. A few sentences or short paragraph giving an overview of your achievements and the type of role you are looking for. It’s also a good place to answer any obvious questions i.e I’ve recently moved to Australia and I have a PR visa, I’m returning to the workforce after taking some time away to raise my family, if you’re applying for roles in other states that you are open to relocation etc.

• Next Education, training and technical skills, you could also include specific soft skills here.

Content:

• When you are writing about your career history, a little bit of context can be helpful, especially if some of your experience is overseas or for businesses that aren’t well known. Don’t assume that the reader will know the brands, or will take the time to Google them. This also applies if your job titles were specific to a particular industry or aren’t widely understood. Put the job title as it was and then in brackets give a local equivalent. For example, in America, Vice President is a very common job title, but it doesn’t exist in Australia, help the reader to understand how it translates.

• It can also be helpful to give additional information on team size, and job titles that reported into you if relevant.

• One of the most important aspects of your CV is covered in your career history/experience section and it’s the bit that many people miss out on. Yes, cover your responsibilities, they are of course relevant, but the more important point is what you delivered in that role. What value did you bring, what were the results of your actions, and what were your top achievements? Where possible include numbers, $ amounts, % increases etc. Do this for every role you cover in detail.

• If you have a longer career history there is no need to go back in detail across all your roles. The last 10 years or so perhaps or maybe the last 3 or 4 roles, before that you can just include company and position and a few sentences with ‘further details available on request if needed‘.

• Spell check, spell check, spell check. I’m dyslexic so I understand how hard it can be to spot mistakes. Grammarly is a great free tool, it’s also worthwhile asking someone else to proofread, as it can be hard to see your own mistakes.

• Explain any gaps or career breaks. There is no need for great detail, a sentence or so is fine.

Other things you might consider:

• Using testimonials or ‘social proof’ is a great way to bring your experience to life. Feedback from previous managers or quotes from your performance reviews are a great way of doing this. It’s particularly impactful when talking about soft skills, like leadership skills.

Your CV should be your unique voice, communicating the value you can bring to an organisation, as evidenced by what you have delivered in your previous roles.

I hope you’ve found this resource helpful. If you would like to know more about the services I offer have a look at: https://www.egconsulting.au/services