Must-Haves For A CV

Must-Haves For A CV

CV’s

Do you want to get your foot in the door? If you want to get noticed amongst many applicants you need to get the basics right on your CV. Let’s discuss the must-haves for a CV.

  1. PERSONAL DETAILS (Keep it simple)

Your Name.

Employers don’t need to know which aunt, uncle or second cousin twice removed inspired your middle name. They just need your forename and surname.

Example: John Smith

Your Contact Details.

Provide employers with an up-to-date phone number and email address.

If you’re still using an email you created for that Facebook account you shouldn’t have had when you were 11, maybe it’s time to double check it to ensure it’s appropriate for professional use.

Your Location.

State the area you are living/based in.

You do not need to provide your exact address, but it is helpful to provide employers with an area for them to know how far you are from where the role is based.

Your Title.

State your current title or specialty.

A title is helpful for employers to know how well-suited your current position is to the new job role you are applying for.

Example: John Smith, Physical Education Teacher.

  1. OPENING STATEMENT (Not war and peace)

Here you must make yourself stand out. The challenging part… you must do so in 2-3 sentences.

You’re not writing your memoir just yet. Instead, your opening statement should be a brief introduction to who you are. You should get straight-to-the-point and be relevant.

Highlight your skills/experience that are most relevant to the role you are applying for.

Before writing your opening statement, you should read the job post multiple times, highlighting which skills/experience they are seeking most for the role.

You can then tailor your opening statement to the role specification.

  1. EMPLOYMENT HISTORY (I like the 80s but….)

Chronological Order.

Your prospective employer does not want to see what job you had in 2012 at the top of your employment history (unless you are currently still in this job).

You must state your previous job roles starting with your most recent role at the top and work backwards from there.

Key Dates.

For each job role you have had you must inform potential employers of the month/year the role started, and the month/year the role ended.

Ensure there are no gaps between dates of separate employment.

If you do have gaps, inform any new employers of why you were out of employment for those periods of times and write it clearly on your CV.

Duties & Responsibilities.

Do not detail your duties and responsibilities for each role in the form of a diary entry.

Employers are not so interested in understanding how many cups of coffee you make per day (unless you’re applying for a role at Starbucks).

Like your opening statement, ensure you’re straight-to-the-point and relevant when stating your duties and responsibilities for previous job roles. Don’t duplicate.

  1. EDUCATION (Do you have a 1st class?)

If you’ve achieved a grade First Class in your degree, then shout it from the rooftop!

Or in this case state it on your CV under the education section.

Potential employers viewing your CV do not know who you are, and you are only given 1-2 pages max to tell them.

Employers viewing 50 applications a day want to see new and exciting features. You want to stand out so why not tell the world how you achieved the best possible grade in your degree.

Do not shy away from showing off on your CV.

  1. ACHIEVEMENTS (Be Proud!)

Continue being proud of yourself and make yourself stand out from the crowd by stating any training and/or certificates you have achieved.

Providing details of any extra training or certificates you have achieved will show employers your motivation and dedication to learning and self-development.

(Teacher Specific) Training Example: Safeguarding

  1. REFERENCES. (The more the merrier…)

Seeing as your CV is limited to 2 pages max, potential employers no longer require you to provide a list of references within your CV.

Instead, at the end of your CV you should state “References available on request”.

Although you don’t need to state their details on your CV, you must easily have access to the contact details of past employers you would like to call on for references.

Additionally remember having positive comments from as many previous employers as possible is VERY attractive.

  1. CV TEMPLATES (Find for free!)

Here at Forward Teaching we want to help you in as many ways as possible. We want your experience with us and your journey to finding and securing work to be stress-free.

That’s why we offer a Teacher/ TA CV template available on our home page for you to download for FREE.

We provide the template; you fill in the sections to start your journey to securing your desired role in teaching.

Good Luck!