“C.V.’s” Mrs Harrall Head of Higher Education and Careers May 2014

1. M5 “C.V.’s” Mrs Harrall Head of Higher Education and Careers May 2014

2. What is a C.V.? • Your sales pitch to an employer. • Your opportunity to describe your USP\Personal Brand. • A written description of your work experience, educational background, skills and achievements. • It is used when applying for: jobs, internships, training courses, voluntary work, work experience placements.

3. What makes a good C.V.? Good Presentation Word processed, clear font, well laid out Relevant content Information must be tailored to the position for which you are applying Appropriate length Never more than two pages of A4

4. Information to include on your C.V. • Name, address, contact telephone number and email address • Details of your education – no need to go back beyond arriving at Sherborne Girls • Qualifications and grades – provide details of both exams already taken and those to be taken in the future • Additional qualifications (music, IT, sports) • Hobbies and Interests/Personal Strengths and Achievements • How you meet their selection criteria • Names and address of two referees (not family)

5. Top Ten Skills that Employers Want Examples of: Verbal Communication Teamwork Commercial Awareness Analysing & Investigating Flexibility Enthusiasm Problem Solving Written Communication Planning & Organising Drive Initiative/Self-Motivation Time Management Work Experience Numeracy

6. Other Important Skills Global Skills (other languages and cultures) Leadership Numeracy IT Skills Negotiating & Persuading (ability to influence & convince others) Self-Awareness (abilities, values &what you want out of life) Integrity Independence Decision-Making Creativity (new ideas & solutions)

7. What to Avoid… Being bland and sounding average Over-use of colour Too much writing – use bullet points Slang or text language (this is a professional document)

8. What happens to bad C.V.’s? “I’m afraid in our business (when we receive hundreds of applicants for each job) we have a very simple system. A well presented C.V. we look at further. One that isn’t doesn’t even make it in front of the recruiter.” Marketing Recruiter

9. What happens to bad C.V.’s? “the C.V. was appalling, full of spelling mistakes and badly presented. I am afraid I filed it straight in the rejection pile (the waste paper bin). If someone doesn’t spend the time to present themselves properly (even on paper) they have no chance of succeeding within this organisation.” HR Assistant at the BBC

10. Positive words to describe yourself Able Creative Dependable Energetic Experience Flexible Hardworking Honest Imaginative Innovative Motivated Organised Reliable Sense of humour

11. Positive words to describe your achievements Achieved Competed Delivered Directed Helped Identified Managed On time Participated Savings Supervised Under budget Won Organised\Set up

12. Action Words for your CV Planned Developed Achieved Evaluated Managed Presented Represented Organised Solved Discovered Created Designed Supervised Responsible for Co-ordinated Sold Completed Competed for

13. This lesson’s task • Create your own C.V. using the template shown on the next page. This is merely an example so feel free to use different fonts and layouts. • Create your own Covering Letter using the sample shown on the final page – this is the correct layout for a letter so you should not change this. Feel free to change the content of the letter – the paragraphs shown are merely to give you ideas of what to write. SAVE BOTH DOCUMENTS IN “WORD” FOR FUTURE USE – THE C.V. CAN BE ADDED TO AT ANY TIME TO KEEP IT UP-TO-DATE