Writing a Professional CV

If your CV starts with a powerful selling point that catches the recruiter's eye, he or she is likely to read further to find out all about you. A positive first impression also colours the way that they see the rest of your CV.

First impressions count. Make sure that your CV has a strong start.

The first and main section of your CV will almost certainly be 'Career and Achievements', as this is the crucial area that shows that you can do the job on offer. (Possible exceptions to this would be CVs for jobs where qualifications are of paramount importance.) Within each section of your CV, put details of your most impressive or relevant achievements at the top of each section.

End your CV on a high note so that you leave the reader with a final positive image of you as he or she puts the CV down. A section on your interesting hobbies or the languages that you speak can be a good way of ending a CV.

Presenting your experience for maximum impact

• Make sure that you do yourself justice in the way that you describe yourself in your CV.

• give evidence supporting the claims that you make

• quantify your achievements

• stress your ability to deliver in the most important aspects of your role

• use clear and positive language

• avoid ambiguity

• be professional.

Selling Yourself

Advertisers take a lot of care in preparing the description of their product. You should do the same when describing yourself in your CV

Prove to the recruiter that you have what they are looking for by providing evidence. It is not enough to say, for example, that you have excellent negotiating or leadership skills. You need to:

• give examples of what you have achieved in the past

• show where you have overcome difficult challenges in

• making these achievements

• tell the reader how your organisation benefited.

For example, instead of saying: 'I am an excellent leader and build high performance teams' tell the recruiter 'On taking up the post of European Sales Manager, I set up a team of ten salespeople based in three countries. By focusing on communication, motivation and goal setting, we exceeded demanding sales targets in each of the four years that I held this post.'