|
Your CV - Curriculum Vitae - literally translated means the story of your life. It is a vital document in your search for a new job, to help you towards the next step up the career ladder, a better position, more money, new challenges. Employers receive many CVs for each advertised position so your CV has to stand out if you want to get an interview. Many people don't know how to write a CV properly and spend too little time preparing one. Make sure your CV contains the following information:
Personal Details
Your full name, address, home telephone/mobile number, date of birth, marital status and nationality. Do you have a full driving licence? Is it clean?
Education / Qualifications
List your qualifications and education history. If you have a degree you will not need to list all your GCSEs; just listing the number is probably sufficient.
Professional Qualifications
List any professional qualifications, membership of professional associations and professional ID numbers. Also list any courses you have taken that are relevant to your target job. Don't forget to mention any work- related training courses you have attended,
Work Experience
Start with your most recent job and work backwards. For each position list: your job title (treat any promotion as a separate job), date of starting and finishing in each job. Give the name of the company and include a brief description of the service they provide. Set out your main responsibilities, achievements, duties, and skills that could be transferred to another employer. Be specific and positive about your skills. You should normally concentrate on your two most recent jobs (unless you were only there for a short time), because employers are usually most interested in these.
Major Achievements
This section is very important as an employer will only invite you for an interview if they can see a benefit in doing so. Your achievements may sell you to an employer and make them choose you for an interview rather than someone else. For this reason it is vital that you think carefully about your achievements.
Other Experience
You should only list skills and experience if they are relevant to the jobs you are applying for. This may include details of computer skills, foreign language skills, etc.
Interests / Hobbies
List your interests, hobbies and any sports you play. List any positions of responsibility you hold or have held in any club or organisation, and say what your responsibilities and achievements were.
Summary
List your major skills, strengths, personal qualities and achievements. Be specific, e.g. good team player, excellent written skills, versatile, able to motivate others, etc. Look at your staff appraisals or at your references.
For more details and information on professional CV writing services, see this site for CV writing advice and tips
Before you attend your interview find out everything you can about the company - size of organisation, number of employees,
how long they have been operating, general information about their services, products, aims etc. Re-read your application, thinking through your own career and the questions they might ask you. You should try to anticipate the general questions which they will ask. Be ready to explain any gaps in your employment.
To do well at the interview you will need to convince the interviewer you are technically qualified to do the job. Make sure you fully understand the skills required for the position. You will need to show that you are sufficiently motivated to get the job done well and that you will fit in with the company's culture and the team in which you will work. You should dress smartly for the interview and make sure you are on time - leave home earlier than you need to on the day of the interview in case of delays by traffic or for other reasons. Be courteous to all employees of the company.
At the interview itself you must be positive about yourself and your abilities. Be honest but do not waffle or go off at a tangent. You should also prepare some questions to ask them. If you have researched the company well, you will be able to come up with questions concerning the organisation. You may also like to find out more about your responsibilities in the role, the organisation’s long and short term aims, training opportunities, etc. Find out what happens next with the interview process and express your interest - if it is genuine!
Do you know about your rights as an employee? Nearly every aspect of your job has rules and regulations in place to protect you.
Contract
As an employee can expect a contract and/or job description that sets out exactly what is expected of you and what you're entitled to.
Your contract must include your working hours, your holiday entitlement and company pension details.
Your employer cannot give you less than the minimum legal requirement. Any contract that gives you less than your rights by law is worthless.
If problems arise regarding your terms of employment try to deal with them straight away, initially by talking to your employerss to see if you can work it out.
If you need further help and advice, your local Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) is a good starting point.
Talk to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) or the Legal Services Commission for initial legal advice.
Holidays
As an employee you are entitled to four weeks paid leave per year.
Bank holidays are included in your four weeks' statutory paid leave, unless your company decides to give you them on top of your four weeks' statutory paid holiday.
There are rules about how much warning you have to give your boss before you can take your holiday.
If your employer wants you to take your holiday at a particular time, then you must be given warning of twice the period of leave to be taken.
Hours
If you're over 18 you only have to work a maximum 48-hour working week.
If you're under 18, still at school and working there are some legal restrictions on your hours. You're not allowed to:
| • |
Work before 7am or after 7pm |
| • |
Work for more than two hours on a school day or for more than one hour before school |
| • |
Work for more than eight hours on Saturdays or holidays, or two hours on Sundays |
| • |
Work for more than 35 hours a week during the holidays |
Whatever your age, you are entitled to rest breaks while you're working, and if you work for more than eight hours a day you must have a one-hour break.
National Minimum Wage
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) entitles nearly all workers to a minimum hourly wage.
You are covered if you're a casual labourer, an agency worker, a homeworker, on a short-term contract or working for a subcontractor.
The minimum wage depends on your age and your employment status.
The standard hourly rate for workers aged over 22 is £4.50, with a proposed rise to £4.85 from October 2004.
The standard hourly rate for workers between 18-21 and workers over 22 on the trainee rate is £3.80, with a proposed rise to £4.10 from October 2004.
Unfortunately, you're not covered by NMW if you are under 18 or an apprentice aged 19-25 in the first year of your apprenticeship. But you'll qualify for age-related NMW after that - unless you become a trainee.
If you want to try a new career but are not sure exactly what you want to do, you could begin by thinking about:
| • |
What you already enjoy doing at work |
| • |
What transferable skills you already have to minimise re-training (e.g. computer skills) |
| • |
What your work values are - do you want something practical, something with people, or simply something that makes money? |
When you have an idea of the direction you want to move in, make sure that you sure you know what your chosen job or vocation involves. Talk to a careers advisor about standard qualifications and to what extent your existing skills and abilities will transfer - for example, will you have to learn how to use different machinery or computer packages? Perhaps there are in which you could acquire work experience to give a clearer idea of what you're letting yourself in for. In some cases, voluntary work may be a good way to get basic experience and may also help with references and applying for jobs later on.
If you decide to take a course you should consider whether you can take time off work to do a fulltime course or if a part time qualification is better. Remember, taking a course doesn't guarantee your dream job. You'll have to be committed to your course and there are no guarantees you'll get a job at the end of it.
Some ways of retraining include:
| • |
Go to evening classes |
| • |
Take a career break to study full time |
| • |
Do an apprenticeship |
| • |
Train at work with an NVQ |
| • |
Do voluntary work |
| • |
Do a distance learning course, like Open University, so you can study around your other commitments. Or, if you're over 21 you can do an access course to take you on to University even if you have no A Levels or their equivalent. |
Learndirect is a network of online learning and information services. It's a government-sponsored initiative in flexible learning, intended to make possible the vision of a 'learning society' where everyone can learn and upgrade their skills throughout life.
UKOrbit Education & Careers page
DfES, Department for Education and Skills
Visit UKOrbit's Consumer & Advice Centre for further help and information.
|
