So here they are, 10 things not to do on your CV:

Generally it’s always good to present the information on your resume in this order:

• Contact details.
• Opening statement.
• List of key skills.
• List of technical/software skills.
• Personal attributes/career overview.
• Educational qualifications.
• Employment history/volunteering/work placements.
• References/referees.

7 Simple But Effective Ways to Make Your CV Stand Out

1. Start strong. Start with a summary of your skills and key accomplishments.
2. Emphasize results rather than responsibilities.
3. Customize for the job you want.
4. Highlight changes and growth.
5. Demonstrate that you are connected.
6. Show industry insight.
7. Use power words.

A CV should be two pages, a maximum of three. Make use of bullet points and write in short sharp sentences. Don’t waffle. Focus on job content i.e. what you did….Is it brief and clear?

1. Name.
2. Current title/company.
3. Previous title/company.
4. Current title/company start/end dates.
5. Previous title/company start/end dates.

1. Make sure you meet the qualifications. Qualifications for being considered for a job are usually listed at the bottom of the job ad.
2. Customize your resume.
3. Focus on your accomplishments.
4. Include your most relevant skills.
5. Add a cover letter.
6. Use a connection.
7. Use a basic font.
8. Add a skills section.

It is so hard because it requires a great deal of self-reflection and talking about yourself in a way that is objective yet attractive to future employers. This means you need to engaged with the self-centred, self-assured, self-aware you. Self, self, self.

• Providing irrelevant personal information.
• Burying important information.
• Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.
• Unexplained gaps in employment.
• Lying or misleading information.
• Adding references to your CV.
• A long, waffly CV.
• Badly formatted CV.

The length of your finished CV should correlate closely with your level of experience. The rule of thumb is that generally you should write about one page per decade of experience. A three-page CV is fine for those with long work histories, extensive published work, or exceptional accomplishments.

A resume should typically be only one page in length. As long as all the information that is included is important and relevant to the employer, resume length is secondary. Your top priorities when writing your resume is readability and relevance.

As a rule of thumb, your CV should only list the last 10 to 15 years of work experience, or your last five to six employment positions if within this time frame. It keeps your CV highly relevant to the prospective employer.

Can a Resume Be 2 Pages? A resume can be two pages, but most should be one page. That’s true for entry-level candidates and those with less than 5 years’ experience. If the job requires Elon-Musk-level accomplishments, or you can’t cram your achievements on one page, write a two page resume.