Your CV will always be absolutely crucial to your employment. It is the first impression your potential employer has of you and it tells them what they need to know about your industry experience. What’s more, it provides an idea of your passion and how involved you are in your chosen field.
As such, there are nine essential elements you need in your CV, the elements that create a resounding impression and will likely take you to the next stage of the hiring process.
Let’s take a look at them below:
Name & contact information
The best recruitment agencies for employees Melbourne has will say that you should always start with your name and contact information. This only has to be your first and last name. Next, add your professional job title below, accompanied by your phone number and email address (you don’t necessarily need your full home address these days!).
Your personal profile
Next, it’s time to add your personal profile, the text that’s going to tell your potential employer what you’re about. This covers your profession, what you offer to the role and what you want out of your career. This only has to be a few lines, but ensure it is short, sharp and succinct.
Your core competencies
What are you best at? What makes you good at what you’re applying for? This doesn’t have to be written as a passage – simply bullet point six to 10 core skills that make you suitable for the role.
Employment experience
Now, it’s time to list your employment experience. This is where you detail your work experience with your most recent position at the top. For each position, you should include employment dates, your role, company name and bullet points detailing your roles and achievements.
Volunteer experience
Volunteer work can be incredibly valuable to your CV and especially if it relates to the job for which you are applying. You may choose to include your volunteer role in the work experience section, or you might choose to create a separate volunteer section (depending on the amount of volunteering you have done). It will read just as your employment history, the only difference being that this was unpaid work.
Education history
Your education history section should also be listed with the most recent education at the top. It should include your name, qualification level, educational institute and the date you qualified.
Awards & certificates
You may have received special awards or certificates in your professional, educational or volunteering phases. As such, you might like to include these in your CV, with the proof ready to be presented to the potential employer upon request.
Professional affiliations
If you are a member of any professional or social entities, you might like to share them with the prospective employer to show your industry passion. Include the organisation and what kind of affiliation you have with them.
Hobbies & interests
Last and, to be fair, least, your hobbies and interests. Not that they don’t matter – they are obviously a massive part of who you are and what makes you who you are. But, when it comes to employment, your potential employer wants to know more about what you can bring to the role as opposed to your playing trombone in a 10-piece disco-funk band (which is obviously awesome, but that will all come to the fore when you have the role!).
So, the hobbies and interests can sit comfortably down the end, with the imperative stuff at the top and ready to help take you to the next phase!
