Create a resume & Cover letter.

CV or RESUME?

A CV (curriculum vitae) is a longer document meaning the course of one's life.

A resume is a summary of your relevant experience and skills. 

Make sure your resume is easy to read. If there is spelling mistakes, a cluttered layout and irrelevant information your application won't go any further. Your best chance of making a great first impression is ensuring you tailor your resume to the role you are applying for. 

TOP TIPS FOR A GREAT RESUME:

1.      Create an easy to read and short resume. Employers are busy and they will receive many applications. Sometimes they may give any one resume only 20 or 30 seconds (the average time is 6 seconds!). Make sure that your key selling points are in bold.

2.      Don’t include an ‘objective’ or a ‘summary’ or a ‘personal profile’ – instead, simply state why you are perfect for the job

3.      Put the most recent work experience at the top and work backwards

4.      Use ‘power’ statements whenever you can. These start with a power verb (action word) and are more impactful. Eg. ‘Managed the prep independently for a daily lunch service’ versus ‘daily lunch service’ 

5.      When you list a duty or skill, tell a story rather than make a list eg.  I pride myself on turning up, every day, on time’ versus ‘reliable’

6.      Make sure you have included all your transferable skills (see the resource on Transferable Skills). You’ll be surprised how much you have to offer

7.       Make sure your contact details are clear and up to date. Include email and mobile details

8.      List any gaps in your resume just as you would a job, with the dates/years and include a brief explanation    eg. carers leave or started a family 

9. Check for spelling, grammatical mistakes and formatting errors

10.      Take a final look at it from the employer’s eyes. If you were them, would you want to hire this person? The point of this is to check whether you can make it any more persuasive or whether there are any areas where you could sell yourself better

11.     Never put your full address in your resume - this can be used for fraudulent activities

12.     Do not put any references on your CV, instead wait for the job offer and before you nominate a referee, contact them and ask them if they agree to be your referee. This is a great opportunity to let them know what you’ve been doing, and what sort of role you’re looking for so they are prepared when they get the call from the prospective employer

Here are some examples of powerful & effective action words to help you get started:

Achieved Coordinated Established Initiated Prepared

Applied Created Facilitated Launched Planned

Assembled Delivered Generated Motivated Raised

Carried Defined Guided Maintained Received

Changed Designed Handled Observed Reduced

Collaborated Directed Identified Obtained Solved

Compiled Distributed Implemented Overhauled Supported

Controlled Encouraged Increased Persuaded Supervised