Advice

CV Tips

What is a Curriculum Vitae (CV)?

A CV provides a short account about you, your work experience and qualifications. As a guideline, it should ideally be two to three sides of A4 providing us with key facts and experience areas. There is no set format for a CV, however it would be useful to see:

• Personal Details
• Personal profile
• Career history and/or Achievements
• Training/qualifications
• Reference details

The information listed below gives a guidance of what information to include in the areas above – however if you currently have a CV that you believe is suitable, we are more than happy to review this. We are looking for key skills, attributes and competencies.

Personal Details

• Name
• Address
• Phone numbers
• E-mail
• Driving licence

We do not need to know your marital status or your date of birth.

Personal Profile

• Bullet-point descriptive phrases that describe your strengths and attributes
• These statements should also reflect the personal qualities that are relevant to the role you are applying for
• Keep the statements simple and clear using professional, concise and intelligent language
• Ensure you are able to back-up and provide an example for each statement you make

Career History/Achievements

• This area may include professional statements which explain your experience and/or areas that you specialise within along with key achievements
• Select experience from the last ten years that best fits your capabilities and the needs of the new job
• Try to focus each statement to provide a different example of capability e.g. planning and organising, building relationships, customer focus
• Where possible, quantify or attach context in terms of facts and figures or scale
• If you have limited work history, the achievements do not need to be work related
• List your history in chronological order, starting with your most current position and makes sure that all gaps are accounted for

Education and Qualifications

• List details of schools, colleges and or universities attended along with dates and grades
• Detail professional qualifications, where obtained, grade and date

Reference details

• Upon acceptance of a position, BGL requires two years of work reference history

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