CV Do's and Don'ts

Category: Tips and Advice Publish date: 29/11/2016

The purpose of a CV is to get you an interview. Not a job. The distinction is important and worth bearing in mind. The current job market is constantly changing and very competitive. Preparing your CV is a task you should take as seriously as looking for vacancies. So whilst your CV will not get you a job it can open the door to an interview.

So, what makes a good CV? Is there anything you should pay particular attention to as an ex-military job seeker? What are employers looking for? What are the most common pitfalls?

Remember you can access a wealth of information on CV writing via your Career Transition Workshop and in the workbook, as well as in this Resettlement Guide. You can access the CV Builder, CV advice and CV examples when you are logged in to MyPlan.

This article has been put together by Jo Lucas, the Employer Relationship Manager for the CTP in the South West. It highlights the most common themes experienced by employers and offers specific tips and advice from those directly involved in the sifting process.

Common Themes from Employers:

Relevant

There is no such thing as one CV for all applications. You should have a good basic CV which you then rearrange or rewrite to TARGET your CV to meet the needs of each job!

Read the Advert closely. Identify the important knowledge, skills and abilities required. List the essential skills/criteria the job requires. Use the employer’s website to identify the company’s purpose, mission, and values.

Your CV needs to emphasise the facts relevant to the position you are applying for. To do this effectively, research the role and list the skills, experiences and aspects of your background that are most relevant.

During your military service you may have gathered various qualifications and decorations but make sure you don’t confuse a potential employer by listing them out of context. Certain things will not have any relevance on a civilian CV.

Tips and advice from Employers:

Make sure you show off your professional achievements - no one else is going to do it for you - but try to avoid overusing ‘I’. And, only mention things you’ve actually done, since our recruiters will need to be able to verify the information you give us. (Accenture)

Customise it. Take the time to customise your CV for the specific role you’re applying for. Tell us in the opening statement why you believe you’re a good fit for the position. Stand out from the crowd for the right reasons. Unless you’re applying for a position in a creative industry, the large majority of recruiters don’t like gimmicks on CVs. Rather than using images and funky colours to be memorable, use your achievements and skills to stand out from the crowd. (Anglian Water)

Have more than one CV. You are likely to be applying for different types of roles when you leave the forces as you try to discover your niche. Make sure that your CV fits the job description that you are applying for. Try to get hold of a full job description whenever possible when applying for a new role and look at the terminology that’s being used. If you think that you have the experience required to apply for the role, make sure that you describe that experience in a language that is similar to that used by the person who wrote the job description. That way they will understand quickly that you are a prime candidate for the role. (BAE Systems)

Tailor your CV. You are more likely to get through to interview by tailoring your CV to a specific role, therefore highlighting the most relevant experience. The best way to achieve this is to keep a CV template and modify it according to the target job. Never be tempted to exaggerate your skills or experience. (BAE Systems)

It is important to tailor your CV for any job application. Translate your operational experience in to (specific role) terms. (Barclays)

Update and tailor your CV. It’s not just about including as much information as you can possibly fit on the page – we only want to see the most up-to-date information that’s relevant to the role. It may seem like a lengthy process to tailor your CV to each role you apply for, but it can make a huge difference and really help your application stand out from the rest. (Eddie Stobart)

Carefully consider the role you are applying for and tailor your CV accordingly. It’s important to clearly present all your relevant skills, experience and training. We support applications from those leaving HM Forces. Whilst we recognise the value you can bring to our business, it is important to help the hiring manager reviewing your details understand your transferrable skills. (GSK)

Your CV is not a National Record of Experience. It is a tool to show your next employer why you are suitable for their role and how you can add value. Your CV must maintain its relevance to the role that you are applying for and should leave the reader in no doubt that you are suitable for that role. Your CV should have synergy with the role and organisation you are approaching. Make your buzz words exactly the same as theirs. Your Key Achievements or Attributes should match the job requirements. The words and phrases that are aligned with that role and department should ring through your CV. Provide relevant details of your skills and experience in a concise way that matches the skills required in the job description that you are applying for. Imagine you do not know you and only have 60 secs to decide if you are right for the exact role as it is written on the job spec. (Jaguar Land Rover)

Your CV is a snap shot of your skills, competencies and experience. It’s a document that is used by employers to gauge how suitable you would be for a role. (Mitie Group)

Hiring Managers and recruiters see hundreds of CVs and the ones they report as the most useful are those which are concise, succinct and easy to read. After all their job is to pick out those candidates who have the most appropriate skills and competencies for the role. (Mitie Group)

Tailor it – if the roles you’re applying for are different, aim to adapt your CV accordingly. Put the most relevant experience first; you can then list the rest under ‘Other experience’. Even if you’re applying for very similar roles, make your CV as relevant to each specific role as you can. (Nuffield Health)

Put yourself in the employer’s shoes – think about the skills and qualities they asked for in the job description and show how you’ve applied those same skills and qualities in other roles. (Nuffield Health)

Amend your CV depending on the role you are applying for to ensure you can demonstrate that you are potentially the right person for us; but don’t exaggerate! (Virgin Media)

Tailor it - Add a covering letter to describe why you feel you are a fit for this role in particular and tailor your cv to each and every role. (Siemens)

Concise

Employers do not want to know your whole life story - just enough to decide whether they should interview you or not. Nobody wants to read a ten page CV but contrary to popular opinion you do not have to limit it to two pages of A4. The optimum length depends on your level of experience, for example, a graduate CV should never be longer than two pages. However, if you have over ten years industry experience a three or four page CV is acceptable.

Tips and advice from Employers:

Concise and to the point - this isn’t the place to show off your essay writing skills. At most it should be three pages long and simple, short sentences will always highlight your abilities best. Equally, don’t waste space with pictures or talking about your hobbies, there will be plenty of time to get your personality across at the interview. (Accenture)

Keep it short. Most recruiters will only look at your CV for 30 seconds, so you don’t have long to impress them! By making sure that you keep your CV simple and to the point, they will be able to process more of the key information in this time. (Anglian Water)

Length of CV – Aim to keep a CV to no more than 2 sides of A4. Information needs to be clear and concise. If you have a long and varied career, add more detail to the more recent information and summarise the rest. (Babcock)

Long paragraphs and sentences make a CV difficult to read quickly. Try to keep your sentences short and punchy. Use of bullet points to break up the text under section headings is often a good idea. (BAE Systems)

Stay succinct and relevant. (Barclays)

Find the right balance of information you wish to provide on your application. A single page might not tell us enough about you, but try not to exceed three pages. (GSK)

Make your sentences punchy; unashamedly show off your biggest achievements by using evidence based examples of what you did. Do not say ' I am a professional, hard-working, reliable engineer' OF COURSE YOU ARE! Say, for example:- that you were responsible for the productivity and professional development of a group of 25 mechanics, technicians and technical specialists maintaining complex electronic systems using automatic test equipment and always adhering to H&S, technical publications and COSHH regulations. (Jaguar Land Rover)

Keep it succinct – two pages should be enough. Definitely don’t write more than three. You need to focus on the things that will make an employer want to see more of you. (Nuffield Health)

Try and keep your CV to 2 pages; if you are successful in obtaining an interview, we will ask you lots of questions about your skills & experience which will compliment what information is on your CV. (Virgin Media)

Keep your CV to two pages, including your personal profile, hobbies, previous employment, and the qualifications and skills you could bring to the table. Don’t go overboard on the personal element though, we don’t need to know your chosen team’s life story. Add just enough about your personal life to add some character – and especially with the qualifications, make sure they’re legitimate and easy for you to talk about. (The Co-Operative)

Your CV should be easy to read: use clear fonts, bullet points and concise language. (Laing O Rourke)

Presentation and Layout

Your CV is a potential employer’s first impression of you. There are many typefaces to choose from and it might be tempting to go for something you consider individual, modern or something which will stand out. Our advice is to make your CV as easy to read as possible and that means choosing a common business font such as Ariel, Times New Roman or Verdana.

Employers don’t spend more than a few seconds when they initially scan a CV and they don’t have time to search amongst graphics, cluttered paragraphs etc for the information that they are looking for, so make sure you present your CV in a uncluttered layout. Use bullet points and keep sentences short. If you leave white space around text and between categories, it makes the layout easier on the eye.

Most CVs are now requested via email or uploaded to an online candidate management system. However, if you need to supply a CV in paper format, white A4 paper of a good quality is the best option. Avoid coloured or patterned paper. CVs should never be crumpled or folded, so use an A4 envelope to post your applications.

Tips and advice from Employers:

Make sure that your CV is cleanly presented, some employers spend approximately 20 to 30 seconds scanning your CV so you need to ensure it is clutter-free and easy to read. The last thing a recruiter wants to do is to go hunting for the information that they are looking for so don’t hide it amongst an array of elaborate graphics. Make sure that you use the same font throughout your CV to stop it looking too disjointed. (BAE Systems)

Choose a clear structure and layout. Your CV needs to be clutter-free and easy to read. When reading through your CV, we want the information we need to jump out as us and don’t want to have to search high and low! Keep it brief, be concise and to the point. (Eddie Stobart)

Always ask for advice from different sources and understand that no one person’s opinion will be perfect. Do not send your CV out to firms until you have had plenty of feedback and a chance to reflect on it. Consider the layout/format of your CV to ensure maximum information per page without being too busy. (Jaguar Land Rover)

If you’re using just your CV to apply, keep it as tidy and well-presented as possible. So, no colours, no graphs or tables, and definitely no photos of yourself. (Travis Perkins)

Use an easy to read font such as Arial, size 11 or 12. (Mitie Group)

Do not include a photograph (unless requested to). (Mitie Group)

Error Free and Accurate

Employers receive high volumes of applications and it’s easy to reject those CVs that don’t show the applicant paid attention to what they were doing.

Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors on your CV reflect poorly on you and what’s worse, employers DO notice. If you are applying for a role that calls for ‘attention to detail’ or ‘good written communication skills’ a CV with spelling mistakes will not do you any favours.

Tips and advice from Employers:

Finally, check, check, check and then check again. Always re-read your CV to make certain that you have presented yourself as well as possible and that there are no mistakes. Where possible, it is also worthwhile getting someone else to look over it for you, since it can be easy to miss things when you have read a document a lot. (Accenture)

Always get a second (and third!) opinion. Before using your CV to apply for any jobs, make sure you’ve asked at least 2 other people to check it. This will help you pick up any spelling mistakes, as well as any special achievements or experiences that you may have forgotten about. (Anglian Water)

Spell check – check, check, check and then check again! Spelling mistakes are really simple errors to avoid. Pass your CV to a friend, colleague or family members to proof read your documents. (Babcock)

Spell Check. Make sure that there’s no spelling mistakes and that you have worded everything correctly! If you haven’t employers will see you as less than perfect, even before they assimilate the information that you’ve written about yourself. Use a spell checker but don’t rely on the tool to pick up all of your errors, give it to other people to read for you. You’ll be surprised at how easily you can miss a simple mistake yourself that someone will pick up instantly! As well as checking your spelling and grammar, make sure your employment dates match up and that you’ve provided the right phone number and email address. (BAE Systems)

Check and check again. It’s very easy to make mistakes when writing your CV, but even harder to correct them once you’ve sent it to us. Take some time after editing your CV to go back and look through it as critically as possible to polish it off – it may even be useful to leave it for a while and revisit later on. Allow yourself a break so that when you come back your eyes are fresh enough to spot that spelling mistake or that sentence that doesn’t quite make sense. (Eddie Stobart)

Show it to a friend – it’s well worth getting a second opinion on your CV so ask someone you trust (someone who will be honest but constructive) to take a look and give you their feedback. Double and triple check it – make sure that everything is correct, especially your spelling. (Mitie Group)

Make sure there are no seplling (sic) or grammar errors and that the format is easy to follow. (Virgin Media)

Spell-check your CV and ask someone to proof read it for you. (Mitie Group)

Check all your contact information to ensure it is correct. A wrong telephone number or e-mail address is a very quick way to halt your progress. It sounds simple, but people often complete this information at the end of their CV writing process and sometimes don’t give it their full attention. Putting down the wrong contact details can stop your application before it even gets started properly.

Professional

As well as the look and layout of your CV, you need to ensure that the content is professional. You may have a nickname or favourite phrase that you use in your personal email address, but your CV is not the place for it! You should also use this opportunity to demonstrate the effort and research you have conducted into the company.

Tips and advice from Employers:

Professionalise it- Use a professional email address and contact details for your job search (ie: your Siemens email address, not something personal like [email protected] as this could offend some audiences. Pick a style and font that suits you but that is also professional. (Siemens)

Show us what makes you exceptional. When you apply you could potentially be up against hundreds of other candidates, so you need to make sure you stand out from the crowd. Don’t just give us a list of your achievements; tell us how those achievements would help you add value as an employee. (Eddie Stobart)

Try to approach the hiring manager of the job role that you are interested in and speak with them to get a true picture of what and who they are looking for. It is very hard to picture a role based on the text in a job description and therefore, hard to sell yourself as the ideal candidate. RESEARCH, PREPARE, NETWORK, PROMPT, DRIVE and FOLLOW UP on opportunities. Experience, behaviours and skills count for a great deal but you can stand out from the crowd by showing your initiative and desire for that role in your approach to applying for it. (Jaguar Land Rover)

Also, avoid using too many military specific abbreviations, as things which are obvious to you (e.g. NCO /SNCO etc.) may leave many Civvies scratching their heads.

NO MILITARY WORDS what so ever (fitter section, Capt, ES, operational tour etc.). These are meaningless and will cloud the reader’s view of the strong points your CV should be emphasising. The expression “They should know what that means” will do you no favours.

Acronyms – Always ensure you write out in full the first time you refer to an acronym or avoid altogether. (Babcock)

Always write in third person (Jaguar Land Rover)

Honest

Be honest – every detail in your CV will be thoroughly checked, if not at interview stage then certainly once a job offer has been made. By falsifying information relating to qualifications or experience you will jeopardise any offer of employment

Tips and advice from Employers:

When it comes to CV writing, honesty is always the best policy! If you include things on your CV that you haven’t done, chances are you will be asked about them in an interview and it will soon become apparent that you’ve been dishonest. (Anglian Water)

Don’t lie or exaggerate. (Barclays)

Do not lie! (Jaguar Land Rover)

Be honest – if you’re not right for the job based on your real achievements, then it’s very unlikely that the job is right for you. (Nuffield Health)

And finally, take a break and watch Nick Hewer of The Apprentice give his Top CV Tips:



For all the above tips and more, from employers committed to recruiting from the ex-military talent pool, take a look at the Employer Focus Pages.