CV derives from the Latin meaning “a brief history of one’s life”. It is a short document which outlines your general personal details, your relevant skills, qualifications and work history. A CV is a good way of saying “hey, this is me, I could make a valuable contribution to your business”. It is generally the first point of contact between you and a prospective employer. It is designed to do one thing and that is to get you an interview-to get your foot through the door so to speak. It wil...

Should you include your nationality on a CV? The simple answer is ‘no’ but there are a number of circumstances in which you can include your nationality on a CV. It’s not a legal requirement and from an employers’ perspective I don’t think it’s something that they’d be interested in. As with age, gender and other personal characteristics, there a number of laws that has been passed in order to protect people from discrimination in the recruitment process and in the work place. The Equa...

On average it is estimated that an employer only spends about 30 seconds glancing at a CV, which means that you have to grab their attention very quickly. Before you read a newspaper article, you always have a quick glance at the headline. If the headline is hard hitting and appealing, you will no doubt read the rest of the article. On the other hand, if the headline is dull and uninteresting, you probably just ignore it and move on to the next headline. The same principle can be applied to CV...

There are a number of ways to find employers who might be looking for someone with your skills and experience. Below is a selection of tried and tested methods that I have encouraged job seekers to use. You can use various search engines for companies in your industry or to find companies of interest. If they have vacancies they will normally have it displayed on their website. Use your local knowledge and contacts – ask friends and family members if they know of any employers th...

Social media is the most popular way of networking with family and friends in your locality as well as globally. Everyone exchanges support and information. In addition to colleagues at your work place, friends and family and existing professional relationships, you can build contacts and understanding through social media networking. Here are some sites to consider: Twitter is an online social networking service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 charact...

If the career gap you are concerned about was a very long time ago, say 10-15 years, there is no need to for you to worry. The chances are the employer won’t even think about it. Similarly, if the gap is a matter of a few months rather than years, don’t lose sleep over it. The easiest way to avoid these sorts of gaps gaping out at the employer is to only give the years for your employment rather than the months. For example, you could say 2004 – 2012 (rather than May 2004 – February 2012) whic...

One thing that baffles me more than anything on a CV is why people continue to include their gender on a CV.  I get asked the same question over and over again and my answer is always a resounding ‘No’.  I just feel that in this day and age it’s totally irrelevant to include your gender on a CV – it’s an outdated practice just as outdated as it is to include your age, ethnicity or marital status on a CV.  There are actually new laws which have been introduced to reduce discrimination in the work...