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Introduction
A CV is usually the first thing an employer will read about you. How do you make sure you stand out? In this episode, Pippa and Phil talk about the secrets to making a good CV.
Transcript
Note: This is a transcript of a spoken conversation and is not a word-for-word script.
Pippa
From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English for Work and welcome to a special series all about job applications. I’m Pippa.
Phil
And I'm Phil. In this series, we're going to take you through the process of getting a job from search, to interview, to your first day, with helpful vocabulary and tips along the way.
Today, we'll be talking about the first thing an employer will read about you. Your CV, or resume.
Pippa
Find a transcript for this episode to read along on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.
So, Phil, can you explain? What is a CV?
Phil
It's a document that has a list of your qualifications and experience that you use to try and get a job.
Pippa
Right and in American English we call a CV a resume. So CV, resume, they’re all that same list of qualifications and experience.
Phil
Now, it's the first thing that an employer usually reads about you. So you need to make sure that you include all your key information, so that they want to find out more.
Pippa
Yeah and you hear lots of statistics about how long an employer will look at your CV for, but it's not really that long. So you need to make sure that you stand out and that the information is clear.
Amy Evans
Try and keep it concise. So two pages or two sides of A4. And make sure you have sort of all your relevance career experience on there.
Pippa
This is Amy Evans. Amy works in recruitment for the BBC World Service and so she's dealing with the process of hiring new people all the time.
Phil
Throughout this series, Amy's going to help us understand each stage of getting a new job and give us some top tips too.
Pippa
So, Amy said that you need to keep your CV concise, that means short and focused. And she also says that thinking about the layout can help, too.
Amy Evans
Make sure it's in an easy-to-read font with headers so that you can add distinction between the job titles and dates. I would say, put your most recent or most relevant experience at the top. So if you're changing careers, it's always good to highlight any transferable skills or any sort of projects that you've worked on right at the top of your CV.
Phil
Should a CV be written in paragraphs and full sentences or just as bullet points?
Amy Evans
For me, personally, I think I would use bullet points because it makes it very clear and easy to read right at the top of the CV. So, for example, if they're looking for certain types of software that they need, or if they want someone that's got a certain language. If it's right at the top and it's in a bullet point, it is very easy to read and you can get all that information quickly.
Pippa
Remember, people look at a lot of CVs, so the most important thing is it needs to be easy to read. This can mean no big paragraphs or long sentences, but it also means to make sure that your grammar is accurate and your information is clear.
Phil
Now, is there anything that we should leave out of a CV?
Amy Evans
You don't need any pictures on there. You don't need to put your date of birth or or any personal details really such as gender or if you're married, your family. Just keep it sort of professional, relevant to sort of your work and what you're applying for.
Phil
So remember that here Amy is talking about applying for jobs in the UK. In some countries it may be normal to put pictures on your CV. So it does depend on the country and the sector that you're working in.
Pippa
Yeah. So think of a CV like a short summary of the most important things about you. So that's why it's important not to put lots of personal details, your whole life story. This is just the key facts. There’ll be lots of opportunities to talk more about yourself in an application and then later in interview, but you don't need to put it all on that document.
Phil
Now, here's a top tip. It's a good idea to make a different version of your CV for every job you apply for, then you can move the most important skills to the top. So if a particular job asked for a specific skill and you can do that, make sure it's really clear on your CV, maybe move it towards the top of it.
Pippa
Yeah. And nowadays, some companies will ask you to put your qualifications and experience into a form, so they don't want to see your CV, that you've lovingly formatted for them. But it's useful to have it ready because then you have all of the information to hand. And making a CV helps you think about your strengths, what you're good at.
That's it for this episode. We have lots more programmes to help you with your English at work on our website. Like Office English, a series, all about the everyday situations we face at work. Visit bbclearningenglish.com to listen.
Phil
Next time, we'll be looking at job descriptions and how to know whether to apply for a role.
Pippa
See you then, goodbye.
Phil
Bye.