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WARWICK ANDAND

APPLICATIONS YOURINTERVIEWS
CAREER

YOUR CV
TARGETING YOUR CV TO THE ROLE YOU ARE AD: Summer Inte
rnship Programm
APPLYING FOR IS ESSENTIAL TO GET TO INTERVIEW. At Diamond Plus e
B
committed to helpank, we are
their capabilities ing our people reach
.O
t’s essential that you adapt involvement in internships offer ur summer

I your CV. Each time you apply


for a job you need to tweak it
to fit that particular role.

1. Start with the person


clubs and societies)
can be as valuable
as paid work.
What matters to
employers is the
contributing mem
u
s
responsibility. Yo tudents real
learn quickly, as will need to be able to
you will be fully
b
develop your skill ers of a team and
s
specification or job description,
as this lists exactly what skills
skills you’ve
developed. Make
industry. You will for the financial
w
the employer is looking for. sure you’ve learn from, leade ork alongside, and
These are the criteria your CV provided
rs within finance
mentored by you and be
will be assessed by. evidence for r team leader.
every job
2. Think of examples from your requirement. Through working
w
work, internships, volunteering, motivated people ith other bright,
fr
study, interests, travel or home 5. Triple check undertaking resp om the firm and
o
valuable insights nsibility you will gain
life that prove you have these job ALL spelling
requirements. Choose examples and grammar a
that show you using the skills in and ask you in your future nd experience to help
a way that is similar to how they someone else to career.
would be used in the role. proofread the
final draft. Many employers
3. Plan the sections you need in will regard even one error as an
your CV, then decide on section indication of poor motivation
titles and order. for the job and reject you on that
basis.
4. Incorporate your skills into the
most relevant section/s of your There is further, useful information in our articles on demonstrating
CV, remembering that unpaid your skills PAGE 25 and on speculative applications PAGE 35
activity (eg volunteering,

CV Sections • Feature skills that are most relevant • Giving details will impress more than a
to the job you are applying for. You can vague statement, for example,
Personal details split this into two sections: ‘Relevant ‘Compete in regular half marathons,
• Name, address, telephone number, work experience’, outlining directly raising £1000 for Cancer Research
email address. related experience, and ‘Other last year ’ says more about you than
• You don’t need to include your date of experience’, listing everything else. simply ‘Running’.
birth, marital status or sex. Change the titles of these headings to
References
• Use a professional sounding email, reflect what’s most important for the
such as your full name, rather than a role, for example ‘Research experience’ • If you do give references, then a good
nickname. If necessary, set up a new or ‘Communications experience’. policy is to include one employer and
account. one academic referee for jobs and two
Skills academic referees for courses. You
Education
• IT, languages (including the level of can simply state ‘References available
• University education – include any competency) and any technical skills on request’.
relevant modules or a dissertation – for example, lab techniques.
title. Length
• A levels. Positions of responsibility • Most employers will expect the
• Number of GCSEs (or equivalent). • This is optional: include it if you have standard UK CV length of two pages.
Work experience
any relevant responsibilities. • Academic CVs are often longer as you
are required to include conferences,
Interests
•Include both paid and voluntary work publications, etc.
and any part-time or on-campus work • List the skills acquired from leisure
• CVs for banking jobs or management
you’ve done. activities, club/society memberships, consultancy should be no more than
travel. one page.

30 THE ULTIMATE CAREERS GUIDE: LONDON 2019 www.thecareersgroup.co.uk


APPLICATIONS AND INTERVIEWS

THIS CV IS WRITTEN FOR THE SUMMER INTERNSHIP WITH DIAMOND BANK.


NOTICE HOW IT GIVES EXAMPLES TO DEMONSTRATE ALL THE SKILLS
ON THE INTERNSHIP ADVERT ON THE PREVIOUS PAGE.
• It’s obvious this is a CV as it starts
with their name as a title.
• Begin with the most recent events
Samantha Chester and include current education.
41 Station Road, NW1 8QP yahoo.co.uk
sam.chester@
Mobile: 07797 345621 Email:

EDUCATION & COURSES ege, University of London


2015–2018 BSc Economics, Queen’s Coll business and microeconomic
s.
al methods in econom and ics
t of microeconomics. • Includes a couple of
Modules include: mathematic fina ncia l mar kets as par
developed through study of presenting to peers and lect
urers seven times, both modules which give
• Commercial awareness skills and confidence through
d oral com mun ication relevant knowledge for
• Improve ally.
as a group of four and individu the job, along with
• Flags up a skill 2008–2015 Har t Secondary School, Poo
le
Level: psychology (B) further details on
outlined in the
hem atics (A), bus ines s studies (B), biology (B); AS content.
job description. A levels: mat lish (A)
atics (A*) and Eng
10 GCSEs including mathem site. • Draws out the
• Uses numbers to ing’, Haymarket Bank, on-
Jan 2012, ‘Principles of Trad through one day intr odu ction to trading. transferable skills
provide specific reness
Increased commercial awa outlined in the job
information, description:
increasing the WORK EXPERIENCE nt, Nexus Training, London which
P/t Administration Assista ent and resources needed, responsibility,
impact of her Sept 2015–Present
resp ons ibility of rese arch ing viability of online enrolm
writing. • Entrusted with additional to tender.
t team agreeing to put job out p to ensure an efficient service was provided and
interpersonal/
resulted in senior managemen lly dive rse clie nt grou relationship-building
• Summarises • Built successful relation
ships with eth
kly.
nica
onstrating self-motivation. ability, self-motivation.
GCSEs. queries were answered quic tasks ahead of schedule, dem
• Includes any • Worked largely unsupervis
ed and ofte n com plet ed
k for 50 training courses, suc
h as booking participants onto
courses and • Uses examples to back
• Organise d all adm inis trat ion wor up the skills: avoid at
relevant careers- erwork. senior management team.
related courses. completing all the related pap feedback forms to produce reports and presented to all costs just listing
and ana lyse d your skills.
• Regularly recorded
• Lines between
June 2013–Aug 2015 P/t
Sales Assistant, Curry’s, Poo
le
internal computer systems
and to keep up to date with
the latest
ne forums. • Again, draws out
sections, k out trai ning on vari ous par ticip ating in onli
• Took the initiative to see gy, thro ugh read ing magazines, websites and dea ling with transferable skills
capitalised titles developments in audio-visua
l tech nolo
branches and head office and
and bullet points rper son al skil ls whe n liais ing with colleagues at other outlined in job
• Utilised inte ts and description: ambition,
make it easy to external suppliers. up late deliveries or paymen
skil ls and ass erti ven ess through regularly chasing interpersonal skills.
read. • Improved communication
handled customer queries
sac
and complaints.
tion s and used organisational skil
ls to track stock levels and
order products. • Uses this section to
• Dealt with fina ncia l tran again show skills
POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILIT
Y kly meetings, to increase outlined in job
Wor ked clos ely with a team of seven, through wee the department.
mittee mem ber :
ers events and liaised with description: teamwork
• Economics Society Com nise d and ran social and finance care 50 at each one.
society members hip by 17% ; orga , with turnout of 40– and interpersonal
• Choice of title nise d and ran thre e soc ial events/trips off-campus hing , mot ivat ing and
In a team of three, orga and weekly matches, teac skills.
highlights ability
tba ll coa ch for loca l you th team: Organising training disc ipline whe re nec ess ary.
• Foo iding
to take young people, as well as prov
encouraging a squad of 15
responsibility. TS lved developing a
OTHER SKILLS & ACHIEVEMEN erprise Challenge. This invo
• Includes
• Achieve d 2nd plac e out of 27 team s in the Queen’s College Ent
cep ts quickly, and pitc hing it to a panel of
extracurricular in thre e hou rs, req uirin g the ability to learn new con
business plan
careers-related experts from industry. int.
activities. d, Excel, Access and Powerpo
• IT: Intermediate level Wor man .
nal Ger
• It is fine to write • Languages: Conversatio
‘Available upon
REFERENCES
request’.
Available on request
A final checklist
1 Does it look professional and can 5 Beware of using too many visuals
the reader find the information or too much colour, unless you
they need easily? Make your are going for design-related roles.
section headings stand out, using Remember, content is always
bold and/or a larger font. key.

The profile debate 2 Present your information, such as 6 If you are sending out your CV
date layout, in a consistent way. speculatively, send it directly to
You don’t have to have a ‘profile’ or the manager of the department
‘career objective’ at the top of your 3 Remember to use reverse you are interested in and not HR.
CV. It’s really a matter of personal chronological order in your If you know someone in the
preference. If you do decide to education and experience sections. organisation find out if they will
include one, make it specific and pass your CV to the relevant
ensure any statements regarding 4 Check for spelling and grammar
person.
your skills are complemented by errors. Don’t rely on a computer
concrete examples. spellchecker!

www.thecareersgroup.co.uk THE ULTIMATE CAREERS GUIDE: LONDON 2019 31

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