How to Create A Perfect First CV

Writing your first CV can be difficult and as you will probably have limited work experience, impressing hiring managers can be a challenge.

If you don’t know where to begin, you’ve come to the right place.

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Our experienced CV writers have listed their top tips for creating the perfect first CV.

1. Choose the Right Format

If you have no work experience whatsoever, it’s advisable to use a skill-based format that focuses your application on your skills rather than your experience.

As you can see from this example, the skills come before any work experience and include more detail.

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Chronological CVs may be more common, but they are better suited if you have completed various internships that can show transferable skills that you have gained.

2. Follow a Good Structure

Your structure defines the information on your CV, so you must select one that includes all essential information.

If you’re writing a skill-based CV, the structure should include: a header followed by a summary, skills, work experience, education, and hobbies and interests.

Avoid including any personal information that could lead to discrimination, such as gender, age, marital status or religion, and avoid adding a photo to your CV unless it’s for a career in modelling or acting where it’s generally requested.

However, it’s important to note that certain countries and regions may require some of the above information, so do some research before you begin writing your CV.

3. Use a Job Description as a Guide

Pay close attention to the language used within the job description and imitate it throughout your CV.

In order for ATS systems to select your CV, you’ll need popular keywords that are required for the role.

Let’s say you’re applying for a hairdressing position; you’ll need to include ‘customer service’, ‘trends’, ‘techniques’, ‘hair care’.

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You need to highlight the skills that will get you noticed.

4. Focus on Transferable Skills

Even if you haven’t had any work experience, you would have gained plenty of transferable skills at school, college or even at home.

Studying can teach you great time-management and organisational skills that you can highlight within your CV.

For example, you can say that you had to work towards tight deadlines during your dissertation, which helped you prioritise and stick to a schedule.

5. Include Hobbies and Interests

When you’re just starting out, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd.

One good way of doing so is to include hobbies and interests on your CV.

That said, don’t start adding random hobbies like ‘watching Netflix’; it has to be something productive that will make your CV shine – like volunteering or playing a team sport that will prove that you’re a team player.

6. Get Professional Help

If you’re still really unsure of where to begin, why not get a professional to write your CV for you?

You could work with one of our professional CV writers on CareerAddict.com, who will tailor your documents to the role you’re applying for and ensure they meet all the correct requirements.

So, that’s all you need to know to write a great first CV!

Zona Marwah