Silver Swan's CV Tips

Writing your CV:

This is very much dependant on the recruiters preference, we all like different layouts and different content....which I know is not massively helpful for you! But there are general points to note which are important to every employer.

The first thing I look for is Personal Details so having this first does always work for everyone. I don’t need to know absolutely everything here so don’t go into too much detail but your name, address and contact details (please don’t forget to have your phone number on there!) Some aren’t comfortable putting their DOB on, which is fine, but then be conscious of the amount of career history you chose to have there. You aren’t hiding much by not putting your DOB if you then put 30 years of career history and the dates you obtained your O Levels! The next thing I look at on a CV is I scan your employment history – so in my mind I like for this to fall underneath the Personal Details. I scan initially to see if you have the previous experience that I need for the role – if I have stated that I need for you to have 5 years recent silver service experience then I can very quickly see if you have or not. If your experience is the last 20 years is in the banking industry and you have never worked in a restaurant in your life then you will be quickly discounted before I have even looked at your personal profile, cover letter or the rest of your CV. So this goes back to my earlier point of only applying to roles that you are suitable for. Because I scan the employment history first, it needs to be clear. So by glancing at it I need to quickly see your job role, place of work and dates of employment then with your responsibilities listed underneath. I do not need to see 25 years of employment history – no offence but I don’t care what you did that long ago as it is no longer relevant. I would suggest maybe the last 5-10 years; unless you have been in the same role for that long then perhaps pop your previous employer on but with a much briefer explanation of the role. If you have the right level of experience then I will go through the CV in more detail and move on to read your personal profile. This should just be a few sentences to explain your current situation – not in terms of your job as I have read about that already – but in terms of why you are looking for a new role, why in France, why in this particular industry. Just so I can understand better why you want this job at this present time.

Lastly, regarding your CV, please be sensible and keep it to a couple of pages (absolute max 3 pages) and a sensible font. I have honestly had before someone write their CV in font 20 and it was about 8 pages. Ridiculous. Please also don’t think it is ‘cool’ to write it in Cosmic Sans – I don’t know why anyone would want their CV to look like a child has written it?!