How do I write a good CV?

There are so many different versions out there, that it gets confusing, to say the least. BITE offers a CV service where we will help you to engineer your CV to suit the International UK market for a one off fee of £500 or opting to join BITE entitles you to a free CV! Ask for an appointment to discuss how we can help.

If you don't want to go down this route, then here are some general pointers to remember for a CV.

• Don't put your picture on the CV. That is old fashioned and may corrupt your CV when it is loaded onto a database.
• Don't use columns or tables in your CV. Emailing your CV, different versions of windows and database loading all could corrupt your layout – and agents hate something difficult to read.
• Don't use colours. We are grown up now, pretty colours are for kiddies to make things pretty. This is a professional document you are creating.
• Don't exceed a reasonable length. Around 4-5 pages is more than enough for a 10yr career you are encapsulating. If it is more than that, are you including a lot of unnecessary data, rambling on or wasting white space on each page?
• DO make sure you highlight your skills set, and identify your career title. Launching straight into a blurb about what you want from your prospective company does not help if you have not specified you are a Java Developer!
• DO explain in good detail what you did on each job and your responsibility. Bullet points don't do it unless you have a section that explains overall your duties and achievements.

Remember that CV's need to be read by people and database search strings! The BITE CV has proved very successful, why not take advantage and be seen by agents.