Your CV is the first point of contact between yourself and a prospective new employer. It is you first impression. Make it count. You will never get a second chance to make a first impression. The importance of a good CV in helping us to help you with job hunt cannot be underestimated.

The modern CV should be no longer than two pages. If you have written your own CV, you will know from experience how difficult this is to achieve whilst still managing to do justice to all that you have to offer. What should you put in and what should you leave out? You can’t be expected to know the answers to these questions because your skills lie elsewhere.

• Bullet Points are vital to helping you achieve this. It’s a summary of you, not a biography. If everything is on your CV, little is left to discuss in the interview.

A CV is a marketing document for use in a very competitive environment, this is now an accepted fact. It is not surprising therefore that more and more people are seeking professional help with preparing this vital document which is pivotal to their future careers.

You can achieve the recognition you deserve with a first class CV which will help you to get your dream job. This in turn will bring better salary prospects.

The cost of a professionally prepared CV is minimal - view it as an investment in your future.

• The most overlooked aspect of any CV is documents name. Make it distinguishable amongst the crowd. For example: Barrie Moore CV 01.12.doc

It’s always good to have the date it was last updated so the reader knows how recent it is.

• There’s no need to write CV, Curriculum Vitae or Resume on the document it’s self. It is what it is. The reader knows that already from the context in which they have received it. That, and you have already said so in the name of the document.

• Think about what file type/format you are saving your CV in. It is best practice to send you CV as a .doc file. This can be read by all word processing programs. Another common practice, all though not best, is to send CVs as a PDF file. Think about whom you are sending this to. Recruiters need .doc so that they can edit and desensitise before sending to a client. Where as PDFs don’t allow this. It would mean asking you to send in another copy and thus, more time for you.

• Brevity and Clarity. Be clear in what you are saying and don’t pad it out with irrelevant information. Use bullet points. Keeps you information clean and concise.

• Make your CV achievements oriented. This shows employers the value that you have added for your pervious employers. Rather than saying “I can do this”, it’s better to say, “I can prove, that I have done this”.

• Date your times and positions in descending order. Starting with your current or most recent role.

Sep 2008 – Present, National Account Manager – Branded Food Business