Writing your first CV.

For most local jobs, a CV only needs to be one page. Employers read it quickly, so make it easy to see who you are, how to reach you, what you’ve done and when you can work.

What to put on it

1. Your name and how to contact you: phone, email and your area (Southall, Hayes…). You don’t need your full address, date of birth or a photo.
2. A two-line summary: what you’re looking for and why you’d be good at it.
3. Experience: jobs, with the month and year you started and finished. No jobs yet? Volunteering, helping in a family business, school or uni projects and sports teams all count.
4. Skills: tills, food hygiene, driving licence, forklift, customer service, computers.
5. Languages: if you speak Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Somali, Polish or another language, say so. Plenty of jobs round here need it.
6. When you can work: days, evenings, weekends, and when you can start.

Before you send it

• Check the spelling, and ask someone to read it.
• Save it as a PDF, named with your name.
• Change your summary a little for each job.

Make your CV now