How to format and structure a CV [Get more interviews]

Summary

This video from the Standout CV YouTube channel offers expert guidance on crafting a professional CV. It emphasizes a clean, simple format using Microsoft Word, avoiding unnecessary design elements for easy readability. The presenter suggests a concise, two-page layout, with clear section headings and bold titles to facilitate skimming. The script covers structuring the CV with a profile, core skills, role descriptions, and achievements, prioritizing recent work experience. It advises placing education towards the end for experienced candidates and omitting hobbies unless highly relevant. The video concludes with a reminder to include 'references available on request' for a polished finish.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video teaches how to format and structure a CV for professionalism and readability.
• 🔍 It emphasizes simplicity in CV design, avoiding unnecessary graphics and logos.
• 🖋 A clear font and simple color scheme, like black and white, are recommended for clarity.
• 📄 Aim for a CV length of around two pages to maintain reader interest without overwhelming them.
• 🔑 Make the CV easy to skim-read by using clear headings and bold titles for sections.
• 📝 Include a professional title and contact details at the top of the CV, avoiding unnecessary personal information.
• 💡 Start with a compelling profile or personal statement to hook the reader's attention.
• 📋 Add a core skills section to highlight relevant skills that align with the job requirements.
• 📊 Structure role descriptions with an overview, responsibilities in bullet points, and key achievements.
• 🔍 Place the most recent roles with more detail at the top, and condense older roles as you go down the CV.
• 🎓 Education and qualifications should be listed at the bottom for experienced candidates, except when relevant to the role.
• 🏞 Hobbies and interests are generally not included unless they are highly relevant or impressive for the job applied for.
• 📞 End the CV with a note that references are available upon request, if space permits.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video?

The main purpose of the video is to teach viewers how to format and structure a CV professionally, making it easy for recruiters and hiring managers to read.

Why is it important to keep the CV design simple?

A simple design is important because it helps recruiters and hiring managers to focus on the content rather than being distracted by unnecessary design elements, making the CV easier to read and process.

What is the recommended length for a CV?

The recommended length for a CV is around two pages of A4, which provides enough space to showcase your qualifications and experience without overwhelming the reader.

Why should the CV be easy to skim read?

The CV should be easy to skim read because recruiters and hiring managers often quickly scan through CVs to pick up key points, and an easily skimmable CV helps them quickly identify relevant information.

What should be included in the major sections of the CV?

Major sections of the CV should include a bold heading and a border underneath to make them stand out. Each work experience role should be headed with a bold title and spaced out for easy reading.

What is the purpose of the profile or personal statement in a CV?

The profile or personal statement serves as an introductory paragraph to hook the reader's attention and encourage them to read the rest of the CV. It summarizes the candidate's skills and knowledge tailored towards the roles they are applying for.

Why is it beneficial to include a core skills section in the CV?

Including a core skills section provides a snapshot of the candidate's most valuable skills relevant to the job, making it easy for the reader to quickly identify a good match between the candidate's abilities and the job requirements.

How should work experience be presented in the CV?

Work experience should be presented with an outline providing an overview of the job and employer, followed by bullet points detailing responsibilities and key achievements. More recent roles should be more detailed, while older roles can be summarized more briefly.

Why is it common to place education and qualifications towards the bottom of the CV for experienced candidates?

For experienced candidates, recent work experience is more relevant and indicative of current capabilities, so it is given more prominence. Education and qualifications are placed at the bottom to maintain focus on work experience.

Why are hobbies and interests typically not included in a CV?

Hobbies and interests are typically not included in a CV because they rarely influence a hiring decision unless they are closely related to the job or demonstrate exceptional personal achievements.

What is the final touch recommended for a CV?

The final touch recommended for a CV is a line stating 'references available on request', which can be omitted if space is limited but is considered a nice finishing touch.

Outlines

00:00

📄 Professional CV Formatting and Structure

The video script introduces a tutorial on crafting a professional CV. It emphasizes the importance of a clean and simple format, avoiding unnecessary design elements like photos and logos, which do not influence hiring decisions. The recommended format is a two-page A4 document in Microsoft Word with a clear font and simple color scheme, predominantly black and white. The script also advises on making the CV easy to skim-read by using bold headings and borders for major sections, and spacing between roles to enhance readability. The video promises to guide viewers on how to present their work experience and achievements effectively.

05:00

🔍 Key Elements of a Standout CV

This paragraph delves into the structure of a CV, starting with a professional title and contact details, followed by a compelling profile or personal statement designed to capture the reader's attention. It suggests including a core skills section with bullet points to highlight relevant skills for the job. The paragraph also covers the presentation of role descriptions, emphasizing the need to provide an overview, detailed responsibilities in concise points, and key achievements. It advises that more recent roles should be more detailed, while older roles can be summarized briefly. The script mentions the placement of education and qualifications towards the bottom for experienced candidates, and the exclusion of hobbies and interests unless they are exceptional or relevant to the job. It concludes with the suggestion to include a note about references being available on request.

Keywords

💡CV

A CV, or curriculum vitae, is a comprehensive document that outlines an individual's educational background, work experience, skills, and achievements. In the video, the CV is the central theme, with the focus on how to format and structure it professionally for job applications. The script uses the term to discuss the importance of a well-formatted CV in getting interviews.

💡Formatting

Formatting refers to the arrangement and style of a document, which in this case is the CV. The video emphasizes the importance of a simple and professional format, avoiding unnecessary design features, and using clear fonts and color schemes to make the CV easy to read for recruiters and hiring managers.

💡Professional

The term 'professional' is used to describe the desired look and feel of a CV. It implies that the document should be polished, appropriate for the job market, and convey a sense of competence and seriousness. The script advises keeping the CV simple and clean to maintain a professional appearance.

💡Recruiters

Recruiters are professionals who seek out potential candidates for job positions. In the context of the video, recruiters are the primary audience for the CV, and the script suggests making the CV easy for them to skim and identify key information quickly.

💡Hiring Managers

Hiring managers are responsible for the hiring process in an organization. They assess CVs to find suitable candidates. The video script highlights the need to make the CV reader-friendly for hiring managers, who often skim through documents to find relevant information.

💡Skimming

Skimming is a reading technique where the reader quickly scans the text to get the gist of the information. The script mentions that recruiters and hiring managers skim CVs, so it's important to make key details easily accessible and the document skimmable.

💡Profile or Personal Statement

A profile or personal statement is an introductory paragraph in a CV that summarizes the candidate's skills and experiences. The video script describes it as a way to hook the reader's attention and encourage them to read the rest of the CV, tailored towards the roles being applied for.

💡Core Skills

Core skills are the essential abilities and competencies that are highly valued in the job market and relevant to the position being applied for. The script suggests listing these skills in a bullet-point format to create a snapshot that stands out to the reader.

💡Work Experience

Work experience refers to the jobs and roles an individual has held in the past. The video script advises structuring this section with clear headings, bullet points, and key achievements to make it easy for readers to digest the information and assess the candidate's capabilities.

💡Education and Qualifications

Education and qualifications are the academic and professional certifications an individual has earned. The script indicates that for experienced candidates, these should be listed towards the bottom of the CV, while for those with less experience, education might be highlighted more prominently.

💡Hobbies and Interests

Hobbies and interests are personal activities and pursuits that individuals enjoy outside of work. The video script advises against including a hobbies section in a CV unless the hobbies are highly relevant to the job or demonstrate significant personal achievements, as they typically do not influence hiring decisions.

💡References

References are individuals who can vouch for a candidate's skills, character, and work ethic. The script mentions adding a line at the end of the CV stating 'references available on request,' indicating that these can be provided if needed by the potential employer.

Highlights

Introduction to the video teaching viewers how to format and structure a CV professionally.

Emphasis on the importance of a CV's readability for recruiters and hiring managers.

Use of a real CV as an example, modified to protect privacy, demonstrating successful job market application.

Discussion on the universality of the CV format across professions and industries.

Advice against using design features, photos, and logos in a CV for professional simplicity.

Recommendation to use a clear font and simple color scheme, particularly black and white.

Suggestion to aim for a CV length of around two pages for optimal engagement.

Importance of making a CV easy to skim-read for recruiters who look for key points quickly.

Instruction on using bold headings and borders to distinguish major sections of the CV.

The significance of clear, bold titles for each work experience role in the CV.

Advice on leaving space between roles to improve readability.

Explanation of the structure starting with the candidate's name and professional title.

Guidance on including only necessary contact details without overcomplicating the CV.

The role of the profile or personal statement as an introductory paragraph to catch attention.

Inclusion of a core skills section to highlight valuable and relevant skills.

The method of detailing role descriptions with an outline, responsibilities, and key achievements.

Insight into why recent roles should be more detailed than older ones in a CV.

Placement of education and qualifications towards the bottom for experienced candidates.

Recommendation against including hobbies and interests unless highly relevant or impressive.

Conclusion with the optional addition of 'references available on request' at the end of the CV.

Encouragement for viewers to ask questions in the comments and subscribe for more advice.

Transcripts

hello and welcome to the standout CV

YouTube channel in this video I'm going

to teach you how to format and structure

your CV so it looks professional and

it's nice and easy for recruiters and

hiring managers to read so before I get

started if you know here make sure you

hit the red subscribe button take it

access to all of my new CV advice videos

so this is a real CV which we wrote for

a customer while ago obviously the

personal details and company names have

been changed here but I chose this CV

because it's been used in the job market

before and it managed to get interviews

for this person so it did its job now as

you can see it's an administrator CV but

you can apply this format to any

profession any industry because the goal

is always the same for the CV to look

professional and provide a pleasant

reading experience and there's no need

to overcomplicate that so the first

thing I'm going to talk about is the

overall format of the CV you'll notice

it's a very simple format written in

good old Microsoft Word there are no way

he designed features no photographs no

logos and that's because those things

will never have any effects on a hiring

decision so there are a total waste of

space from a design and aesthetics point

of view you just need to keep it really

simple by using a clear font and a

simple color scheme so black and white

like this one tends to work the best now

some people may think that's a bit

boring but believe me when I say this

makes it much easier for recruiters and

hiring managers to read than an

elaborate CV which is congested with

lots of unnecessary design features in

terms of CV link you should be aiming

for around 2 pages of a4 that just gives

you enough to be able to prove that

you're a good candidate without going

off for so long that it bores people if

you spill on to the third page a bit

it's not the end of the world but if you

start going on to a fourth it's very

unlikely that anybody is going to read

that far it's just the attention spans

you're dealing with

in today's job market one really

important thing that you need to do if

your CV is to make sure that it's easy

for people to skim read so when most

recruiters or hiring managers open up a

CV what they'll tend to do is skim

through it and try to pick up a few key

points that they're looking for so you

need to accommodate for that and make

sure that the the key information is

easy

to find in order to do this you should

head all of your major CV sections like

this one with a big bold heading and you

should even if you can add a border

underneath that so if you want to do

that just click on the Home tab and then

go over to this icon here and add a

bottom border then when you go down to

your work experience your roles you need

to make sure you're heading each one

with a nice bold title so that's clear

and you want to leave a good couple of

lines worth four space between each one

adding all of this type of formatting

will just help people to read the CV

pick up the things they need and it

should increase the responses you get

from your applications now that I've

covered the formatting of the CV let's

take a look at the structure so starting

from the very top you need to head your

CV obviously with your name and I like

to add professional title here because

that just sort of sets the tone for the

CV and suddenly tells people that you

know they might have a good suitable

person here then underneath there just

add your contact details so very simple

locations had a phone email don't go

overboard adding your full address and

date of birth and things like that

because they're just not necessary at

this stage of the application so the

first proper content part of your CV is

this part here the profile or personal

statement is sometimes called and this

is basically an introductory paragraph

and its aim is to hook people's

attention when they first open up the CV

and ensure they sort of are encouraged

to read the rest of it now I'm not going

to go into a huge amount of detail about

water right here because I have another

video that's dedicated to writing CV

profiles but what I will say is you need

to summarize your skills and knowledge

and tailor it towards the roles you're

applying for underneath your profile

it's good to add a core skill section

like this so basically what this is is a

bullet pointed list of your most

valuable skills that relate to the jobs

you're applying for and the effect it

has is that it creates a snapshot of

these in-demand skills which kind of

jump off the page of readers if you

table them properly to the jobs you're

applying for

as soon as someone opens up their CV

there's straightaway you're going to see

those I think anything right looks like

we've got a good match here so it's very

simple but very effective now let's move

on to role descriptions

again the idea here is just to make it

really easy for readers to digest the

information on the page so to start the

rolls with an outline which provides a

nice overview of the job and who you

work for and then detail the

responsibilities of the role in short

sharp but it points so they're nice and

easy to skim through and then round the

roll up with some key achievements of

anything you've done that's that's had a

big impact on the employer as we scroll

down the CV you'll notice that these

roles get shorter and that's simply

because recruiters will be most

interested in your recent work because

that's the best way to gauge your

current capabilities so that's why your

current or most recent role needs to be

pretty big and have lots of detail and

as they scroll down the CV they'll tend

to become less interested in the older

roles so you can shorten them down and

if you've got lots of roles you know you

can just have sort of one-line summaries

for the very very old ones once you've

finished listing your work experience

then you need to add your education and

qualifications near to the bottom of the

CV so for experienced candidates you

know you want to keep this very very

light I mean there should be mentions of

your education at the top of the CV and

the profile and core skills if they're

relevant to the roles you're applying

for but the full list of your education

should actually be at the bottom of the

CV the only exception to this is if you

are a school leaver or you have little

experience then you know you probably

want to put your education nearer to the

top but for most experienced people this

is the the best format to use now you'll

notice there are no hobbies and

interests on this CV no no hobbies

section and that's because 99 times out

hundreds or hobbies and interests will

not have any effects on a hiring

decision unless you have a hobby that is

very very related closely to the roles

you're applying for or perhaps if you've

done you know some really amazing stuff

like running marathons climbing

mountains but if like the most of us you

have pretty boring hobbies like going to

the cinema on eating out they aren't

gonna wow anyone so you know just just

leave them out of the CV and to round

off the CV I like to add a nice little

line saying references available on

request here

that's not I send you you don't have to

do that I personally just think it looks

nice but if you're running out of space

you know you don't have to do that so

that brings me near to the end of this

video so before I wrap things up if you

have any questions just ask them in the

comments below I do read them and I do

reply to them as soon as I can so thanks

very much for watching if you found the

video helpful please hit the like button

and don't forget to subscribe to the

channel and best of luck with your job

search

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