At St Andrews, many students have spent their high school years focusing on their studies, and by the time they reach university, they find themselves applying for jobs for the first time. This comes with numerous stages all with their own challenges, but every application begins with the same, essential step: drafting your CV.
Lucky for you, alongside school, I have worked part-time since the age of 14 in a range of industries from healthcare to hospitality. Which means I am a seasoned pro when it comes to creating and submitting a CV. I have never not made it to at least the interview stage for a job, so I would like to think that I have perfected the art of crafting the CV, and I’m here to share all of my best pieces of advice with you!
1. Don’t overshare
While your curriculum vitae is the place to show off your best skills, your employer does not need to know about every single role you had in the annual high school musical, nor how many goals you scored for each of your football matches. The CV is the place to share your transferable skills.
What do I mean by that? Transferable skills are skills that are applicable across various fields of work. To give you a better understanding, here is an example from my CV: “I spent the academic year 2023/2024 teaching English in a primary school in Spain. This gave me experience working with children in addition to being the first job where I had to complete tasks for work at home, thus improving my time management and organisational skills. I also really enjoyed working with children and being creative in finding different ways to engage the class.” Notice how instead of describing different worksheets I prepared or what activities I came up with, I drew attention to organisational skills, time management and creativity. That’s because these are going to be useful in almost any job I apply for, whereas classroom activities are specific to teaching jobs.
2. Do attach a cover letter
Building on the previous point, you don’t need to be overly specific in your CV because that is the purpose of a cover letter. Let’s use one of the above examples and say you are applying for a position as a football coach. In your application, you could state something like, “As I highlighted in my CV, I was the captain of my high school football team. Through this experience, I developed…” You can then elaborate on the various specific skills you gained from that role.
3. Don’t write an essay
One common mistake when writing a CV is using elaborate, academic language and phrases that we use when trying to persuade our teachers that we know exactly what we’re talking about when we really don’t. Lucky for you, a CV doesn’t need to sound literary! The point of a CV is to be informative, so stick to detailing the important things and save your hyperboles for your academic essays.
4. Do think about structure
Much like this article, some things are just better with headings. When writing your CV, it’s important to focus on three or four key areas. Remember, a CV should generally be no longer than a page and a half. I recommend organizing your CV using the following headings: Personal Qualities and Skills, Previous Employment, Other Relevant Experience, and Academic Achievements. Within the personal qualities and skills section, I talk about what I consider to be my most valuable traits (when it comes to a job setting), such as being punctual, bilingual, and hardworking. Previous employment is pretty self-explanatory. When it comes to relevant experience, this is where I include things such as volunteering and my exchange year abroad. Occasionally, I tweak this section to better suit the job I am applying for, but again, I don’t go into too much detail as I save this for the cover letter. Lastly, within the academic section, I mention my course name, prior education, and the grades I received in which subjects. Although this section can be brief, I believe it should not be omitted.
Writing your CV does not need to be a long and difficult process. With these simple tips and your impressive achievements, you can write a smashing CV in no time! Remember, it’s okay to subtly highlight your strengths — your CV is the perfect place to showcase your best attributes. Congratulations in advance for getting that job you’re after!