Hi I’m Spencer Mehlman, The Founder of The National Skills Agency the UK’s leading specialist recruiter for the Apprenticeship & Training marketplace.
I have put together some CV & interview tips to help you secure that new job!
CV Time…
So, you have a CV and it feels ok, time to ask a few questions and make a few suggestions.
- Keep it simple, do not stray from the norm, avoid lots of graphics, borders, etc.
- Think about including a short cover letter expressing your interest in the role and highlighting some of your key skills.
- Please don’t PDF it if you are sending it to a recruitment Agency. Agents want to remove your contact details.
- Put a short summary at the beginning, use this to sell yourself.
- Include any relevant qualifications from your sector, a recruiter might just search a CV database using the qualifications needed.
- Put your last job first, it is very frustrating starting at the other end of your career reading about how you worked in a jam factory upon leaving school especially when have been an Apprenticeship Director for the last 10 years.
- Look at the job you are applying for does your CV use the same language and tone and does it clearly show you can meet the criteria.
- Keep to 2-3 pages unless you are a rocket scientist!
- Think about the content you can put in that shows how good you are. Here are some examples.
- I beat my sales target by 15% and generated £300k margin last year.
- Delivered the project within 6 months and came in 20% under budget.
- Awarded employee of the month 3 times.
- My department had a customer satisfaction rating of 98%.
- I was promoted 3 times across the 5 years.
- Please proofread it several times, check dates, use only 1 font, use spell check and try to get a trusted friend to read and critique it
Come back next week for interview tips to help you secure that new job!
By Spencer Mehlman, The Founder of The National Skills Agency
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