CV best practice: guidelines from Alium

Follow our guidance to ensure your CV gives us – and potential clients – the information needed to find the right assignments for you.

• Write a chronological CV – do not send a one page summary and expect providers and ultimately clients to fully understand your background and experience
• Include your most up to date role first – start with your most recent role and work backwards
• Keep the format simple – avoid overly fussy layouts, or tables and columns. Present your CV in a simple Word format so that it can be easily read
• Keep it short – do not send a CV that is longer than 4 pages. Clients will simply not have the time to spend reading through overly lengthy CVs
• Include your contact details – it is really important that we can contact you quickly, so make sure you include at least your mobile number, home telephone and an email address. If your contact details change, notify us as soon as you are able to
• Include a profile statement – this is your opportunity to distil in a short paragraph your core skills and experience. It is a key marketing tool and the first statement a client will read about you
• Detail your achievements – list your key accomplishments in permanent or interim roles
• Outline your previous roles – include your title, any reporting responsibilities and any budgets you held
• Include details about your previous employers – be clear about what the business does, the part of the businesses you worked for (state whether it was for the Group or Division) and include a short description of the company’s activities and their turnover to give the provider an indication of the scale of roles you have been responsible for
• Mention languages – only indicate where you are fluent or can converse in a language for business purposes
• Summarise Education and Qualifications – list only those that are relevant to employers today, including degrees, business or professional qualifications.

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