CV help for a school leaver...

Quackers

My daughter is almost 16 & wants to start handing out her CV...hopefully her NI number will arrive any day now :cool:

...but she hasn't got a CV to hand out :rotfl:

She's asked for my help in putting one together :eek:

It's been 15 years since I last applied for a job so if anyone can point me in the right direction of a good template/starting point it would be much appreciated

All the ones I've found online are for people who've been working for years and have lots to list! I could really do with more specific advice on what to put on a school leavers CV.

Any people out there who recruit? I'd love to hear what 'floats your boat' when you read a CV

Liquorice_Twirls

I think the basics have to be spot on, such as spelling and grammar - so many have simple spelling mistakes which are off-putting. As your daughter is only 16, she will have limited information to supply other than her GCSE results, however any work experience she has done or any part time jobs will be helpful for employers. Anything she has done at school other than in lessons will also help to show employers that she has some initiative e.g. helping fund raise for Red Nose day at school, any sporting activities she has participated/done well in, being a prefect or helping at lunchtime in the school library etc

Good luck to her.

Quackers

Liquorice_Twirls wrote: »

I think the basics have to be spot on, such as spelling and grammar - so many have simple spelling mistakes which are off-putting. As your daughter is only 16, she will have limited information to supply other than her GCSE results, however any work experience she has done or any part time jobs will be helpful for employers. Anything she has done at school other than in lessons will also help to show employers that she has some initiative e.g. helping fund raise for Red Nose day at school, any sporting activities she has participated/done well in, being a prefect or helping at lunchtime in the school library etc

Good luck to her.

Thank you

I'd not thought about fund raising...she organised & took part in a 10 miles walk last year for Children in Need so I must remind her to put that in.


Her spelling is atrocious... for which I blame spell checkers..all her friends are the same.. don't get me ranting about that! lol.

GCSE results aren't going to be out for a few weeks... is it ok to put predicted results or just to put 'awaiting grades'?

Oldernotwiser

She could make an appointment with a Connexions PA who would be able to help her write her CV.

7891368

I'm a few years older than your daughter so I have worked but my CV has the following

My name and contact details at the very top then lists the following headings

Personal profile; so basically sum herself up in a few sentences (school leaver, keen to learn, able to work in a team.

Then goes onto key skills

Problem Solving;
Ability to work
Independently;

Teamwork;

[FONT=&quot]Business Awareness; [/FONT]

Basically explain how she could demonstrate those skills in a few sentences based on school/any hobbies such as sports clubs, Volunteering if she has taken part in such.

Then education most recent first in her case just secondary school. Put her predicted grades in and just state they are predicted.

I then have work experience; Did she do any whilst at school even for a week? State where it was and brief description of what she did.

Then Interests; What does she do in free time obviously. Musical instruments? Anything extra curricular.

Then I've put referees available on request.

It may be worth her asking a few teachers at school if they would be willing to act as referees for her (i.e permission to use them as a contact) as she is applying for jobs. Remember schools will finish soon after July so it will be more difficult to obtain permission so it would be helpful if she had an email address to offer potential employers.

This has worked for me since I was 15, it won't work for everyone but there you go. It's a good outline if ou have little experience, its based on a university careers outline from college (designed for people with little experience)

Kaleidoscope27

What everyone else has said But also consider the layout of the CV. I've done quite a bit of retail work so have seen plenty of CV's from 16 year olds (with retail being popular for summer/christmas temp jobs etc) and some of them were too hard to follow because part of it was left justifed, part right and the rest centred with no logical formatting. They looked confusing and thus, the owners of the CV's weren't invited for an interview.

With regards to GCSE results, put her predicted grades.

flutterbyuk25

Aimed at uni students but this will help:

http://prospects.ac.uk/cvs.htm

HTH

x

Quackers

Excellent...thank you all muchly for your help

heretolearn_2

Did the school have a work experience scheme - she should list this in the same way that you would a job (although making clear it was work experience placement). If not, can she arrange one herself for a couple of weeks? Makes a world of difference on the CV and she'll get a reference.

7891368

Say it time and time again, try the charity shops or vinspired (offer a really good award v50; which can be put on her CV as a qualification and in her personal statement if she wants to go to Uni).

Charity shops jump at the prospect of 'fresh blood' whereas v inspired is all young people doing projects in the local area, there are loads over summer so it would give her something to do/talk about at interview/show she hasn't just sat around all summer.

This is what my brother's doing (same age as your daughter, as I did). I've worked since I was 14 but times are changing! But I've had a fair few interviews always mention volunteering. Interviewers tend to be interested because so few people do it and I've had fantastic experiences from doing so. Met loads of friends, organised local fairs, painted more rooms than fingers, worked in oxfam for 6 months. I absolutely love volunteering; this summer I will be workign in council run play schemes and I can't wait.