How to format CV

Mark_Glasses

Some time ago I had an online session with a job coach both as group and individually. The CV advice was to save in a Microsoft Word 97-03 format and to make it ATS friendly.

In my individual session he advised me to keep my CV the same because it was getting me plenty of interviews and my issue was not passing the interview.

All that's changed on my CV since then is my current job being added to the top and older jobs being slimmed down at the bottom. Yet last year I applied for a handful of jobs but had no interviews and in the last 2-3 weeks I've applied for 6 jobs and have had a generic rejection email from 4 of them and yet to hear from the other 2.

The advice might have changed since then. Should we still be using Microsoft Word 97-03?

Is there a way to lay it out? e.g. which order to put job title, company and dates in? left align or centre align? should I use bullet points or just plainly list them without using bullets?

DullGreyGuy

CVs are like marmite, speak to 100 people and you'll get at least 110 ideas on what the best way to do it is. The reality is everyone has their preferences and unless you or the agent deeply knows the hiring manager there is little point in trying to second guess. 

Personally have a personal statement, a few bullets of key skills, list of jobs with date, employer/client and job title and under each one bullets of key tasks/accomplishments. At the end a short section on education/qualifications. 

Someone once told me that this was far too junior way of doing things and so temporarily a new section of key achievements was added (undated) and roles were reduced to a simple list with nothing under each one. Went from 4 sides to 2. 

First interview went with it it worked exactly how they said it would, the hiring manager came in having highlighted items on the front and asked how I'd done these things. Second and third time I used it I was told they wouldn't accept it and I had to reformat to something more traditional if I wanted to be considered.

I occasionally do go back to the unorthodox CV, mainly when I don't want to say that I did the same thing 15 years ago rather than last year, but mainly stick to the traditional - still get the occasional comment to say its not great but haven't been out of work for 15 years as a contractor 

Main thing is to make it clearly laid out, keep the same tense the way through, keep it consistent as first or third person but talk about I/he/she rather than we/they. Above all, keep it relevant to the job... an agent shared feedback on CVs recieved from a hiring manager a while back for a Business Analyst role on a complaints system, lots of ranting but what got his goat most was someone starting with "I'm a qualified accountant" which is totally irrelevant for the job and only really relevant for a BA if its a Finance project. 

concerneduk2020

How long ago are you talking about? it’s now easier for companies to reject cvs before they ever reach a human, or the HR department pre-screens them for keywords before they reach a hiring manager who knows enough about the industry to realise that even though you don’t have the exact same qualification/experience/buzzwords on the job spec you are still capable of doing the job. I now have 4 base cvs depending on whether I’m applying to do the exact same thing in the exact same industry or if I’m applying for a stretch role in a different industry or some variation between the two. I then tailor the cv for each application so I’m using the keywords from the job spec, and putting more emphasis on essential skills v desirable. 

Savvy_Sue

As for format, you pay close attention to what is asked for. I prefer to send a PDF because I know that won't change, whatever app is used to open it. But if employer asks for Word, I'd send that. And if there was an application form, I wouldn't send a CV.

YBR

I've been advised to keep CV's to 2 pages, although there are exceptions.

Make it clear, well structured and make the skills/experience most relevant to that application stand out. Bear in mind that someone may be sifting through scores of CVs applying for a single role so they need to see your potential quickly.

Exactly how you order/structure it is generally up to you, but if there are instructions then follow them! 

I have page-width boxes with centred headings separating the main sections (Key skills, Professional & Academic Qualifications, Employment history and so on), and within the employment history, left-aligned headings of <role title underlined> (dates) <Company> then bullet points of what I did/achieved (only a short one-sentence summary for older jobs). Just an example.

Make sure you've got some of the buzz-words from the job description and that a reader can see how you tick the essential/desirable boxes.

Use "I" language - I did/achieved this, I was responsible for, I managed these activities/team to achieve delivery of ...

Like Savvy_Sue, I always use pdf format unless asked for something else. I have been tripped up once when an interviewer had a CV that didn't look like mine - their recruitment agent had reformatted and reordered it.

General_Grant

I agree about supplying your CV as a pdf file.  Though the pdfs can be edited it is less likely that a recipient will do that - except for an agency removing contact details if you have included those.

Keep your own versions in Word but save as a pdf.

MattMattMattUK

Savvy_Sue said:

As for format, you pay close attention to what is asked for. I prefer to send a PDF because I know that won't change, whatever app is used to open it. But if employer asks for Word, I'd send that. And if there was an application form, I wouldn't send a CV.

I agree with this, as an employer non PDF CVs always appear a bit unprofessional, it is viewable on nearly any device and the layout does not change or get messed with (apart from the weird thing with i/I/l/L which happens when some settings are turned on).

Mark_Glasses said:

In my individual session he advised me to keep my CV the same because it was getting me plenty of interviews and my issue was not passing the interview.
.........
All that's changed on my CV since then is my current job being added to the top and older jobs being slimmed down at the bottom. Yet last year I applied for a handful of jobs but had no interviews and in the last 2-3 weeks I've applied for 6 jobs and have had a generic rejection email from 4 of them and yet to hear from the other 2.

It is not your CV, it is the change in the job market, companies are getting a lot more candidates per role, particularly for unskilled, low or medium skilled roles.

DullGreyGuy

In my world most jobs are done via agencies and agencies won't accept PDF CVs because they remove you personal details (so they cannot be cut out of the supply chain) and they add their own branding to the CV such that if somehow the CV gets disassociated from the email etc then you can easily see its Hays or Randal etc thats representing the candidate. 

Similarly if reviewing a CV I will at times mark it up with things I'm interested in or questions I think I'd want to ask them about which again is much easier to do with a Word document. 

I am sure 95%+ of business use MS Word so unless you are using an archaic version you can be confident that how it renders in your Word will be how they see it. Sure if you use Google Docs or Apple Pages then there is more chance of a difference but you can get Word Online for free so no excuse. 

Mark_Glasses

@DullGreyGuy you've basically described the layout of my CV

@concerneduk2020 around 4 years ago. ATS was very much a thing at the time. At the same time the Word 97-03 advice may be outdated now and what looked good back then may not look so good now. 20 years ago I went for some careers advice and they suggested putting "Enthusiastic Self Starter" on my CV, it would go straight in the bin if I put that on it now.

@Savvy_Sue never thought of a pdf but will see what's said on next application. They've always taken word.

@YBR I was told not to put boxes on or anything besides plain text because the machines don't like it

@General_Grant I just have phone number and email address as contact details

@MattMattMattUK they're not unskilled jobs, you need certain qualifications for it. Anyone can apply for any job and they often do so my CV could easily get lost amongst those that would never have a hope in hell. A few years ago if I uploaded an updated CV to one of the job boards my phone wouldn't stop ringing the following day. I would have thought I'd at least get an interview somewhere but last year was the first year in my adult life that I didn't have a single job interview.

General_Grant

Mark_Glasses said:

@General_Grant I just have phone number and email address as contact details

If you are sending your CV direct to a recruiting employer, why not use a geographical address too in case it is separated from your covering letter which I imagine does include your residential address?  Of course an employment agency would also delete the number and email address.

YBR

Mark_Glasses said:

@YBR I was told not to put boxes on or anything besides plain text because the machines don't like it

Fair point - it used to be that machines could not cope with tables or text boxes, mine is a centred paragraph with a border/background format, which ought to work but I don't know for sure ...

Do you have a LinkedIn profile? What would other social media say about you to a potential employer?