Robin Huggins Director of Academy & Client Services MBN Solutions How to write a CV Robin Huggins Director of Academy & Client Services MBN Solutions #MBNskills

By the end of this session you will be able to: 1. Understand the purpose of a CV 2. Know what information should and shouldn’t be included on a CV 3. Be able to structure this information correctly 4. Avoid bad practice in CV writing #MBNskills

What is the purpose of a CV? To secure an interview! That’s it! Nothing else. The position that a CV occupies in any selection process is to quickly gain the reader’s attention through it’s suitability to the position that they are looking to fill. This action causes them to read the document in more detail – and then invite the author to discuss further. #MBNskills

What information should be included? Contact details – town/city, email, phone number. Social Media Links - LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub. Education – structured chronologically – not too detailed. Commercial experience – highlight relevant commercial skills. Voluntary experience – highlighting relevant transferable skills. Achievements, awards, recognition – individual, not team. Skills, interests, training undertaken or being undertaken. #MBNskills

What should NOT be on a CV? Personal details (marital status, date of birth, health, etc). Photographs (for the UK anyway). Too much hobby / interest information. Reference details – optional. Spelling errors. Grammatical errors. - these are reflections of a “poor attention to detail” #MBNskills

How should my CV be structured? Simple black font on white. Use boxes, grids, lists, matrixes to break up text – Profile, Skills, etc. Use bold, bullet-point and paragraphs – where appropriate. Roles weighted from recent to past – the most recent (or relevant) gets the most attention/space. #MBNskills

Creating your CV What information should be included? What is the purpose of a CV? Final points to note There is no hard and fast “size rule” – be as concise as possible Tailor/Tweak the CV for each role that you apply for Save the master somewhere – and back it up! Your CV What should NOT be on a CV? How should my CV be structured? #MBNskills

PREVIOUS COMMERCIAL EXPERIENCE NAME CONTACT DETAILS SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE This part is optional Current Education COURSE DETAILS TECH SKILLS PREVIOUS EDUCATION PREVIOUS COMMERCIAL EXPERIENCE TECH SKILLS ACHIEVEMENTS VOLUNTARY EXPERIENCE #MBNskills

PLEASE SEND YOUR COMPLETED CV TO – ACADEMY@MBNSOLUTIONS.COM #MBNskills