The second episode of our student job hunting video series is packed full of practical CV tips for students looking to apply for part time jobs, holiday work or internships. Tune in now for advice on what students should include in their CV, how to structure it, and ways of grabbing an employer’s attention to secure a job interview. If you missed the first episode, you can watch it here.
Video Transcript
Hi everyone, I’m Chris – Co-founder of E4S.
Welcome and thanks for joining me for the second episode of our video series on student job hunting.
Here at Employment4students we have years of experience helping more than 18 million school, college and university students find part time work, holiday jobs, internships, year out opportunities and graduate jobs.
Today I’m going to guide you through some CV tips.
I gave an overview of CV’s in the last episode, so today I’m going to go into a little more detail, with tips on how it should look, what to include, and how to make it compelling to employers!
What is a CV?
Lets start by recapping on what a CV is.
It’s basically a sales document that should sell YOU to prospective employers.
It summarises your educational and work related skills, experience, qualifications and achievements which should sell you as a great potential employee.
I have an example CV here so I can show you what it should look like and what information it should contain.
Let’s take a look now!
What To Include In A CV
So what sections should you include and what information goes in each?
Let’s run through each of them now:
Name and contact details
Right at the top, nice and prominent, put your name and contact details to make it easy for an employer to contact you if they like your CV.
List your name, postal address, email address and phone number.
A few tips on this section:
1. If you study away from your hometown then list both your term time and holiday addresses. If, for example, you are studying in Edinburgh and apply for a part time job there but only list your family address on your CV, say in London, the employer is likely to think that you live the other side of the UK and won’t be able to commute for the job, so will dismiss your application as a waste of their time.
2. Use a sensible email address. If you have something like ihatework@gmail then setup a new one for job applications.
3. You do not need to include your date of birth, but if you are applying for a job which requires a minimum age for serving alcohol or insurance reasons for example, then either specify in your cover letter that you meet the age requirements, or include your date of birth in your CV.
4. Nationality is not required, but it can confirm your eligibility to work in the UK if you are an EU national.
If not, it could be worth detailing your visa and working entitlement.
Profile and Objective
This is the most important part of your CV and needs to be hard hitting and attention grabbing.
Summarise key achievements and experiences, and sell yourself!
This section could be the only part of your CV that an employer reads so it needs to show them that you are right for their job.
Be concise and choose your words carefully so the end result is packed with facts and specific examples of your skills and achievements rather than bland generic phrases which anyone could use.
An example of a good profile would be something like this one:
“A motivated, hardworking and reliable undergraduate with 300 UCAS points on track to achieve a 2.1 BSc in Business Studies, with 2 years sales and customer service experience.”
There are lots of specific, interest grabbing points in there rather than generic buzz words.
If you are applying for multiple jobs which are very different, like part time bar jobs on the one hand, and marketing internships on the other, then consider creating 2 CV’s with a different profile section in each.
For the bar jobs, you would focus on customer service skills and previous hospitality experience, whereas for the marketing internship you would mention relevant marketing course modules for example, and express your desire to put your course theory into practice in a business environment.
Also, don’t forget to write a cover letter for each job application which flags up the skills and experience from your CV relevant to the job you are applying for, as well as confirming that you meet the entry and availability requirements.
Education and Qualifications
This section should have more prominence and detail on a student CV than it would on someone who finished studying years ago and has lots of work experience.
Start with your most recent studies and work backwards.
For each, provide details of the institution, dates you studies there, and the courses taken and grades achieved.
You can also add details of key modules and grades for specific pieces of work where relevant, such as a dissertation distinction for example.
For school or college list A-Level subjects with grades and provide a summary of GCSE grades, highlighting core subjects taken such as maths, english, languages, sciences.
Also provide details of any other qualifications such as first aid, food hygiene, sports coaching qualifications, SIA licence, NVQ’s and also CRB / DBS checks.
Key Skills
The Key Skills section should highlight your other skills such as IT programme or software skills, languages and driving licence.
It can also help your CV appear in employer CV searches so be specific rather than just saying “good IT skills”.
Use programme or software names for example to make sure you get found when employers search for people with those specific skills.
Work Experience
If you have some previous work experience then here is the place to list it.
Once you have finished studying and have been working for a while, your work experience should be moved up above your education because it is more important, but while your main focus is on studying, list your work experience lower down.
If you don’t have any work experience, then leave this section out, but make sure you compensate by providing more information in the other sections about anything that can demonstrate key employability skills such as teamwork, communication, leadership, initiative, responsibility, and time management.
Once you have some work experience, put the most recent first and work backwards.
For each period of employment, provide the dates of employment, your job title, and company name.
Then give details of your achievements and skills learned rather than a list of tasks.
For example, if you have worked in a retail sales role then provide details of your performance against targets.
If you have done bar work, then don’t list your duties – mention your teamwork and ability to manage unruly customers.
Interests and Activities
The Interests & Activities section is a chance to show that you are a well rounded individual. The key to making this section an asset on your CV is to demonstrate soft skills that can be transferred to the workplace, like: teamwork, leadership, good organisation.
Rather than just listing some sports and music for example, say something like:
“I enjoy team sports such as football and hockey, and captained university 1st XI football team. I also have grade 3 piano which requires dedication and self discipline”
That way you are highlighting the teamwork and leadership skills you have developed through these activities as well as hard work and self discipline, all of which are attractive qualities for employers.
Travel experience can also be good to include especially if you draw attention to any extensive planning and organisation you did, or the completion of a challenging expedition.
This section can help make you stand out if you have something memorable to say, and it can also provide a talking point at interview.
References
References do not need to be included on a CV so most people tend to state:
“References available on request.”
If you are invited to interview then you need to have referees in place who are willing to provide you with a reference.
You will generally need 2: 1 can be an academic one and ideally 1 is a previous employer.
A reference can be included on a CV. A succinct, positive reference can be very effective.
What Not To Include In A CV
Let’s finish up with a few things that you should not include in your CV:
1. Lies – they will most likely come back to bite you so don’t do it!
You are likely to be found out at some point and that could make it tough to get another job in future.
And just so you know, if you lie on a job application form, you can be instantly dismissed.
2. Spelling and grammatical errors.
Poor grammar and spelling mistakes will cost you interviews so check your CV thoroughly before sending it to anyone.
Don’t rely on spell check. Auto complete can “correct” typos into the wrong word and spell check will not pick up errors like writing “from” instead of “form”.
I suggest you read your CV backwards from the last word to the first because it is more effective at picking up errors than reading it through normally.
3. Don’t include a photo unless you are specifically asked to by an employer.
Summary
So, the key takeaways from today are:
- Make your CV easy to read and open electronically by using a good template, simple fonts and a common file format.
- Be honest about your skills and achievements, but present them in a way that sells you as a great employee.
- Make sure your soft skills such as good communication, teamwork and leadership shine through as well as hard skills like qualifications.
- Don’t panic if you don’t have any previous work experience, just compensate by focusing on the soft skills you have developed from other activities and experiences in your life.
- Check your CV through thoroughly for mistakes and ask someone else to check it for you – preferably a professional like a careers adviser or CV company.
Well that’s it for today.
Thanks for joining me and be sure to tune in next week for some great interview advice.
The last episode in our student job hunting series is a Q&A, so please send us your questions and we will put them in the hat!
Post your questions below or via Twitter @e4scouk , on our Facebook page – facebook.com/Employment4students, or email them.
In the mean time, check out our website www.e4s.co.uk for loads of job hunting tips and a great selection of student jobs.
Thanks again for watching, and we look forward to seeing you next week!
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