With hundreds of graduates fighting for every vacancy, a stand-out CV is often the only thing to open the door leading to a dream job.
Discount chain Aldi is rated one of the top graduate recruiters - it was the only retailer in the top 10 of the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers rankings this year.
The company's head of graduate recruitment Richard Holloway has first-hand experience on the difference a stand-out CV can make to a candidate getting a foot in the door. He says: "We will have around 12,000 applicants for the 50 successful candidates we select this academic year, and a great CV really is useful to impress, especially for second round group interviews for Aldi."
Richard has provided some top tips for a stand out CV:
Discount chain Aldi is rated one of the top graduate recruiters - it was the only retailer in the top 10 of the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers rankings this year.
The company's head of graduate recruitment Richard Holloway has first-hand experience on the difference a stand-out CV can make to a candidate getting a foot in the door. He says: "We will have around 12,000 applicants for the 50 successful candidates we select this academic year, and a great CV really is useful to impress, especially for second round group interviews for Aldi."
Richard has provided some top tips for a stand out CV:
- Put your personal details at the top of the application, listing your name, location, all contact details, including blogs, twitter and Linked In profile if relevant. The recruiter does not want to sift through pages to find your name and contact number.
- Always start with a brief synopsis, one or two paragraphs, outlining your experience, core skills and career focus and direction. This allows the recruiter to quickly see if you fit the job and company criteria. This is the time to make a great first impression. Make sure you sell your skills and inject lots of passion and personality into the synopsis so you stand out amongst other first round applicants. Try to convince the recruiter that meeting you and taking your application to the second round is worthwhile.
- Put your CV in chronological order, starting with relevant work experience at the top. This would include past and current employment, internships, professional placements and unpaid work.
- Next, list education and qualifications relevant to the position. If you achieved something significant, include it.
- The next section should include relevant interests and practical skills. This is the place for any charity work or part-time employment and leadership or team skills you have acquired, such as captaining or involvement in school, sporting and club teams. Tell the recruiter if you have travelled - an understanding of cultural differences can be important to a prospective employer, especially if the role you're applying for has opportunities to re-locate or be based overseas for a period of time.
- References are a must; for recent graduates, this final section should include all contact details for at least one character reference from a lecturer or dissertation tutor and one reference from a previous employer, but no more than four are required. References provide recruiters an insight to you as a person and potential employee. Make sure your referees are willing to give you a reference before you put them on your CV and provide written references where possible as an appendix.
- Tailor your CV: Always make sure you tailor your CV to the particular job. Sending a generic CV may seem like an easy way to apply for multiple positions, but often it only takes a thoughtful tweak here and there to show the recruiter you have thought about the role.
- Spell-check: Always spell-check the document and always have someone check it over.
- Keep the length of the CV to a maximum of two A4 pages in a clear, consistent size 11 font style, such as Arial. Do not change the font style throughout the document as it will disrupt the reader. You can bold or use larger fonts to highlight section headings.
- Don't lie: Always be truthful about qualifications, experience and references. Discrepancies will be easily uncovered.
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I've found that having gained a 2:2 - employers seem to think it's worse than not having done a degree at all! I'm not allowed to apply to many jobs which I know I can do better than many people with 2:1 who are academically sharper but do not necessarily have competency in the real world of work (do not mean to blow my own trumpet!) Would it be worthwhile not putting what I graduated with!?
You could always put something similar to "Second class degree with honours"
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