Ok, so you’re hoping to land here and copy and paste a CV right? Sadly, it is not as easy as that, but thankfully there is plenty of advice out there on how to write a CV. So here are my top tips to help you when writing your Curriculum Vitae for  job in PR & Marketing.

Tip 1) Everyone is different, so in real life there are no hard and fast rules.

What works for your best friend, for your uncle Bob, for your marketing tutor, might not work for you. Having said that, be careful of using really fancy formats, crazy bright layouts, or pictures on your CV. For one, HR departments might not have fancy software to open files, and second most recruitment agencies and job websites don’t allow much other than word/text, so when writing it, stick to a word template that you can adapt into a fancier design later on. I’d even go as far as just use Arial 11 (creative types might wince at that one). On one of my first CVs I thought it would be cool to write my name in italics and fuchsia font. An advisor pointed out it undermined all the skills I was writing about. Correct. Keep it simple.

Tip 2) Spell out your personal information:

Name (obvs)

Address (current/student etc – make it clear where you are right now)

Date of birth – by law, you don’t HAVE to share this. So it is up to you

Email address – use your current address. Not one you used a hundred years ago. And if it’s pinkfairyangelbaby@gmail.com or jackassgetsdrunkeveryday@gmail.com, change it.

Phone number – don’t forget your flipping contact number

Social media links – add your twitter, Instagram handles and your Linked In links. Just be careful as your new boss will google you immediately so put something you’ll be proud of on your profile.

Tip 3)  Personal statement – this is the bit where you need to be super clear.

If your current address is Sydney Australia and you want a job in London say you’re relocating. If you’re in finance and you want to be in PR, write it. The person reading it will be making a snap judgement so state your intent. ‘Hardworking English graduate looking to relocate to London for a career in marketing.’ That kind of thing. Make this a short paragraph. It is not uncommon to rewrite this ever so slightly for different jobs, so do reread this every time you send this off. There’s no point even hitting send off an application for a PR job in music that says you can’t wait to be a beauty journalist.

Tip 4) Education.

If you’re looking for your first job and the last thing you did was a university course or college a-level, put that next. Your education is something to be proud of, state where you got your qualifications, what grades and what year. Keep this simple too. No one needs to know you got an A* for your tree diagram in maths. If you’ve got a job, list the education after your work history, as once you’re in work, education is kind of a given. But whatever you do, don’t lie. It will not get you anywhere!

Tip 5) Work it baby, work it.

Taking up the biggest portion of your CV is your job history. But no matter how talented and amazeballs you are, stick to two pages for your entire CV. Don’t be tempted to think ten pages is better than two. You’ll need to save something to discuss in your interview. Put your job title, company name and location in bold then consider listing your achievements in bullet points to separate it and make it easier to read. Try not to make this a list of tasks ‘made everyone a cup of tea every morning’ instead try ‘initiated morning meetings to ensure thorough briefings’ that kind of thing. Add numbers and examples where possible. Start with your most recent job and work back. Include all your job history but as you move on in your career, you’ll find you condense your experience. I’ve dropped my Saturday job in Supercigs corner shop from my CV entirely now. Its not a bad thing that I have retail experience but in the grand scheme of things it’s not relevant now and isn’t worthy of the three lines on my two pages!

Tip 6) AOB – translated as any other business.

You can call this Interests or Courses Attended or whatever you fancy. This is a grey area, but please don’t fill it with general information. ‘I love cats, and take my tea with two sugars’ instead this might be where you mention that you were on the school newspaper or are fluent in French, or ran the university social media account. If you’ve got something super significant like you have your own blog or you’ve got ten thousand Twitter followers, add this much further up. Add it to your personal statement or make it into your job history (blogging can be considered a job! Add your traffic stats to be super impressive).

Tip 7) The end.

References. By all means add then if you want, traditionally ex employers or ex tutors. I tend not to take up the four lines for them and instead just type references available on request. They shouldn’t ask for references without permission anyway.

Tip 8) Finally spell check, spell check, spell check.

And the get someone else to read it too. Remove jargon and fluff. Anything that doesn’t mean anything is nothing. Get rid of anything that makes it sound like you’ve got sawdust in your head. You’re clever, you’re interesting, use every word carefully. Go back through it and add kewords. If you’re not sure on grammar, use spell checker, ask a friend, ask google. This is the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you’re shit. Spell check everything, read it all through really carefully before firing it out. It’s quite common to get your CV thrown out on this alone. Look out for your or you’re, there or their or they’re and check apostrophes.

Good luck with your job search. Once you’ve written your CVyou can use it to upload onto your Linked In profile and on different job websites. Still looking for inspiration? Take a look here at Leonardo da Vinci’s Resume:

Happy job hunting!