Top 10 tips to nail your first CV

When applying for an Apprenticeship, you’ll need to write a CV. Your curriculum vitae (CV for short) will tell employers more about your skills, interests, education and work experience so it’s really important to get it right.

Our 10 top tips

1. We recommend you put your name and contact details at the top of the first page – the company need to get hold of you if they would like to invite you in for interview so make sure they are correct.
2. Your email address should be professional and represent you in a mature way – it’s a good idea to set one up just for applications and work communications.
3. Always put your most recent experience and education first and the oldest last. Don’t include details of your primary school but do list your current subjects and predicted or actual grades.
4. Include details of any school achievements, work experience and volunteering as well as paid jobs.
5. Look at the key skills required for the role and demonstrate you have experience of these, whether from school, work, hobbies or interests.
6. Spell check your CV and ask someone to read it to make sure there are no mistakes. You’re not going to demonstrate your excellent communication skills with a typo!
7. Your CV shouldn’t be longer than two sides of A4. It should be a concise overview of you, not your autobiography.
8. There are lots of sample CV’s available online, but make sure yours is personal to you and not just a cut and paste.
9. Use the same font throughout your CV and make sure it looks clear – it can help to print it out so that you can check it’s easy to read.
10. Lastly, save your CV as a pdf so that it can’t be changed and use a sensible file name. Your first and last names as well as the date is a good naming format.