Career and Employment Service – CV, interview and related recruitment and selection resources
Introduction
Use the links in the table below to access detailed information if you are:
Note too that if you are on a Massey’s campus, face-to-face help on any or all of these topics is available to both on-campus and distance students. You can also email your query to the careers service staff on your nearest Massey campus or call us for advice.
Developing your CV
Here you will find a brief introduction to CV development. However, you can access a detailed manual on CV development (in both PDF and Word versions) through the links below:
Writing a CV (237 KB)
Writing a CV (611 KB)What will you need?
A good place to start will be to create a written record of your background. In particular, this should focus on the experiences and achievements that you’ve had in your life to date and on the skills developed through them. You can access more information on this here.
To whom are you sending your CV?
It is crucial that you target your CV by highlighting the knowledge; skills and experience that you have that are relevant to what you are applying for. This means that you’ll have to consider the role, sector, organisation and culture. Focus on the needs of your prospective employer in deciding what to include, and draw this from the written record you’ve prepared.
Layout
Headings throughout the CV are a good idea, as they make it easier for the employer to find the information they require. The information you have decided to include will determine the headings in your CV. Remember, because every person is unique with different life experiences, CVs are going to differ tremendously in both their content and headings.
It is advisable to place information under each heading in a 'reverse' chronological order. Another good idea to have the most important aspects of a section right under the heading so it cannot be missed or skimmed over. If it is not possible to do both, you may wish to create other sub-headings.
Make it easy for the reader to find the information that they seek by using headings. Then, it’s a good idea to start with the most important elements of the – placing these directly under the heading.
The headings you choose to use will be determined by what you’re including. For details of your work and education history use reverse chronological order – most recent first.
What will you include?
It is common for CVs to include the following sections:
Contact details
Name and contact details, including postal address; telephone numbers and an e-mail address would normally be the first information on a CV. Generally, for work in New Zealand personal details such as date of birth, gender and marital status are unnecessary. Health and nationality are optional items.
Career objective or Personal profile
This section is optional but if you choose to include it, ensure that it as a brief outline of your career aims, the sector you are keen to work in and/or your relevant background.
Relevant skills and attributes
To begin this section, determine the most relevant aspects of the job. Then, give examples of the skills and attributes you possess that meet the employer’s criteria. Use action words and include your community or voluntary work as well as study and paid word where they offer evidence of the skills/attributes you are noting.
You’ll have developed skills through your studies (and all aspects of university life) as well as through your work experience; extra-curricular activities and life in general. Many of these can be transferred into any environment, industry, profession or occupation. This section is your opportunity to highlight your 'transferable' skills.
Do so in concise sentences and give a brief example of how you have demonstrated each skill or attribute.
Education and qualifications
This should be a list of the institutions you have attended, giving dates and qualifications attained. Start with your most recent and highest qualification. You may wish - or be asked to - attach an academic transcript. In addition, you may choose to highlight particularly relevant papers and/or those for which you attained good grades.
Include your highest school qualification - if undertaken in the relatively recent past - but there is no need to include school subjects and grades (unless asked for them).
Finally, you may also want to consider including any awards or positions of responsibility attained in your school and/or university education.
Training and professional development
This heading can be used for a section in which you outline professional courses, workshops and seminars that you’ve attended. You should include the title of the event, its duration and the organising institution.
Employment history
Again, start with your most recent position and work back. Include the dates of your employment, the organisation’s name and location (but not full address) and your job title. Indicate whether the role was full or part-time, temporary or permanent positions.
Then, for each role include details of responsibilities and achievements. You may wish to highlight these by using the terms ‘Responsibilities’ and ‘Achievements’ as sub-headings.
Where applicable, you may decide to split this section into ‘Relevant Experience’ and Additional Experience’ - saying more about the former than the latter. In addition, you should include voluntary work here or in a separate section where you have any such experience. Where you have held a number of part-time or temporary positions, it is not necessary to list details of every position.
Alternatively, you may group your employment according to sector; related types of work or some other relevant form of classification.
Interests and activities
It is often a good idea to include this section as it can be used to provide some details about you as a person. Indeed, employers often use the information it contains to try to gauge your personality, and see how you might fit into their organisation and work group.
However, limit the interests/activities that you include to recent/current ones. Additionally, show how actively you pursue these interests and note memberships of clubs/societies etc. You can include any sport, social or cultural interests but should also give an indication as to the level of your involvement – e.g. coach, committee member or local representative.
Referees
One academic and one from a work situation would be ideal. Include their full contact details and the capacity in which they can act as a referee for you – e.g. tutor; current employer and so on. Ensure that you have your referees’ permission to use them and let them know of the type of work you are seeking. It is a good idea to give them a copy of your CV and cover letter. Where you have written references, you may decide to include them or to indicate that they can be supplied - noting that employers will seek (at least verbal) references for some applicants even if they have been supplied with written references.
Now I want to go to -
|
|
|
