The recipe to CV success
Written by Jenny Taylor & Illustrated by Aelfleda Clackson
Published 30th September 2021
@ Aelfleda Clackson
Writing a CV is daunting, and you could be stuck with what to write, worrying about being too friendly, inexperienced or even coming across as forceful.
Most of what you write in your CV mainly comes down to practice. Writing and talking about yourself doesn't get much easier, but once you learn how to sell yourself, the fear of applying to jobs when you don't meet 100%, or even 60% of the job requirements, almost disappears.
After completing hundreds of job applications, reading blog posts and practising writing about myself, I've found an approach that will almost guarantee you'll find people wanting to know more about you. I have put together a guide showing you how to sell yourself by using the qualities you already have - helping you turn your weaknesses into your strengths.
Education
To get the easy part over and done with, start with your Education. List your two highest levels of Education (e.g your GCSEs and A-Levels, or Foundation and University degree), stating the beginning and end date of the course. Even if you don't have a degree, your work experience is as valuable as your educational vocations. People will hire you for your who you are, your work ethic, skills and work experience.
Contact details
Make sure to include the usuals - a mobile number and email address, plus your website (if you have one) and any professional social media accounts (Instagram, LinkedIn, Behance etc.). Using LinkedIn is a great way to network, but anything from Pinterest or Behance is a great way to demonstrate your visual creativity.
Keep in mind that sharing personal social media accounts can be a bit risky. When applying for a social strategy or content role, potential employers will be looking to your pages as another case study for what you can do! So be careful not to share anything you wouldn't want your future boss to see…
Note: Make sure to use a suitable, professional-sounding email address - you could even create a new one to keep as a spam-free account solely for jobs applications.
@ Aelfleda Clackson
Skills
Ranking and rating? Big no no
A big mistake to make on your CV is ranking or rating your skills, for example, Adobe Photoshop (low-medium competency). Not only could you risk not getting a job interview, but you might get caught out for lying or overrating your level of skill. As a precaution, avoid listing anything you’re not entirely comfortable with as a skill. Competency will show in your portfolio and work experience.
Soft skills? Save it for later
It might be tempting to fill your skills section up with all the interpersonal qualities of the perfect candidate - but save these soft skills for elsewhere in your CV. That includes teamwork, problem-solving, organisational skills, adaptability or the ability to resolve conflict. To avoid repetitiveness, try not to list these, but incorporate these into your personal statement or work experience instead. It can be an effective way to break up the text while demonstrating how you have applied your interpersonal skills.
Picking skills
Your skills section might be looking a bit empty if you've taken out your soft skills, so it’s time to get technical. Look back through your portfolio and look for skills you have gained in your educational vocations, personal projects or previous work experience.
To help you out, you can refer to job vacancies, looking at essential or desirable skills in candidates. But no need to limit your selection to only your creative skills, tools and processes. You could also list project or social media management programmes, mentoring, or other skills you have used in other jobs - tea connoisseur included.
@ Aelfleda Clackson
Experience
Your experience is valuable - but keep it short and sweet
Any irrelevant or insignificant experience can add value to you - and your CV. I follow a three-step process when describing my work experience:
Describe the tasks you needed to do as part of the role.
Name your most significant achievement(s) in the role.
(Bonus point) Describe how your interpersonal skills impacted positively on the team or company.
Note: Switching between jobs and adapting like a career chameleon is your strength. You adapt to new situations quickly and easily, picking up new skills along the way.
Highlight your soft skills
Here is where you can earn your bonus point - by applying your soft skills to your experience. It will effectively break up the text while adding value to you and your experience. For example, you could discuss how you went above and beyond on a task while ADAPTING to change. You could say you SOLVED CHALLENGING PROBLEMS by COMMUNICATING complex issues with your TEAM. Your interpersonal skills will make you invaluable, as long as you demonstrate them on your CV and in your job interview.
Note: Before your interview, be sure to have a list of problems you solved on hand or rehearsed so that you can answer questions with flying colours.
Personal statement
Rewrite, Revise, Rewrite
The personal statement is arguably the most challenging thing to write for your CV. Below is a step-by-step approach to this:
List everything you want to include in your personal statement before writing it: skills, personal attributes, hobbies, passions or values that you can bring to an organisation.
Write as much as you can about yourself that combine everything on your list.
Highlight areas in this statement that you believe sell yourself or make people want to know more about you.
Cut these highlights down into no more than 100 words and revise - spell and grammar check using an online thesaurus - I have found Grammarly particularly useful when writing professionally.
Ask a close friend, relative or mentor to check it over - or even ask them to rewrite it!
Write it again, making sure it fits with the tone of the rest of your CV.
Note: Make sure your personal statement summarises who you are, what you do, and what your values are. You can discuss how these attributes and skills could benefit the company in your CV and cover letter.
Tailor your CV to each application
Catering your CV to match the values of a business can come as a huge bonus. Your values indicate whether you would be a good fit for the team. Most employers will just be scanning your CV initially for keywords, so go the extra mile to pull those out from the job spec and ensure they make an appearance in your CV. Jobalytics can help you do this - an internet extension that takes keywords from job vacancies, saving you time while helping to make your CV stand out.
@ Aelfleda Clackson
Designing your CV
Keep the design simple
Grabbing attention within the first 10 seconds of reading your CV is critical. Keeping to a simple structure and style will keep the focus on what is in your CV.
For more competitive roles, it is often worth thinking outside the box and considering adding creativity, for example, playing on a well-known user interface when applying for a UI/UX role; or customising an Instagram feed to be about you when applying for a social media position.
Note: Above all else, keep your CV clear, readable and consistent with your personal branding. Pick a typeface and colour scheme that reads legibly (digital and printed) and use an online contrast checker to avoid using colours that make text hard to read.
It's all in the details
Check a few things before sending it off:
Make sure hyperlinks are correct and working.
Contact details are all correct and up to date.
Spell and grammar check everything, keeping an eye out for any errors in the text and making sure the copy is legible.
Name the file appropriately, ie. JenniferTaylor_CV_2021, making it easy to locate.
@ Aelfleda Clackson
Summary
Your CV is arguably the most important thing you will design in your career, and it will take time to get it right - especially your personal statement. But the more practice you have in writing about yourself, the easier it will get. Make sure to get as much feedback as you can on your CV and portfolio. These are things that evolve over time, and you'll know if you've got it right when you get that interview.
If you'd like to find more advice and personal feedback on your CV, website or portfolio, be sure to join The Arena's Slack group and share it in the #feedback channel.
About the author
I’m Jenny - a graphic designer from South East Wales. In my spare time, you can find me listening to a podcast, geeking out over TED talks, or reading a book. I am interested in the relationship between leadership and mental health in the creative industry, seeing how barriers in communication can fix the multitude of issues creative workers have to face. I have a passion for adventure, film music, sharing knowledge, and learning new things.
