What Makes a Good CV?

In many instances, a bad CV is made from including too much unnecessary information. Potential employers will be looking through a large number of CV’s and including things such as the title (you don’t need a CV, they know what it is) and an address title are just not needed. Other basic things you should always be aware of are that you are spelling things correctly and have a reasonably professional email address for convenient contact. As you can see from the inclusion of the email “boozyfloozy” that this person is not selling themselves as a professional, if necessary it’s very easy to make an alternative email address. Also be sure to add the most pertinent information at the forefront, I.e. your most recent educational or work experience background, as it will give employers a more up-to-date idea of where you’re coming from.

As expected, presentation goes a long way in helping a future employee consider your CV at all. As with this example, each category is clearly separated to show education, work experience etc. In terms of interests the perspective employer is able to gain some ideas about the character of the person applying for the job, and while personally I wouldn’t use something that has “living life” as an example of a good CV, apparently the quality of the piece is more important than your need to sound professional.