Writing the perfect CV
Your C.V. is very often the first contact with the recruiter you will have, particularly if you are applying for an advertised position. It is essential that you do the best job possible, as all the clichés are true.
A successful CV
You may well have under a minute to attract the recruiter’s attention, which makes it essential to understand exactly what is expected of you in the position you are applying for. You must demonstrate very early in the CV that you have the experience, qualifications, training and achievements required to meet the expectations of the recruiter.
Imagine the recruiter is sitting with a job description and comparing this to your CV. Without reading past the first 30% of your CV they should be able to tick off what you can offer against their specific needs.
The guidelines below should help you to think about what information you will need to include in your CV to make it stand out from the crowd.
About you
Gather all the information that you need relating to your education and career development. This will include:
- Schools, colleges of higher education, university (with dates)
- Qualifications (with dates)
- Training
- Educational/professional achievements
- Membership of professional bodies,
- Positions held (with date of commencement and departure)
- Promotions
- Hobbies
- Personal information
In addition to your skills and experience, you will also need to show that you can get on with other members of staff as a team member - this is essential at all levels. Rome was not built in a day and certainly not by one person.
Do you intend to stay with the company?
Another serious issue in the health and leisure industry is demonstrating that you intend stay with the company long enough for them to re-coupe the money that will have to be spent.
Recruiting can cost anywhere from £600 to £15000+ as positions may well be organised through an agency, commanding a fee, and/or advertised, incurring considerable costs. Employers also need to take into account possible retraining required to meet the standard operating procedures, along with the time it takes to build new client lists and generally get up to speed.
Some roles may well require time spent by people at a senior level, along with inductions in buildings around the UK and abroad incurring travel and hotel costs.
There is no ceiling on the cost of what it takes to find and train the right staff, which makes it vital to convince the recruiter to consider investing in you.
About the job
You will also need to research the position you are applying for, gathering as many details about the company and the job as possible. If you have not received a job specification from the employer you are applying you could try the following options:
- Go to our career ladder, which explains staffing, pay and experience structure
- Look for similar roles advertised with other companies
- Read the company’s web site
- Read the annual report
- Try and visit some sites managed by the potential employer C.V. Format
We can’t tell you how to write your CV, as at the end of the day it’s something which you must feel happy and confident with. However, there are a number of accepted formats for CVs – our guidelines below will help you to demonstrate your synergies with the role at the earliest possible opportunity.
Work Experience Based C.V.
A work experience C.V. is the most common type of C.V. and is most effective when the role you are applying for is similar to your most recent position, or is a natural progression in your career. e.g. senior fitness instructor applying for a fitness manager position. It is particularly effective if your current position is with a recognised company, as their name will be listed near the top of your C.V.
The idea is that your work history is presented first – by using bullet points you can highlight clearly aspects of your current position that comply with the job specification.
Once you have shown that you have the desired work experience, the recruiter is more likely to pay attention to the rest of your C.V. They may now spend as much as ten minutes or so finding out more about you and re-assuring themselves that you are a serious candidate.
In a Work Experience Based C.V. your employment history is shown in reverse chronological order, with your most recent job first. Job titles and company names are strongly emphasised and duties and achievements are described under each job title in a bullet point format. You will find below a template that you can copy from our site and paste onto a word processing document. From here you can simply enter the information that you have gathered into the pre-set format.
Achievement Based C.V.
This C.V. is best suited to those who want a change in career direction or are returning to the fitness industry after a break. Again the main exercise is to demonstrate as quickly as possible that you have the required skills and experience to meet the employer’s expectations.
If your most recent jobs have not been directly related to the positions available, this format will allow you to put your work history further back in the C.V. and lead with your achievements and attributes. Go through your entire work and education history, highlighting those duties, training and achievements that best demonstrate best your ability to do the job at hand. These can be listed under an Achievements heading.
This is an effective way to summarise your relevant experience without the recruiter having to search through your C.V. to find it. Once again we have a download that will suit this style.
Graduate C.V.
Unless you are a mature student the chances are you will not be able to demonstrate a wealth of work experience. What you can demonstrate is the relevance of your course and a summary of any experience you have had from work, membership of groups and hobbies.
A graduate C.V. is much the same as an achievement based C.V., in that we are trying to keep all the relevant experience and training in one place near the top of the C.V., and avoid the recruiter having to search to find suitable qualities. Again you will need to find out exactly what experience is expected and demonstrate your ability in these areas.
For example, shop floor experience can demonstrate a number of abilities, including working with cash, security, customer care, first aid, recognition of seasonal variations, mails shot and data base control, team work, awareness of targets and accepting responsibility for the opening and closing of the premises. Bar work can demonstrate similar qualities and experience, as well as demonstrate the willingness to work antisocial hours. Any groups that you belong to can show valuable teamwork and social skills.
Courtesy of Leisure Jobs UK
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