London School of Accountancy and Management

Preparing your CV

Please give your CV some thought and spend some time on getting it right – it may make all the difference in getting the job you really want. Most importantly, always thoroughly proof-read your CV or ask someone to do it for you before sending it to either an agency or a potential employer.

General hints and guidelines

It is important before an interview to think about all the reasons why you are attending it and what you have to offer the organisation. Be ready to discuss both short and long term career goals in general terms.

Hints

You will need to ensure that you connect with each person. Be sure to have eye contact with the person asking the questions and to glance at the other team members while answering.

Be sensitive to the dynamics in the team. If they seem to want to control the interview, relax and flow with it, on the other hand be sure to offer information and ask questions.

Take responsibility for ensuring that the group understands what you have to offer. The best approach is to be sensitive and adapt your approach to the group. Don’t be overly aggressive and take over, yet do interact and show your enthusiasm.

Each person’s opinion can be weighted equally; in some cases, just one team member’s opposition can disqualify a candidate. Sometimes it is unclear what role or position the person holds therefore you need to be respectful of everyone you meet.

Questions to ask the interviewer

Try to think of some questions to ask at interview. If you have researched the company well, you will be able to come up with questions concerning the organisation. You may also like to find out more about your responsibilities in the role, the organisation’s long and short-term aims, training opportunities, overall organisational structure and what they would hope you will achieve in the first six months. The interview is a two-way process. The company interviewing you will want to find out whether you are suited to the position and you will want to find out if the company and position are right for you. You should therefore ensure that you have enough information to make up your mind whether or not you want the job.

	What will be my responsibilities?
	Where will I fit into the overall organisational structure?
	Who will I report to?
	Where does he/she fit in the structure?
	Who will report to me?
	How experienced are they?
	What do you expect me to do in the first 6 months?
	What level of performance do you expect from me?
	Who are your customers?
	Where is the company going? Upwards? Expansion plans?
	What are the chances of advancement/promotion in this position? When?
	What will be my salary, benefits and bonuses? [Do not bring this up too early in the interview - wait until they are sold on you.]
	Will travelling be required in this position?
	Will relocation be required now or in the future?
	What training do you provide?
	When will you decide on the appointment?
	What is the next step?

Reasons for leaving

Prepare to discuss the reasons you left your previous jobs. If it was for a better opportunity, explain how it was an opportunity. If you left involuntarily, present the reason in the most positive light you can. Make sure your responses are honest and be positive.

Key ideas

	Make sure your CV is well laid out so that it is immediately easy to read and understand. Leave plenty of white space.
	Use concise, unambiguous sentences; avoid exaggerations and a flowery writing style.
	Do not make false claims; honesty is always the best policy.
	Bullet points are useful to highlight relevant skills and experience and help break up continuous text.
	Depending on your experience, two pages is an ideal length.
	Stress your past accomplishments and the skills you used to get the results you achieved.
	Focus on information which is relevant to your own career goals.
	If you are making a career change, stress what skills are transferable to support your new career objectives.
	Put your highest level of education first.
	Put your most recent job first and work backward chronologically in time.
	Ensure all dates are accurate.
	Explain any long career gaps (i.e. travelling, maternity leave etc.)
	Don’t change tenses back and forth.
	Describe what you did 90% of the time, not 10% of the time.
	Avoid references to hobbies, activities and memberships which are not business related or have no relevance to your current career goals or job objectives.
	If you are preparing a CV for a specific vacancy, explain why you would be good at the position for which you are applying. This is a brief summary of your significant technical and managerial skills (where appropriate). Include accomplishments and soft skills such as team player, dependable and successfully meeting deadlines. E.g. – Achieved a fundraising target of £100,000 within one year.

Why are resumes rejected?

First impressions matters; if your resume does not attract the reader's attention in the first 20-30 seconds then your chances of obtaining an interview are greatly reduced. An employer may have a hundred or more resumes to look through and probably only a couple of hours in which to make the selection.

So put your work experience at the start of your resume, not personal or educational details, unless you have only just left education. What an employer really wants to know is why they should invite you for an interview. For this reason a short summary of your capabilities and/or a list of your major achievements can often be a good idea. This should make an employer want to invite you for an interview - but please be careful that you do not oversell yourself.

Poor visual layout

The visual layout of your resume is very important. Even though the wording you use may be correct, if people cannot find the information they want quickly they will move on to someone else's resume. You should use plenty of 'white' space in your resume and appropriate headings and section breaks.

Always use a word-processor/DTP package. Never use a typewriter as you will look old fashioned and out of date. Use good quality paper, preferably 100gram for both your resume and covering letter.

Organizing the information on your resume

If your resume is not well organized then the reader will find it hard to follow and will not be able to build up a picture of you quickly. Remember the reader will not spend very long looking at your resume - so if they cannot find what they want they will not bother to read any further.

Overwritten - long paragraphs and sentences

This makes it difficult to read quickly - try and keep your sentences short and punchy and use bullet points to break up the text under section headings.

Too little information
A lot of people do not include enough details about their previous jobs and experience and an employer therefore does not have enough information - they will therefore have to reject your application.
Not results orientated
You need to shout about your achievements. Please remember that your resume is your sales document to an employer. If it does not tell an employer why they should employ you then it has failed. An employer will only want to employ you if they can see a benefit in it for themselves. So do tell them the benefits of employing you.
Resume makes you look too young/old for the job
In general being too young/old can be a real problem and a barrier to future advancement, or even to getting a job in the first place. There are a number of ways round this problem - but this depends very much on your individual circumstances and the industry/job you are applying for. There are further hints and tips throughout this website to help you.

Misspellings, typographical errors, poor grammar

Your resume should be carefully checked for such errors before you send it out to employers. Tiny errors in your resume can detract from an otherwise good resume and make you look lazy or careless - not the sort of qualities you want to portray to an employer. As you will probably be 'blind' to these errors you should get someone else to check your resume for grammar and spelling errors.

Group test

Group tests are used by an employer to see how you react in a group. They will want to see if you help or hinder the group reach its objectives. An observer will be watching to see how you take criticism, whether you take on leadership roles and involve less communicative group members. If you chair the meeting the observer will be checking on how you plan and keep control of the meeting. If you are leading a group activity the observer will be interested in seeing how good you are at delegating tasks and how much of the work you keep for yourself.

Panel interview test
Most people hate these sort of interviews and find them a bit of an endurance test. To do well you will need to identify the important figures on the panel and which role each is fulfilling. The chairperson is easy to identify as they will generally make the introductions. You will also need to identify the person whom you will be working for directly - make sure you give them plenty of eye contact. When you are talking to the panel, remember that you are talking to all of them and not just the person who posed a particular question - your answer has to be the correct one for each panel member! If there is one particular panel member who everyone else seems to agree with, you should make sure you impress him or her.
Body language

When you are being interviewed it is very important that you give out the right signals. You should always look attentive - so do not slouch in your chair. Never lie to anyone in an interview, your body language and tone of voice or the words you use will probably give you away - classic body language giveaways include scratching your nose and not looking directly at the other person when you are speaking to them. If you have a moustache you may want to consider shaving it off - people with moustaches can be perceived as being aggressive. You can always grow it again once you have got the job.

Factors that can cost you the interview/job

	Being unprepared for the interview - you should always prepare thoroughly before any interview (this will also make you feel more confident at the interview).
	Poor/limp handshake - always a bit of a no-no.
	Saying unfavourable things about previous employers - the employer will be wondering what you will say about them when you leave their employment.
	Not being able to communicate clearly and effectively.
	Being aggressive or acting in a superior way - nobody likes this so please don't do this.
	Making excuses for failings.

What information will you need?

Work Experience	Personal Details
Major Achievements	Education / Qualifications
Other Experience	Professional Qualifications
Interests / Hobbies	Training Courses

Research the job

Before attending any interview it is a good idea to research the organisation and familiarise yourself with the following:

	Size of organisation, number of employees.
	History, how long have they been operating – do they have any affiliated organisations or belong to an umbrella group?
	General information about their services/products/aims etc.
	Major competitors or other organisations operating in the same field.
	Job description – understand the skills required for the position.
	Relationship between the open position and other members of staff - have a sense of the department.
	Have some well thought-out questions that would help further your understanding of the organisation e.g. How will the organisation be affected by the new legislation on xyz… or How do you see the organisation developing over the next year/three years?
	Feed back to your recruitment consultant/agent how you thought the interview went and tell them whether you would be interested in the job if it were to be offered to you.

References

You do not normally need to list referees on a resume, but it is a good idea to think about whom you could ask now.

Summary

List your major skills, strengths, personal qualities and achievements. Be specific, e.g. good team player, excellent written skills, versatile, able to motivate others, etc. Look at your staff appraisals or at your references.