Reach for the stars with your CV

If you are currently actively job hunting in this difficult climate, it is so important to do everything you can to position yourself as an attractive prospect to a potential employer.

Your CV is an opportunity to present yourself, your qualifications, work experience, skills, achievements and progress to potential employers.  There are many different layouts and designs and it is important you choose one that works for you. It is essential to ensure that you can demonstrate how your skills would benefit the company you are hoping to work for. One popular model that makes it easy for your potential employer to see how you would fit with their business is to draw up a STAR competency based CV, which looks at Situation, Task, Action and Result. This is how it works:

Situation

Give a short description of a situation you experienced.

Task

Explain what you had to do and what your specific role was.

Action

Describe what action you took, how you did it, what skills you had to demonstrate.

Result

Explain what happened, the impact it had, how successful it was and how you made a positive difference to ensure a successful outcome.

Points to remember

Don’t be too wordy. Use examples that are up to date and really relevant. Relate the task and action closely to the job description if you can. Make sure you cover the skills and qualities the company is looking for in the Action part. For maximum impact, it can work well to lead with your Results.