The Basics

Personal details: Include your full name, postal address, email address and phone number. Ensure you format your postcode and mobile number correctly. E.g. 07956 123546 and SE31 5TX.

Professional summary: Also known as a personal statement. This is a concise opening paragraph (3–5 sentences) at the top of the CV. Outline your core strengths and ambitions.

Work experience: For each, include: Company name, dates of employment, responsibilities and the key skills you acquired. Here’s what you can include to beef up this section:

• Work experience (including virtual work experience).

• Part time work.

• Leadership roles (e.g. head girl or team captain).

• Side hustle - entrepreneurship is highly valued.

• Volunteering.

Education: List your academic qualifications in reverse chronological order. In other words, your Level 3 qualifications (e.g. A Levels) should appear at the top, followed by your Level 2 qualifications (e.g. GCSEs). List modules, EPQ, projects, NEAs or areas of study, if they align with your career goals.

Skills: Include hard skills and soft skills:

• Hard skills: For example, spreadsheets, Python, Java, HTML/CSS, research skills, report writing, driving licence, languages spoken or graphic design.

• Soft skills: For example, creativity, problem-solving, time management, resilience and attention to detail.

Over and above

Additional qualifications: Read the Upskilling section.

Key achievements: Quality always trumps quantity - list the two or three achievements that fill you with pride. For example:

• Academic: Subject awards and commendations.

• Sporting: Captaining a side, winning a tournament or coaching success.

• Technical: Setting up a fully functioning website or designing a 3D model using CAD.

• Extracurricular: Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Gold Award or winning a debating award.

• Super curricular: UKMT Senior Maths Challenge, British Informatics Olympiad (Computer Science) or Royal Economics Society Essay Competition.

• Community: Charity work (especially if you organised an event that raised lots of money) or supporting younger students with homework clubs.

• Leadership: Head girl/head boy (or prefect) or setting up your own club/society.

Hobbies and interests: This section serves two main purposes. Firstly, it demonstrates that you’re a rounded individual. Secondly, if you’re lucky, you may share an interest with someone who’s interviewing you. Here are the main categories: Sports (e.g. captaining a team), intellectual (e.g. playing chess), cultural (e.g. reading), community (e.g. faith group), creative and artistic (e.g. painting or playing a musical instrument).

Referees: It’s common practice to have two referees on your CV (ideally one academic and one workplace).