Career Fitness Hub | Get career fit!

Building your CV

Why is your CV important? First impressions matter

You have 30 seconds to make a good impression. It’s important your CV stands out and is easy to follow – don’t fall at the first hurdle of the recruitment process.

Your CV is your personal marketing tool. It’s a record of your skills, experience and achievements. Usually presented over two to three sides of A4, it’s your opportunity to show a potential employer what you have to
offer and how you can add value to their organisation.

A tailored, gold-standard CV will increase your chances of progressing through the application process. So, invest time and effort into building your CV – receiving feedback on it will support you in becoming one step closer to your next career opportunity.

Getting started

A good CV comes equipped with essential headings. The recruiter will be looking for these when reviewing your application. They include:
  • Contact details
  • Personal profile
  • Education, work experience, skills
  • References

Click the circles to read more about each area on your profile

Personal Profile / Summary

Your personal profile should be a short, attention-grabbing summary. Tell a recruiter what you have to offer, and what you’re looking for in a role and in an employer. Make them want to read on.

Have a go... Imagine you’re in a lift with the hiring manager. You have two minutes. What would you share with them? Read more about creating an 'elevator pitch' here

Contact details

Include your email and phone number. There’s no need to add your home address as it’s no longer used for correspondence. You may want to also add a link to your LinkedIn profile..

Name

Use your name rather than ‘CV’ or ‘Curriculum Vitae’. It should be in the largest font at the top of the page.

Headings

Your headings should stand out and clearly indicate what information is below to help the reader follow the structure of your CV.

References

It's not necessary to add references at this stage of the recruitment process. But you can include the heading and ‘Available on request’ below.
Download an editable CV template here

Developing your CV

The most important and largest part of your CV should include:
  • Your education, skills and qualifications
  • A snapshot of your work history to date
  • Your hobbies/interests (optional)
Put your experience through its paces. Don’t just list the what and when: demonstrate how you solved a problem or achieved a goal.

What you did

Every role has a particular purpose/function. Include a short description of the job or task. Keep it short – about 30% of each experience.
  • What were your main duties and responsibilities?
  • Were you responsible for any people or processes?

How you developed

You might have the same role as somebody else, but your results will differ. This is all about you and your achievements – it should equate for 70% of each experience.
  • What were my performance measures in the role (CSAT, NPS) and how did I measure up against them?
  • What soft skills or competencies did I develop in the role – for example, Excel reporting, project management, adopting communication style.
Top Tip
‘Think like a recruiter’
Avoid saying, ‘I’. Instead, say, ‘Developed a new...’ or ‘Kicked off a new plan for...’. And start with your most recent experience first.

Education:

  • Start with your most recent qualification, whether that’s a degree, A-levels, BTECs, GSCEs or a qualification you’ve gained through an in-role apprenticeship. You don’t need to include your full education before this, but do give an overview of your key qualifications.
  • Include place of study, qualification, date and result.
  • It’s also worth including any relevant courses you might have completed to upskill yourself.

Education:

  • Think about the parts of your education that will be important for the new role. Are there any relevant projects, modules or courses you can include?
  • Talk about your key achievements, for example, results and any extracurricular activities you have achieved, such as being a ‘wellbeing champion’.
You may also want to mention any transferable skills you’ve gained from studying and link them to the job description, for example:
  • ‘Adopted a critical approach in evaluating information’.
  • ‘Confident in creating and delivering presentations’.
  • ‘Reviewing and analysing data’.
What I did
What I developed

Experience:

  • Begin by listing the name of your employer, your job title and the dates of your employment. Include accurate dates for each role.
  • Briefly describe your main responsibilities for each role to give an insight into your day to day. You may want to refer back to your job descriptions.

Experience:

  • Think about your key achievements in each role: your successes, key KPIs and training. What have you contributed to your team, store or site?
  • Use statistics to support your bullet points – for example, regularly achieve 100% on sales targets.
  • What soft skills have you developed in the role?
  • When have you gone above and beyond your job description?
What I did
What I developed

Top tip

You can also include any outside-of-work or extracurricular activities within your ‘Experience’ section.

Active language: Using words that pack a punch

Use active language and avoid the passive voice. Action verbs such as ‘demonstrated’, ‘supported’ and ‘influenced’ bring your achievements to life. Be specific and show how you’ve developed and taken the initiative throughout your career. 
Here are some examples:

What I did?

What I did +
What I developed/
achieved?

Utilised strong selling skills with a wide range of customers, leveraging internal LIFE selling framework (Listen, Inspire, Find, Enjoy). Achieved high customer satisfaction scores and consistent, strong performance metrics.

What I did?

What I did +
What I developed/
achieved?

Delivered and installed high-value goods in a timely and safe manner, frequently exceeding customer satisfaction scores and company targets.

What I did?

What I did +
What I developed/
achieved?

Researched, designed and created a targeted communications campaign to support the business implementation of X process. This included screen popups, Workplace posts and presentations at all X key meetings. This resulted in 86% of colleagues implementing the new process in the first six weeks of X project going live.

Changing your career?

What do we mean by transferable skills? It's a way of thinking about how the experience and knowledge you've gained in one job could translate over to a different role, team or industry.
If you want to transition to a new career, use a skills profile to showcase your transferrable skills. Choose 4-6 skills from the job description and use bullet points to detail how you’ve used these in your previous experiences.
Example skills profile
Customer Service
  • Won ‘Excellence’ award for going above and beyond to achieve a high customer satisfaction score and demonstrating our value of ‘putting the customer first’.
  • Able to prioritise the business needs when working in a fast-paced environment to achieve the ‘metrics that matter’, while sustaining an enthusiastic approach.
  • Increased customer satisfaction by 5% through effectively handling customer complaints using strong listening and problem-solving skills.
Communication
  • Engagement champion: ensuring the views and feedback of colleagues is shared with key stakeholders to improve colleague experience.
  • Engage and influence a large audience by storytelling and showcasing products and services through multiple social media platforms, receiving over 3,000 engagement indicators.
  • Ensuring consistent colleague experience by supporting the induction of new colleagues into the store during the peak trading period. Continuously developing the team through business frameworks and frequently receiving positive feedback from colleagues and regional managers.
People Management
  • Able to run effective and impactful 1-2-1s with my team, checking in on wellbeing and objectives to support their development.
  • Completed e-learning on Coaching to further develop management capability and ensure effective training and development of colleagues.
  • Captain of the local football team, regularly influencing and engaging players to achieve optimum results and return on time investment.
Technical Skills
  • Strong Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel knowledge.
  • SuccessFactors People Manager Functionalities.

Tailoring your CV

Imagine you've been invited to try out for a sports team. You'd make sure you were wearing the right kit, wouldn't you? It's the same with job applications.

You should match your CV to the role you're applying for. Each organisation will have its own branding, values and vision, and recruiters will be looking for the best teammate.

Your CV is only two or three pages, so make the most of the space. Do your research before you apply so you understand what your audience wants. Then include the experiences, skills and qualifications that best fit the role you're applying for.

Market, don’t sell.

What’s the difference?

  • Selling is all about you and what you have to offer, without any thought for what your audience wants.
  • Marketing is taking the time to understand your audience and then tailoring what you share about yourself so it’s relevant to them.
Market,
don't sell.
What's the 
difference?

Tips for tailoring your CV.

The biggest difference between those who sell and those who market is research. In order to truly market yourself, you must first understand what the employer is looking for:

  • Look at the organisation’s website and social media accounts to find out about recent news and announcements they have shared.
  • Think about the industry trends and challenges and how your skills and experience can add value.
  • Align your branding with the organisations e.g. similar font and title colour.
  • Update your personal statement for the role and organisation you are applying for.
  • Review your CV each time you use it to ensure the personal statement, structure and content is appropriate for the role.

Tips for Success

Do

  • Prioritise information in order of relevance to the role you are applying for; the most important information should be on the first page
  • Update your LinkedIn Profile and link it into the details section of your CV
  • Use the keywords from the job description to make sure your CV comes through in searches
  • Explain any gaps in your employment or education
  • Update your leave dates for each role
  • Use clear fonts and the same format throughout. Your CV should be easy to understand and follow

Don't

  • Send your CV without proofreading or checking spelling and grammar
  • Use the same CV for every role
  • Forget to share what you have achieved and developed
  • Try to give the full picture in your CV, there will be plenty of opportunities to discuss your skills, experiences and achievements in the recruitment process. Your CV is just a snapshot
  • Use more than three pages, this will likely disengage the reader
  • Use acronyms or organisation terminology without an explanation that will confuse or disengage the recruiter
Currys plc ("Currys") registered in England & Wales No.07105905. Currys Retail Limited registered in England & Wales No.2142673. Currys Group Limited registered in England & Wales No.504877.

Registered office: 1 Portal Way, London, W3 6RS. Currys Group Limited and Currys Retail Limited are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Credit available on purchases from £99. Exclusions apply. Credit subject to status. Currys Group Limited acts as a credit broker and not as a lender. Credit is provided by Creation Consumer Finance Ltd. Both Currys Group Limited and Creation Consumer Finance Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
chevron-downchevron-leftchevron-right