A CV (curriculum vitae) is a written summary of a person's career, education, and professional experience. It is typically used when someone is applying for a job.

You can use a CV if you are applying for a job in either a professional or academic setting.

For example, an employer with a home care business may look at a person's CV to determine whether or not they have the right skills to work as a care assistant for the elderly or disabled. Alternatively, a researcher in health sciences might ask to see a student's CV to evaluate how knowledgeable they are in that particular field of study.

In summary, a CV is useful for people looking to demonstrate not only their professional experience, but also their educational background, personal skills, and accomplishments in a professional or academic setting.

There are several categories of information you can include in your CV to describe your professional profile: personal details, work experience, education, and qualifications.

Personal Details

It's important to include contact information such as your full name, address, phone number, and email address so a potential employer can reach you. You can also include personal interests that are related to your job application (such as an interest in politics for a career in government service) or a career objective (a short description of your goals and aspirations) to add value to your CV.

If you'd like to provide evidence of the work that you're capable of, you can also include work samples (such as a link to your website). For instance, a professional photographer's CV may seem incomplete without photo samples.

Work Experience

You should list your work experience starting with your most recent job and move backwards through your work history. It's recommended you only include work experience that is directly related to your job application, although it's fine to include unrelated jobs if you have no other experience.

Include your job title, the name of the company you worked for, the daily tasks you were responsible for, and any accomplishments you earned. Use action words (e.g. "improved," "integrated," or "expanded") and short sentences to describe your responsibilities and achievements; this language can be effective because it is impactful and easy to read quickly.

Education

You can include information about where you've attended school, including secondary school and university, and the subjects you've studied.

For instance, you can mention specific GCSEs, O-levels, A-levels, diplomas, or degrees that you've taken and the grades you earned. However, it's recommended you only include grades if the job application requires them or if they make your application stronger.

Qualifications

In addition to your work experience and education, your qualifications show potential employers the skills that make you suitable for a job. You can mention hard skills (e.g. teachable abilities like proficiency in data entry or word processing), soft skills (e.g. character traits like punctuality or enthusiasm), awards (e.g. scholarships, bursaries, honours, etc.), and non-profit organisation memberships (e.g. volunteer work).

It's not uncommon for a student to finish school with little or no work experience in their field of study. However, what someone lacks in practical experience they can make up for with education and specialized skills. As a student or recent graduate, you can tailor your CV to showcase the knowledge and skills you have that make you a qualified candidate for the job.

If you have no experience that is directly related to your job application, creating a Cover Letter can help you highlight other relevant qualifications to a potential employer.

Although the terms resume and CV are often used interchangeably, there are a few differences between them.

Generally, a resume provides a brief summary of a person's work experience, education, and qualifications; it is typically only one page in length and can be altered as required to match individual job applications.

In contrast, a CV provides an in-depth explanation of a person's professional career, including a thorough account of the person's work experience, education, and qualifications. For example, a CV might mention several academic awards and scholarships, whereas a resume might only have space to say “graduated with honours.”

A CV will remain mostly unchanged through the course of a job search; instead, an applicant is more likely to tailor a cover letter to match individual job applications.

Generally, the ideal length of a CV is about two pages. However, your focus should be on the quality of the content in your CV as opposed to its length. It's possible to create an effective CV in as little as one page or as long as three, but a potential employer might not take a short CV seriously nor have the time to read a long CV. Therefore, you should only include the most important information and keep your writing succinct (i.e. use precise language and clear examples).