More Magazine has a great section on their website where they offer advice to their readers looking for jobs in the creative industry and even advertise creative jobs etc.
One article I found on the site offered tips for writing a winning CV:
More Magazine CV Tips
"Tracey Dicker, senior manager at Office Angels, shares her 9 golden rules for an eyecatching CV
1. Person Details
Always start off with your name, home address, mobile number and an email address as a headline, but be accurate! You'd be amazed at how many people get their phone numbers wrong, or use comedy email addresses like 'dirty69' or 'sexybiatch' - this will never get you an interview. Instead, set up a new email account just for job hunting.
2. Your Profile
A profile is a handy way of quickly telling employers what you can bring to their company. But keep it short - two or three sentences after your personal details is enough. And focus on skills you can prove, such as, 'I am an efficient administrator with a typing speed of 40 words a minute', rather than waffling on about your great people skills.
3. Qualifications
Start with your most recent qualifications and work back. If you're a uni leaver and you got a good degree, flaunt it. But if you got Es and Fs in your A levels, leave the grades off and sum up your results instead, for example saying, 'I have eight GCSEs and two A level passes.'
4. Employment History
If you've never had a proper job, but you've done lots of babysitting, paper rounds or car washing, then use those first jobs to big yourself up. Mix up paid employment and work experience/internships to make your CV flow, but explain each job clearly and get the dates right. Eg: 'Sales Assistant, Dorothy Perkins, Oxford Street, June 2009-July 2011' could be bolded up, then underneath use bullet points to highlight your responsibilities. But be clever. Instead of saying, 'I opened and closed a shop,' say, 'I was a primary key-holder with responsibility for weekend opening and closing.' If you helped drum up trade while working in a hair salon by getting your mates to come in, say so! A point like, 'I increased the client base by 5%', will impress recruiters, as it shows you're enterprising.
5. Skills
It's great to have a skills section, especially if you're just starting out. Remember, they have to be factual and verifiable, such as 'fluent in French', or 'advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office'. Leave off things like 'good communication skills' - it's too wishy washy and there's no way of proving it.
6. Hobbies
Unless you'd proudly tell your grandma about your favourite pastimes, there's no place for it on your CV. Try to talk about activities that could be linked to the jobs you're looking for, like learning the guitar, or scouring markets for vintage dresses to sell on eBay. Be prepared; anything you mention here will be brought up at interview, so if you don't really do it, don't write it down.
7. References
Instead of naming people, just put 'references available on request'. Then ask an old teacher or employer if you can contact them as and when you need to. It will boost your confidence knowing people are ready to vouch for you, so don't be afraid to ask.
8. Photo
No matter how gorgeous you are, do not put a photo on your CV! It's a car crash waiting to happen. I've seen CVs with people posing in bikinis! Even a nice headshot takes away from your achievements and invites people to judge you on your looks, not your experience.
9. Design
Start with your name in bold letters, but after that, don't mix fonts or colours - the best CVs will stand out because of their content, not crazy design. And if it needs more than two pages, there's too much detail."
I think this article is really useful and has some great tips. The ones that stood out to me most are:
"be clever. Instead of saying, 'I opened and closed a shop,' say, 'I was a primary key-holder with responsibility for weekend opening and closing.' If you helped drum up trade while working in a hair salon by getting your mates to come in, say so! A point like, 'I increased the client base by 5%', will impress recruiters, as it shows you're enterprising."
"do not put a photo on your CV! It's a car crash waiting to happen. I've seen CVs with people posing in bikinis! Even a nice headshot takes away from your achievements and invites people to judge you on your looks, not your experience."
"Start with your name in bold letters, but after that, don't mix fonts or colours - the best CVs will stand out because of their content, not crazy design. And if it needs more than two pages, there's too much detail."
I think these CV tips apply more to a basic paper based CV as I will obviously be playing about more with colours and fonts in my digital design. However, it has confirmed what I thought myself when looking through creatively formatted CV's which is to keep it fun but simple and do not over-complicate the whole look as it will detract from the content of my CV and my work.
Kate
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