How to research and prepare your work CV

Corinne Mills is a highly regarded Career Coach, MD of Personal Career Management and has the best-selling CV book in the UK ‘You’re Hired! How to write a brilliant CV’. Corinne gives her tips below on how to research and prepare your work CV.

Your CV is more than simply an historical record of your employment history.  It should be written with a view to providing detailed proof of your suitability for the job for which you are applying.

If you are sending your CV for a specific job, then your CV needs to be tailored accordingly.  Review the job advert and person specification closely.  Research the company, product or sector including talking to any contacts you know who work there to find out more information about the company culture.  Make sure that you fully understand what the employer is looking for rather than making any assumptions.  Write down examples which provide evidence that you meet their requirements and give them prominent focus within the first half page of your CV to make it easy for the recruiter to see.

If you are devising a CV for a particular type of role, rather than a specific job, then find 5-6 person specifications for jobs that fit the bill.  Review the key competences and experiences required across all of the jobs and use these as the building blocks around which to build your CV.

I need help with my work CV, how can you help?

Corinne’s new edition of her CV book has recently been updated to include an extended chapter on social media and how to use it to your advantage to market yourself, manage your web-presence and your online reputation. You can purchase Corinne’s book via Amazon.

Resources on this site:

• Professional CV template (free)
• Chronological CV template – CV layout UK
• Graduate CV template – first CV template
• Functional CV template
• What is a functional CV template?
• How to write a chronological CV
• What should be included on your CV?
• Why include achievements in your CV?

If you would like to find out more about our career coaching services, including CV advice, we offer a free, no-obligation career consultation where you will have an opportunity to discuss your career situation and find out more about how we can help.

To book or to find out more, call us on 01753 888995 or fill in our contact form and one of our team will be happy to contact you to talk through our CV writing coaching services.

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Article by:

Corinne Mills

Article by:

Corinne Mills

Corinne Mills is the Joint Managing Director of Personal Career Management, she is a career coach with 15 years career management experience.

View Articles by Corinne Mills