Writing your next CV
You’ve perfected your portfolio and you are building your network in the design world - but there’s still one thing lingering on your ‘to do’ list…. the CV! Mark Trist is a Recruiter in the Creative, Marketing and Digital sectors. With 11 years of creative recruitment experience, he’s seen his fair share of CVs. He’s helped many people find their dream jobs and here he shares his tips and tricks, a few common mistakes, and has highlighted what he personally looks for in a CV. As Mark says: “It will be hard to cover everything - I’ve kept it simple and aimed to cover the basics.”
Firstly, here are Mark’s quick-fire dos and don’ts:
Photo: Nah ⛔
References: “On request” 📨
Infographics or graphs: I’m not a fan but others can be. It needs to be well thought out. 📊
PDF or Word: PDF always! ✅
Links to social media: Only if relevant. For example, designers may have a creative Instagram that showcases their work. Just think about whether it adds value to your application. If it doesn’t, don’t include it! 📸
1) Count to 10…
Here’s where I may get trolled! I generally spend no more than 10 seconds reading a CV before deciding whether or not I should shortlist the candidate. So first impressions really do count.
2) Easy on the eye
To grab attention, your CV needs to be visually appealing. That doesn’t mean over-designed. A few key tips that could help are: make sure it’s well-spaced and have an appreciation for layout; use bold lettering to draw the eye to certain areas; use bullet points to break up chunky paragraphs. Your first task will be to select a font - not an easy choice, but an important one.
3) Start as you mean to go on
Your personal profile will sit directly below your full name, email address and mobile number at the top of your CV. This is your chance to shine, showing off your personality. Describe what makes you different and special, your strengths, education highlights, internships and career goals. A short paragraph is fine. Please try your best not to include any waffle or generic statements. Be concise.
4) The credentials
Next up is your education and any courses and extracurricular achievements. Include your grades and briefly highlight relevant areas of learning.
If you have work experience in the form of internships, gap year work, or paid work that’s relevant to your chosen career, then please do include this, highlighting responsibility and role details. Weekend jobs, summer bar work and paper rounds etc showcase your work ethic, but I am not sure are needed and I would exclude them. If you don’t have any work experience, don’t worry. In this instance, you may want to present your CV on a single page.
5) Have some fun
The last section (and one not to be excluded) is the hobbies and interests section. Companies want to hire interesting candidates from diverse backgrounds with a variety of hobbies. Keep it professional but feel free to have a little fun with it. To give you a flavour, I might write:
“I am a poker playing cat lover, who travels, is learning Spanish, takes on the odd fitness challenge and has a biscuit-eating addiction.”
See, you know more about me already.
In the world of marketing and design, you tend to be dealing with less corporate businesses and so CVs with character and personality are always favoured. Your tone of voice can be more conversational these days and reflect your personality. Find a style that works for you.
For anybody lucky enough to be at Werkhouse this year, I will see you there and answer any further questions. Otherwise, please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. Thanks for reading and good luck! I hope this helps you take that exciting next step on the career ladder.
Mark Trist