How to write a winning CV

Shayna Main
LSE Careers
 Aims of a CV
• Gets you to the next stage of the process
• Be specific to the job
• Give enough relevant information –
qualifications, skills, work experience
• Give the right impression – motivation and
knowledge of role and organisation
• Set the agenda for the interview –what do you want
to be asked?
 Putting the reader first

Who is your reader?

What do you want them to know?
What do you want them to do?
 Things worth remembering!
• No such thing as a ‘perfect CV’
• Needs to be tailored for each job
• Is a professional business document
• Aim for no more than 2 pages
• Must have enough relevant info to provoke an
interview
• SELL YOURSELF!
 CV and covering letter: key principles
• Length – 1 side or 2?
• Design – strange fonts, white space
and consistency
• Language – speling and positive verbs
• Space denotes importance
• Must be relevant and targeted
 The wrong kind of impact
• Too long
• Disorganised information
• Typing poor or printing unprofessional
• Overwriting/underwriting
• Inclusion of irrelevancies
• Spelling and grammatical errors
 CV headings
Name and contact details
Education
Work experience
Academic awards (sometimes)
Extra-curricular achievements
Interests
 Personal Details
• Main purpose is for contact information
– address / phone[s] / email… (1 only or dates)
• Don’t have to include everything e.g. Date of Birth,
Nationality, Gender
• Be aware of appropriateness of email addresses
e.g. snufflebunny@yahoo.com
• May wish to state if eligible to work in UK but not
necessary
 Personal Profile – Yes or No?
“I am a dynamic individual who thrives in a fast-
moving team orientated environment. Looking
for a career in an international organisation
which will match my aspirations”

?
 or maybe…
• LSE Finance and Economics postgraduate with
work experience gained in an leading Italian
investment bank. Detailed knowledge of
complex financial risk analysis. Looking for
position as an analyst with Goldman Sachs
 Education

• Reverse chronological order

• How much detail?
• More relevant = more space
• Grades – ‘special circumstances’ in covering
letter
How much detail… and what kind of detail?
 Talking about your Degree
MSc Finance and Economics, London School of Economics
Course included modules in Portfolio Management, Corporate
Financial Reporting, International Finance, Derivatives and
Financial Risk Analysis.
Final dissertation on ………………………………

• Course provided a thorough exposure to econometric methods,

including time series analysis, with applications to financial
models and data. Amongst others I will be completing courses
concerning portfolio management and corporate financial
reporting.
 Work Experience
• If useful, divide into Relevant Work (eg IT)
Experience and Other Work Experience
• Role
• Where & When
• Skills involved – give concrete examples
• Don’t have to include EVERYTHING
• But DON’T underestimate value of diverse
range of work experience
 Selling your experience
• Position or role
• Company/Organisation name
• Location
• Dates
• Use bullet points, ideally
– Max 5 per experience
– Max two lines
– One point per bullet point
• Choose specific example
– Action verb related to a required
skill at start of bullet point
– Description
– Result (if possible)
 Levels of impact
• LEVEL 1 My duties included

• LEVEL 2 Involved with organising

• LEVEL 3 Worked in a team of 3 people to organise

• LEVEL 4 Raised £600 for the LSE entrepreneur society

enabling them to provide more events for students
 Additional Skills
• IT skills - give information about packages used such
as MatLab/Stata/SPSS, languages, other
technologies/social media - try to give some
information on level of proficiency (competent, some
knowledge of)
• Foreign Languages - again give level of proficiency
(fluent, working knowledge, basic)
 Interests
• Keep it relevant
• Keep it brief
• Avoid bland generalities like ‘reading’, or
‘socialising with friends’
• make sure at least one interest is not of a
solitary nature
What do you want the reader to infer ?
 Writing style
• Write simply: don’t use “CV speak” ; avoid “hone” “enhance”

• Be direct: use verbs; avoid a long string of nouns

• Avoid phrases such as “Since a young age…” “I’ve always

wanted”

• Avoid generalities
e.g., phrases like “various skills” and “diverse activities”

• Avoid: “empty intensifiers for meaningless enhancement”

• Don’t repeat verbatim sections of the employer’s website

 Action verbs
• Accomplished • Guided
• Achieved • Identified
• Administered • Implemented
• Analysed • Increased
• Built • Introduced
• Coached • Led
• Communicated • Managed
• Controlled • Monitored
• Co-ordinated • Negotiated
• Created • Organised
• Designed • Persuaded
• Directed • Planned
• Effective • Processed
• Efficient • Produced
• Engineered • Proficient
• Established • Qualified
• Evaluated • Researched
• Expanded • Sold
• Facilitated • Supervised
• Trained
 Additional Skills - examples
• IT skills - give information about packages used,
languages, other technologies - try to give some
information on level of proficiency (competent, some
knowledge of)
• Foreign Languages - again give level of proficiency
(fluent, working knowledge, basic)
 Interests
• Keep it relevant
• Keep it brief
• Avoid bland generalities like ‘reading’, or
‘socialising with friends’
• make sure at least one interest is not of a
solitary nature
What do you want the reader to infer ?
 References
• Not vital at CV stage
- References Available on Request’ is fine
• Get Permission
• Use Recent Contacts –
• Choose Relevant Contacts
– Eg one academic + one ‘work’
 Marco’s CV
• What would be your top 3 pieces of advice for
Marco?
• Are there any missing headings?
• How should he increase his impact?
Questions?