Your CV carries immense power when it comes to securing an interview. If you’ve got your sights set on applying for office support jobs in London but know that employers get dozens of CVs to sift through, you’ll want to make sure that yours is fabulous. Before a hiring manager even gets to the content of your CV, they can be put off by the formatting.
Just a few tweaks to your layout can make your CV stand out.
1. Balance page margins
You’ve probably heard that you should keep your CV to two sides of A4 and that’s correct. But this of course means limited space. And since the top part of your CV is most important, you need to cleverly maximise that space.
Therefore, decrease your margins. This automatically allows more room to showcase your application early on in an eye-catching way, and draw particular attention to the top of the page. Just don’t decrease them so much that everything looks crowded.
2. Reduce the space taken up by contact details
Often, candidates pack in so many contact details in a large font that space is wasted. These don’t need to stand out too much, especially now that CVs are sent by email or via a recruitment agency. If the hiring manager wants to contact you, they’ll be motivated to find the details.
All that happens is the contact details push the meat of your CV down. Just type your name, telephone number, and email address.
3. Create clear sections
The hiring manager needs to navigate your CV easily, so use clear headings for sections. Make sure each section—profile, employment history, and education/qualifications—stand out from each other and can be scanned quickly. Use a bigger font for the titles and use bold for sub-headings.
4. Use bullet points
Avoid lengthy sentences; favour bullet points instead. They get the facts across quickly, are easy to scan, and stand out.
5. Tidy up page transitions
Ideally, a section shouldn’t span both page 1 and page 2. Instead, balance the CV by finishing a section on page 1 and starting a new section on page 2. If this happens in the career history section (which is common), then make sure the second page starts with the next job title, not halfway through a job.
6. Give it a sensible file name
Remember that when you are submitting a CV by email, the hiring manager can see the file name. It needs to look professional. And for office support jobs in London, this is a small but valuable opportunity to show that you know what you’re doing and are organised! Use your full name followed by “CV”. You don’t want to give them the idea that you have multiple CV versions, even if you do!
Excellent CV formatting showcases that you are comfortable with Word, which is likely to be a very important part of an office support role. It will make your CV stand out and help you secure the interview you want.
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