Skills Analysis
Analysing your skills is the best way to acquire an inventory of skills, abilities and aptitudes. This is an essential process and should be completed before you attempt preparing a CV or completing an application form.
Content
An effective CV will contain all or most of the following information - not necessarily in this order.

(a) Personal Details
Name
Address (Home and term if appropriate)
Telephone Number
Date of birth, gender and marital statusneed not be listed.
(Note: only offer information that may be to your advantage!)

(b) Education and Qualifications
Third Level      Dates, university attended, courses undertaken, subjects studied each year, and known results. Do mention any prizes, distinctions, academic honours, projects, dissertations, relevant training and work placement.
Secondary       Dates, school attended, level reached, final results. 
CVs for technical posts and all jobs which are closely course-related should show detailed information on coursework. Give exact information on equipment used and the systems and methods with which you are familiar. Employers will also be very interested to know details of your final year project or dissertation and/or work placement.

(c) Work Experience/Employment History
For each job (voluntary as well as paid) give: dates of work experience, name of employer, job title and experience gained. Reverse chronological order usually looks best - the same as that used for educational qualifications. Use action verbs to describe how you did the job e.g. planned, developed, designed, analysed, supervised, etc. Use the past tense and be concise and comprehensive.

(d) Interests and Activities
List interests, hobbies, membership of clubs/societies, professional associations, or voluntary organisations, and positions of responsibility held. Refrain from listing political, religious and potentially controversial groups, because they don't belong on a CV.

(e) Additional Information
Skills acquired - ability with foreign languages, computing familiarity, systems and languages known, keyboard and typing skills. Training courses outside of college.

(f) Referees
At least one academic, one non-academic. As a matter of courtesy you should keep referees informed of the positions you have applied for. Give each referee a copy of your C.V. so that he/she is aware of your full academic record, interests and work experience. Never put forward a person as a referee if you have not obtained their permission.

(g) Sign and Date each C.V.

Visual Impact - Layout is Critical

• A C.V. should always be word processed on good quality white paper.
• A C.V. should be easy to read, it should present the important facts about you both clearly and concisely. Research tells us that an item of advertising material has about a second and a half in which to attract the reader’s attention. Try the arms length test - hold your CV at arm’s length and see what kind of an impression it makes.
• Place the most relevant information first because CVs are often not read from beginning to end.
• Make good use of spacing, margins, indentations, capitalisation and underlining, be consistent with your use of these.
• Use bold type or iitalics  to emphasise words and subject headings (do not over do it!).
• Make sure that the C.V. is letter-perfect.  Errors, typing mistakes, stains, unexplained abbreviations, technical jargon or buzz-words are not acceptable. Have your final draft critiqued or proof-read by someone in a position of responsibility.

Remember, your CV is your marketing tool. Your aim is to entice the employer to interview you. Think carefully about the format you choose and make it appropriate to the different positions you apply for. CVs can appear in any one or a combination of the following formats.

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