A CV (also called a Curriculum Vitae or Resume) is a summary of your work history and education along with your personal qualities that could help to sell you to a potential employer.
Your CV is the first thing that a potential employer will see so it is really important to make sure it’s clearly written and up to date.
If you’re experienced in the care sector then you should highlight all of the relevant experience you have along with the personal qualities that would set you apart from the crowd.
If you are a recent school-leaver or new to the care sector then you should highlight why you’re looking to work in the care sector and remember to mention any care experience you do have on a personal level, this could be caring for an elderly relative or friend.
Follow our easy steps to help you write your CV
- Make sure to include the correct contact details on your CV:
- First name and surname
- Address or location
- Best phone number to contact you on
- Email address – make sure it is a professional email address
- There is no need to include: National Insurance number, passport number, DOB/Age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, height/weight, religion or a photograph
- Font – do choose a professional looking font. For example, Ariel or Calibri. Try and stay away from different font colours. A good sized font is 11.5/12
- Make sure that you use the spellcheck function to check your spelling, grammar and punctuation
- Try and keep your CV to an appropriate length. The ideal length for a CV is 1-2 pages.
- Bullet points are a great way to make your CV clearer. Try and use bullet points to detail your duties at work, qualifications and your skills
- Make sure that your qualifications are clearly displayed and include the full title and the level/grade. Try to only include relevant qualifications, for example if you have a Bachelor’s Degree then your GCSE grades would not be relevant but if you are a recent school leaver then it would best to include these
- Your work experience should be laid out in chronological order, starting with the most recent. Employment dates are important; you need to include a start date and an end date or indicate if you are still currently working at a company. If you can’t remember the exact dates, then a month and a year are fine
- Remember to include job titles for each of your roles as well as the company names
- If you have any gaps in employment then do explain these, for example if you were a stay at home parent, write this down with the dates
- At this stage, you do not need to include referee details. These will be asked for at interview/offer stage
- If you are a recent school leaver or have less work experience, make sure to highlight other skills
- It is best to write your CV in the first person, i.e. “I am an experienced carer”
- There is no need to include reasons for leaving any of your previous roles or your previous salary details on your CV, this will be discussed at interview stage
- Always make sure to double check your CV before submitting. If possible, ask someone else to have a look over it and check for any errors.
To search for your next career move, check out our jobs section here homecare.co.uk/jobs
