Write you are…

Would-be journalists, students and graduates sometimes write to me asking for advice and contacts. Sometimes they attach CVs. And I can’t quite believe the number of bright, talented people with really great experience who are woefully underselling themselves with shoddy, badly-written CVs. So I thought I’d write out some advice here, not least so I can send the link in response to some of these emails.

Before I get to CV advice, though, here’s a few thoughts on the approach. Most people who ask for advice don’t have any frigging manners. They ask, you answer, they don’t say thanks. And yes, it is a big deal. Manners cost nothing so if you’re going to write to me, or anyone else, read the post I just linked to and make sure you have some.

Also. Think twice about asking a complete stranger for contacts because you’re in danger of seeming presumptious and rude. Contacts are very important, valuable and precious to a freelancer and mine fall into two categories: ones you could find yourself if you picked up the phone, and ones you would have to prise out of my cold, dead hands before I gave them away. I do swap contacts with other freelancers, but I’m not going to give them to everyone who asks. Why would I? Genuine question. I do get asked and, as Oliver Burkeman surmised rather wonderfully in his Guardian column the other week, resent the agony involved in saying no. (Read the link. I’m a Guesser, and I can never work out if the people asking for “all your Guardian contacts” or similar are Guessers or Askers. Do they really expect me to hand out my contacts or do they realise I may tell them to bog off?)

Onto CVs. I’ve seen some awful ones lately, apparently compiled with advice from lecturers and parents. Now I realise some people just don’t want to be told (like the graduates in the Guardian’s CV Clinic, who always seem reluctant to take any of the advice they’re given). Fine. While this is good advice, nobody is forcing you to take it. But don’t do what one person did: email asking for CV advice, get advice, fail to bother to take any of it, then ask for CV advice again a year later. For the same (very badly-written) CV. What a waste of my time that was.

1. Consider your reader.
They are bored and/or busy. They may have hundreds or thousands of other CVs to get through. Every inch of yours is a fight to stop them binning it. So tell them, instantly, what makes you interesting and why they should keep reading. Don’t write a profile saying you’re a hard-working graduate (because they’re in such short supply), or list your GCSEs first, or wait until page two to mention you have written for a national newspaper (all genuine examples). Stop and consider what your reader will get from a first glance and make sure that initial impression is the best it can be.

2. Don’t make mistakes.
When you write a CV or fill in a job application you are demonstrating whether you can write, edit and take care over your work. So don’t make typos or use errant commas or American spellings or clunky sentences. If you must use the bloody spellchecker (I hate them – they make people lazy and complacent) don’t go thinking that’s an alternative to proofing with your actual eyes. I recently pointed out that a graduate’s CV was littered with typos. Ah, she said, the spellchecker doesn’t pick up those kinds of mistakes. That’s not going to wash with a recruiter or an editor. If you’re not confident about your own ability to spot mistakes, get someone else to check it for you. A real person, not a computer.

3. Don’t over-write.
Don’t write a long description of such-and-such company, or waffle on about how you did this particular stint of work experience in the summer holidays and you were lucky enough to be given the chance to assist X with Y and you were also fortunate to be asked to help the blah blah team with doing the wotsit. Newsflash. The person reading doesn’t care about all that pointless padding. They just want to know what you did, what skills you used, and what you learned and achieved. Ideally in bullet points. Using as few words as possible.

4. Don’t under-write.
You’re meant to be selling yourself. Nobody else is going to do that for you. So big up your achievements and experience. You weren’t fortunate to be given the opportunity to help out with doing X. You did X. If you did something great, say so. Don’t downplay it. Remember: you’re trying to impress someone who is not going to make any effort to get this information from you. You need to hit them over the head with it.

5. Keep it relevant.
Irrelevant info distracts from the good stuff. By all means mention a job in another field if you need to plug a gap, or prove you’ve held down jobs before if, say, you’re a graduate looking for your first break. But the exact details of what you did at the pizza restaurant or clothes shop do not belong on a media CV unless you’re applying for a relevant role (e.g. on a retail trade magazine). I’m not being a snob (I worked in retail for many years). It’s just your reader doesn’t care. On the flipside, don’t miss out relevant info. What software can you use? Can you design websites? Do you have shorthand? Can you speak a foreign language?

6. Less is more.
If you have a degree, you don’t need to list all your GCSEs and you probably don’t need to bother with your A levels either. A levels and GCSEs are a means to an end. They get you to the next level of education. If you’ve got a degree, your GCSE grades and subjects are neither very important nor very interesting. Even if they were all As and A*s, that becomes less impressive over time. Mention your grades if you really must. But don’t list all your GCSE subjects. Nobody cares. Sorry.

7. Remember what a CV is for.
Curriculum Vitae is a misleading name. The point of a CV is not to tell your entire life story. It’s a sales brochure, not a complete product manual. It’s there to tell prospective employers who you are and what you have to offer. Don’t fill it with typos and waffle. Consider your audience. What do they want to know? What will hook them in? What will make them want to get you in for an interview? The answer is a brief, well-presented rundown of clear, concise, relevant information that tells them why they should care. Quickly.