Writing your CV or Resume in English can be time consuming and stressful. It is important to make a good first impression, so you should always spend some extra time on presenting yourself well. But don’t panic. Elevator English will get you there.
We have the experience and knowledge to transform your English CV into an excellent one.
First we suggest you check out our useful tips on things you can do to improve your English CV.
Click on the ‘Useful Tips’ button or scroll down to read more.
Alternatively, skip all that and let us worry about it. Send us your CV and we’ll edit it for you.
Click on the ‘Check CV’ button or scroll down to see our prices and the options we provide.
Anyone who has ever worked in recruitment will tell you that the selection process is brutal. Especially at the beginning. There is a good chance the company you are applying to has received hundreds of CVs and if your CV is too complicated or difficult to read it will probably end up in the recycle bin.
Make sure all the information is easy to access. Your contact information, key skills and qualifications should have their own sections. When you are detailing your work experience, you should clearly title your position, the name of the company and the dates you worked there, in that order. If you like, you can write one or two short sentences describing the position or activity of the company, but you should list your responsibilities with bullet points so they are easy to access. You should try and keep your CV down to just two pages.
Nobody enjoys writing out their CV. We get paid to do it and it still isn’t our favourite job. Regardless, don’t copy and paste your responsibilities for each position. If you have been working in similar positions, especially in IT, there is a good chance you have been performing the same tasks in each position. However, if every position is identical you have missed an opportunity to highlight your skills and it will look like you haven’t developed since your first job.
The trick is to prioritise your most valuable skills in your current/most recent position. Remember to align your experience with the skills the employer is looking for and keep it to five to six bullet points. Then, in the next position, list skills that didn’t make the cut and keep your responsibilities to three to four bullet points. Keep doing this for the preceding positions and if you run out of unique responsibilities, ask yourself if this position is worth detailing at all. You can always write just the position, company and dates for those jobs from way back.
It’s a good idea to write two or three sentences about yourself at the top of your CV to give it a more personal touch, but don’t let it take up too much space. Most positions request cover letters or motivation letters to be sent alongside your CV and this is the best place to talk about yourself. Although, this is a good opportunity to squeeze in some key words from the job advertisement without rewriting your CV for every job you apply for. Read the job advertisement carefully. If the company is looking for someone with ‘good time management skills’ or ‘a motivated team player’ this is the place to mention it using the exact words from the job advertisement.
Some CV guides will suggest that you use the third person here, for example ‘A self motivated sales manager who always puts the company’s goals first‘, but, to be honest, it’s pretty outdated. For a more personal touch you should use the Present Perfect (I have P.P.) and Present Perfect Cont. (I have been V+ing). For example, ‘I am a self motivated sales manager who has been working in the Automotive field for over six years. I have gained valuable experience in team management and have developed excellent time management skills’.
Gerund phrases, a phrase starting with V+ing Object, are fantastic for expanding your experience. For example: ‘My responsibilities included: reporting to management, overseeing my team’s work and assisting our clients with questions about the website‘.
The benefit of using +ing is that it makes the responsibility sound more complex. It also makes your examples sound like active experience and suggests that you can do all of these things again if required. An added bonus is that you don’t have to worry about using the correct tense for past positions. We recommend adding a ‘In this position, my responsibilities include/included:’ under the position title. Then you can start each bullet point with a gerund phrase.
In a world of spell checkers and Grammarly it’s crucial to double check your work. There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a well structured CV covered in little red lines. If you are drafting your CV in Google Docs or Word, make sure you change your language settings to English so you can easily fix these simple errors.
Phrasing and using the right words to use can be much trickier to figure out, so it is always a good idea to have someone check it for you. Sometimes people feel embarrassed about showing their CV to friends and family, but keep in mind you will be sending this off to be judged by a complete stranger anyway, so you may as well have someone you trust look at it first.
When your CV is ready to go, save it as .pdf so the company see it exactly as you have intended. Just don’t leave it too late. Opportunities often happen very suddenly and there may not be time to give your CV the polishing it needs. It’s a good idea to have your CV ready to go in advance so when the time comes it’s easy to make one or two simple changes to match the key words of the job your applying for.
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Simply send us your English CV. Once we’ve received payment we’ll correct any issues and make it look and sound as professional as you are. We’ll also send you a review copy, so you can see what changes we have made.
Send us your CV and we’ll schedule a 60 minute online consultation with you to discuss your CV and write up your Cover Letter. We’ll discuss the skills and talents you want to highlight and make sure you have everything you need to apply for the job of your dreams. In the consultation you’ll also have the opportunity to talk to a native English speaker and ask any questions you have about the recruitment process.
We can take the stress and time out of writing up your English CV. Simply send us what you have and tell us which service you would like to purchase to get the process started.
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