Career advice for accounting, CVs

Formatting

Uniform formatting throughout the document
Word or Google Docs have the most recognisable styles
Use a clean and crisp font such as Calibri or Arial
Black text on a white background
Avoid Italic and underlining
Complex downloadable CV templates are questionable, albeit novel
Two pages is the gold standard, but three or even four is fine when structured well
Use bold headings to divide each section

Structure

Name and contact details – at the top
Personal profile or statement – to summarise brief into paragraph that summarises your abilities and aims
Core Skills – offering a snapshot of your key skills
Work Experience – reverse chronological order and be broken down into core skills
Education & Qualifications – at the top if exceptional, at the bottom if not
Hobbies & interests – optional but do include if you think will add particular value

Ground Rules

Every word counts, think brevity over hyperbole as your audience will get bored and skip on quicker than you think
Stating facts without figures or tasks without results will not stand out from the crowd
Tailoring a CV and covering letter to a specific role is about as important as writing a CV in the first place

Detailed Instruction On

Name and contact details

First thing at the top, you don’t want them to be missed, you can add a professional title next to your name, make sure the email is professional looking, phone number and general location
Don’t – include your full address, date of birth, marital status or a photo of yourself, all unnecessary and take up valuable space and more importantly the readers attention

Personal Statement

First content which summarises your skills, experience and knowledge
Grab the readers attention, excite them and encourage them to read the rest of your CV
Give the audience an overview of your industry specific skills, types of companies your worked for, qualifications you’ve gained
Most importantly the benefits that you deliver for an employer
Keep it short and sharp, between 5-10 lines, pack it with in demand skills and experience, avoid cliché terms like “hard working team player”, be authentic

Core Skills

Bullet pointed list of core skills, your most valuable attributes over 2-3 columns
2-3 words each so they jump off the page as a snapshot of your offerings, they can be digested in seconds
It clarifies your relevance immediately, making sure readers stick on your CV and don’t skip past it, otherwise they may read an unusual job title or a company they haven’t heard of
Tailor to target roles

Career Experience

Demonstrate your core skills specifically in the workplace, proving the difference you make
Exhaustive detail in recent roles, far less detail in older roles
Where possible quantify the impact the action has on the employer such as on saving costs, generating revenue, saving time, improving processes, hitting targets or helping customers/team mates/stakeholders
Structure is date, company, role title and an outline of the company
IMPORTANT – breakdown key responsibilities into subheadings which match your previously listed core skills. This allow you to put down far more content, yet it still be digestible and the audience can skip to more relevant key core skills for their opportunity

Education & Qualifications (above Career experience if exceptional, below otherwise)

List qualifications, institutions, dates and grades obtained
Make a call based on your seniority if you feel secondary education is now relevant

Technical Knowledge & Systems

Hobbies & Interests