SKILLS TO SUCCEED ACADEMY ACTIVITY PACK - Getting a Job 6 Create Your CV Interactive, online employability training program.
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SKILLS TO SUCCEED ACADEMY Interactive, online employability training program. ACTIVITY PACK Getting a Job 6 Create Your CV
SKILLS TO SUCCEED ACADEMY
Create Your CV
This pack contains three activities to help you check that you can apply what you
have learnt in the ‘Create Your CV’ module. Activity 1 will provide you with a list of
useful words to put in your CV and you will have chance to practise using these.
Activity 2 will help you think about how to turn responsibilities into achievements
so that you can include them in your CV. Activity 3 will help you to create your CV
and provides a link to a very helpful CV Builder tool.
When creating your CV it is important to remember that:
1. CVs are judged both on their presentation and their content.
2. CVs are living documents that you will need to update regularly.
3. It’s important to use positive words on your CV.
4. You may need to turn some of your responsibilities into achievements
to get the right balance of each on your CV.
5. It’s important to have a general CV which is a record of all your skills
and achievements.
6. You will need to tailor your CV when applying for different jobs.
In this activity pack you will get some extra practice at points 3, 4 and 5
above.
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ACTIVITY 1: Useful Words
The words below are great to use in your CV as they are positive words that will
help you describe yourself better. After you have read through the lists of words
you can have a go at using them in a word fill and replace activity.
In Activity 3 you will be asked to fill in a template to help you write your CV and
your ability to use these words will come in very handy.
CV Buzzwords
CV buzzwords can be used to describe skills and attributes. They can be industry
specific and you can often find ones that are specific to your industry by searching
online. Below is a list of some common buzzwords.
o Ability o Organised
o Ambitious o Leadership
o Awareness o Practical
o Competent o Proficient
o Competitive o Problem solver
o Driven o Punctual
o Dynamic o Reliable
o Enthusiastic o Resourceful
o Fast Learner o Responsible
o Flexible o Target driven
o Good communicator o Teamwork
o Initiative o Thorough
o Innovative o Understanding
o Instrumental o Vision
Any other variants of the words above can also be used as CV buzzwords.
e.g. instead of using ‘organised’ you could use ‘organisational’. So ‘very organised candidate’ =
‘candidate with very good organisational skills’.
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Positive, Descriptive Words
The purpose of your CV is to show off your skills, experience and qualifications.
So it is great to describe them in the most positive way you can. The words below
can help you do just that as they will positively emphasise your actions and
experiences.
o Actively o Proactively
o Consistently o Quickly
o Effectively o Significantly
o Efficiently o Substantially
o Key o Successfully
Again, any other variants of the words above can also be used as positive,
descriptive words.
e.g. instead of using ‘significantly’ you could use ‘significant’.
So ‘significantly increased sales’ = ‘made a significant increase in sales’
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Useful Verbs
The verbs below can help to improve the statements in your CV as they also add
more emphasis to your actions and using them will help to make a CV look more
professional.
o Achieved o Directed o Processed
o Allocated o Distributed o Produced
o Analysed o Edited o Promoted
o Assembled o Eliminated o Proposed
o Assigned o Enabled o Proved
o Assisted o Encouraged o Provided
o Attained o Ensured o Qualified
o Attended o Established o Recognised
o Budgeted o Evaluated o Recommended
o Coached o Expanded o Recruited
o Collaborated o Experienced o Repaired
o Collected o Facilitated o Reported
o Combined o Formed o Represented
o Committed o Generated o Researched
o Communicated o Improved o Reviewed
o Completed o Informed o Revised
o Composed o Initiated o Secured
o Conducted o Innovated o Selected
o Controlled o Instigated o Strengthened
o Created o Introduced o Supervised
o Decreased o Led o Supported
o Defined o Motivated o Taught
o Delegated o Organised o Trained
o Delivered o Persuaded o Transformed
o Designed o Planned o Utilised
o Developed o Prepared
o Devised o Presented
These verbs can be used to talk about things in the past and present so you can
use the present forms if you are still performing the tasks.
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e.g. instead of using ‘produced’ you could use ‘produce’
So ‘produced spreadsheets regularly’ = ‘produce spreadsheets regularly’
Practice Using Useful Words
Now you have a chance to practice using the words from the lists above.
Improve the statements below by swapping the words in bold with CV
buzzwords or positive words. Some suggested answers are given upside down
below the exercise.
1. Spoke to customers about our services
2. Good worker with creative ideas
3. Made a plan for stacking the shelves
Suggested Answers: 1. Communicated with, 2. Responsible, 3. Created.
Improve the statements below by filling the gaps with suitable, positive
descriptive words:
1. salesperson with experience
2. Budgeted to keep the company’s
accounts in order Budgeted efficiently to keep the company’s accounts in order.
Successful Sales person with substantial experience.
2.
1.
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No unauthorized copying or distributionSKILLS TO SUCCEED ACADEMY
ACTIVITY 2: Turning Responsibilities into
Achievements
It is a good idea to include achievements rather than just responsibilities on your
CV. This is because achievements say what you really did rather than just listing
your responsibilities. You need to get the balance of responsibilities and
achievements right. One or two achievements per experience is good to aim for.
From the list of statements given below, choose which ones you think are
achievements and which ones you think are responsibilities and tick the boxes in
the table with your answers. The correct answers are given upside down below.
Statement Achievement Responsibility
1. Tasked with arranging the shop
shelves
2. Exceeded sales target by selling
100 toasters in 4 months
3. Had to organise events every
week
4. Organised 12 large events in my
first month, including 2 successful
charity fundraisers, raising £2000
5. Had to make a new rota for my team
every month
6. Wrote a specialised menu on a board
outside the restaurant early every
morning, resulting in increase in
sales of our ‘specials’ by 10%
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The ability to turn responsibilities into achievements will be very useful for
writing your CV. Use what you learnt in the module to help you turn the
responsibilities, in the list above, into achievements.
Rewrite the responsibilities as achievements here:
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Example CV
Take a look at Linda Lewis’ CV to see how she turns her responsibilities into
achievements. Her CV also shows how she reflected her career break. You can
use Linda’s CV as a template for your own.
Linda Lewis
07444344444
LLewis@example.com
Personal Profile
Ambitious individual with fifteen years’ experience within the Banking retail sector.
Has strong communication and teamwork skills. Seeking out personal banking
representative opportunities in the banking sector.
Employment History
Break from Employment (Jan 2019 – Jan 2020)
- Childcare commitments
ABC Bank – Personal Banking Representative – (Dec 2016 – Dec 2018)
- Presented to customers bank services that were on offer, including various
bank account types, loans and credit cards.
- Obtained customer details and signatures to open and close customer bank
accounts.
- Responsible for customer query and complaint resolution
ABC Bank – Bank Teller Supervisor – (Feb 2011 – Dec 2016)
- Led a team of four bank tellers, providing them with the training necessary to
undertake their teller duties.
- Assisted team of bank tellers with any queries or complex tasks.
- Undertook cash drawer audit according to the relevant policies in place.
- Performed relevant bank teller duties.
Local Bank Branch – Bank Teller – (Jan 2003 – Feb 2011)
- Responsible for all bank transactions, ensuring that numbers were typed
accurately into the system.
- Delivered exceptional customer service, interacting with both customers and
colleagues.
- Successfully promoted in 2011 and sold additional products to customers.
- Voted ‘Employee of the Year in 2010’.
- Demonstrates close attention to detail in order to prevent fraudulent activity
and to ensure due diligence checks were completed correctly.
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- Balanced daily cash deposits, making sure to prevent any error.
Education
Paddington Way College – 1997 – 1999
Professional Diploma in Banking and Finance
Key Skills
- Excellent communication skills
- Strong Microsoft Office Skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- Confidence
- Works well in a team setting
Interests and Achievements
- Enjoy cooking various cuisines, especially Italian
- Travelled to over 10 countries
References
- Available upon request
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ACTIVITY 3: Create a CV
Although CVs may have different formats, they all have the same purpose: to
show off your skills, experience and achievements in the best way you can.
Below is a simple template you can fill in to help you create your CV. It will get
you thinking about what you need to write about in each section.
You can note your ideas down in each box and then put them in a more
professional format by using the CV Builder link or one of the links to free
online templates given at the end of this activity.
Remember you don’t have to have all these sections on your final CV.
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CV Template
Personal Details
o What is your name, email address and telephone number?
Tip: There is no need to include your Date of Birth, Gender or Ethnicity.
Including your address is optional. You may want to show your location e.g.
London, and provide further information at a later stage
Personal Profile
o What are your key strengths?
o What makes you stand out professionally?
o What are your personal and professional goals?
Tip: Remember that this will need to be tailored when you apply for a specific
job.
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Employment History
o Where have you worked? – list all the places where you have worked
o What were your roles and responsibilities?
o What were some key achievements in each job?
Tip: If you don’t have much formal work experience you can include
experiences from hobbies, volunteering etc.
Education
o What qualifications do you have?
o Have you done any research projects?
o What were your key achievements at school, college or university?
Tip: Include subjects and grades.
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Key Skills
o What are you good at?
o What skills have you gained through your life experiences?
o What examples do you have to back each of these skills up?
Tip: Look back at the ‘Identify Your Skills’ module for some help.
Key Achievements
o What are you most proud of?
o What have you achieved that will make you stand out over other
candidates?
Tip: Think about instances where you have used your initiative to improve
an outcome or exceed expectations.
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Interests
o What do you do in your free time?
o What clubs are you/have you been part of?
o Can you draw any skills from these interests?
Tip: Make sure you can back up anything you list here with examples.
Referees
o Who could write you a good professional, educational or character
reference?
Tip: You can just say that your references are available on request, but if
you do include anybody's name, do check in advance that they are happy to
give you a reference.
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Now that you’ve had a think about what to put in each section you might think
about putting this information into a more professional format. If you need help,
there are a lot of useful online resources.
Skills Builder can help you learn more about how to vary your style of
communication to effectively engage your audience.
The Skills Builder Partnership is a collaboration of over 700 educators,
organisations and employers working together towards a common mission: to
ensure individuals of all ages build the essential skills to succeed. An essential
skills framework has been developed which breaks down eight essential skills into
teachable and measurable steps. These are skills that you may already have, or
skills you would like to develop.
For more information, please refer to https://www.skillsbuilder.org/universal-
framework, where you can access the Skills Builder Interactive Universal
Framework.
What is a CV Builder?
o CV Builders are very useful when creating a CV. They give you space
to put in all the information that you want on your CV without any
special formatting and then, at the click of a button, they will format it
into a more professional CV layout for you.
o On the website given above you can sign up to a free account so
that any information you add to your CV on the CV Builder will be
saved for you to look at the next time you visit the site.
o There are some guidelines to help you think about what to put in
each section and different CV templates you can choose from.
You can also use other websites for CV templates. Below are a few examples of
these websites. Many will also have guidelines for what to put in each section of
your CV.
U
Useful CV template websites:
o Monster - http://career-advice.monster.co.uk/cvs-applications/free-
cv- templates/jobs.aspx
o Total Jobs - http://www.totaljobs.com/careers-advice
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Once you have had a go at creating a CV, take it to an Advisor or somebody in
your network who can review and comment on it. Remember that this is a ‘living
document’ so you need to update it regularly.
REMEMBER
These Activity Packs are yours to keep. Make sure you review them regularly
and keep them updated.
You could also discuss them with advisors, friends, family and anyone else
who you think could help you get some feedback.
If you haven’t already completed
Getting a Job – Module 6 – Create Your CV
in the Skills to Succeed Academy
give it a go!
www.s2sacademy.com.
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