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Is your CV summer-ready?

Posted on • Career planning

As we head towards summer you might be looking ahead to your next career move, but has your CV has been in lockdown longer than you have? Or maybe you’re using it now more than ever but it’s not getting you the results you need? Here at Careers and Employability Services there’s lots of ways we can help. Here are some tips and resources to help you get started.

An OU student said about a previous CV workshop: “It gave some very helpful pointers which will help me reassess my CV, what I put in it and how.”

Shape up your CV

Join fellow OU students in our live ‘CV Miss to CV Hit’ workshops to learn how to tailor your CV so it ends on the recruiter’s ‘yes’ pile. Look out for the next one and sign up on OpportunityHub. Or watch our recorded webinar ‘Five seconds for your CV to make its mark’ to make sure your CV stands out for all the right reasons.

Don’t have a CV? Don’t worry. You can build one from scratch with our Abintegro CV builder.

Give your CV a star rating

“Should I include a photo?” “What if I don’t have any related experience?” “How do I fit my CV onto two pages?” These are common questions many students have when reviewing their CV and we’ve compiled the answers in our FAQs for CVs. You can also rate your CV from a recruiter’s perspective with our CV checklist, give yourself a point for every box marked ‘yes’ and see how your CV stands up. If you’re struggling to think like an employer, imagine you need to hire an elf (yes, we said elf!) and review this CV from our elf Clover.

Don’t hide your CV away

If you know someone in the line of work that you’d like to get in to, don’t be afraid to ask for their advice on your CV. OU law student Alexander did just that when he met a solicitor, here are some networking tips inspired from his experience.

Don’t forget you can send your CV over to us at Careers and Employability Services and we’ll review it and give suggestions for improvement. One student recently said about the service:

“My telephone careers appointment was very thorough and helpful. Not only had he read through my CV and covering letter, adding comments for improving it, but he had also extracted key skills and identified alternative careers that these skills would match to. This is an exceptional service which I would highly recommend to all OU students.”