A CV (or Curriculum Vitae) is your personal marketing tool designed to present your skills, abilities and experience in the most positive way to prospective employers.

The CV is often your first contact with an employer and the impression it makes can decide whether you get to the next stage - interview or assessment centre.

There is no One Way to write a CV, but some important general things are:

• Limit your CV to 2 sides of A4
• If listing your education, or previous employment in date order - put the most recent first.
• Make it look professional.
• That means good quality paper, consistent font, bold text for headings, spaces between sections.
• And using a spelling/grammar checker - but also ask someone else to proof read it.
• Short bullet points are better than long paragraphs.
• Make sure your CV is as relevant as possible to the job you are applying for. Look carefully at what's there - are there things you should highlight particularly?
• Always send it with an accompanying letter; this is a serious job application, not a mailshot.

See Formats and Examples for help in deciding which is the best CV for you.