You should gather together all of the information required below. You will probably not use all of this information in your CV but it will provide you with useful reference material when it comes to preparing for interviews.
Profile/Summary
This should be a short summary of your experience, skills and abilities, and be contained in four to six lines of text. Only list the attributes that will be of interest to your next employer; do not include irrelevancies.
Personal Details
Your full name, address, home telephone number and mobile phone number and an email address. You don't need to include date of birth or marital status. State that you have a current driving license.
Education / Qualifications
List your qualifications and education history, for example:
- BSc (Hons) 2.2 in Biochemistry at the University of Warwick, 1980 - 1983.
- GCE A Levels: Maths [C], Biology [B], Chemistry [C] at Farnham School, 1978 - 1980.
- GCE O Levels (or GCSEs if you did them): Maths [B], English Language [C], History [C], Geography [C], French [C], Chemistry [C], Biology [C] at Farnham School, 1973 - 1978.
If you have a degree you probably will not need to list all your O Levels/GCSEs; just listing the number is probably sufficient.
Professional Qualifications
List your professional qualifications such as FPC3 certificates, any of the Mortgage Exams and any of the AFPC papers and dates taken.
Training Courses
List any work related training courses which you attended such as modules on IHT Planning, Corporate Business, any Investment specialist courses, Equity Release, Residential Care, Company Accounts etc.
Work Experience
If you have been working for a number of years you probably do not need to go back to when you left school or further education. You should go back say 10 years which will make your past career look current and relevant.
Start with the current Company your are with (or current situation) and work backwards. For each position, list your job title and the exact dates you were with the Company.
Set out your main responsibilities, duties, and skills that could be transferred to another employer. Be specific, positive, upbeat and don’t hold back and this is no time to be modest. Employers are looking for a success story so do make sure you include all the details of your job role.
Major Achievements
When you are listing your achievements list 5 of your most important work achievements; your other achievements can be described under the work experience section. You should only list achievements which are relevant to your next job and indicate how you achieved them.
This section is very important as an employer will only invite you for an interview if they can see a benefit in doing so. Your achievements may sell you to an employer and make them choose you for an interview rather than someone else. For this reason it is vital that you think carefully about your achievements.
The achievements should be done in bullet format and be easy to ready for example:
- Top quartile producer achieving sales targets each year.
- Promoted to the position of Senior Financial Planner.
- Increased funds under management by a further £10 million pounds.
- Built up client base to over 250 high net worth clients.
- Authorised to advise Business clients on SIPP’s
The rule is to list 5 highlight points about you and this should be repeated for your past jobs as well.
Other Experience
List any other experiences that you may feel relevant such as working in specialist areas – Wealth, Corporate, Investments, IHT etc.
Interests / Hobbies
List your interests, hobbies and any sports you play. List any positions of responsibility you hold or have held in any club or organisation, and say what your responsibilities and achievements were.
This is a very important part of your CV and tells Employers a lot about you. Do not treat this area lightly. Never say you do not have time to pursue interests. Sporting interests is quite significant and do not feel embarrassed about which teams you support etc. If you are a member of a gym or do some form of fitness training including walking, then do mention it.
What ever you put down, make sure it is true, current and specific. Avoid putting down cinema, socialising, eating out or Pubbing it with the lads!!!
Even mention obscure hobbies – it could be a great talking point. Without over doing it, put down as much information as possible. So for example if you play squash – don’t just put down ‘Squash’. Put down ‘Squash player – Local Squash Club – Third in the second league division. Play twice a week.
