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The PsychFutures
Guide to CV Writing

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Why this Guide is Unique
 No doubt you’ll have come across the widely available CV
writing guides on the net – many offering generic advice
about applying for any type of job in any industry.
 This PsychFutures Guide to CVs has been specifically
designed with candidates of a psychology background in
mind. As well as established best practice tips for producing
a winning CV, we’ve provided targeted guidance for
psychology students and graduates wanting to stand out
from the crowd.

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First Impressions
 First impressions really are critical in giving yourself every possible chance
of getting to the next stage in the recruitment process.
 In the same way you worry about your social networking profiles not
showing you up in the best light, ensuring that snapshot first impression of
you by the recruiter is a positive one, you’re already boosting your chances
of getting to the next stage.
 Remember they don’t know you from Adam at this stage, and all you have is a
piece of paper or PDF to communicate several necessary things about you: A
good presentation style, word processing skills, accuracy and
conscientiousness in producing an important document, and pride in how
you put yourself forward.

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Keep it Formal
 So what exactly should it look like? You may be tempted to play around with
WordArt and publishing templates to add some zing to the page, but in fact,
based on research conducted at the BI Norwegian School of Management, a
formal-style CV is the way to go.
 For a brief summary of their findings, check out the PsychFutures blog post
on the creative vs formal debate.

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Formatting to Impress
 Type your CV rather than hand-
write it.
 Avoid fonts which are difficult to
read and use a font size no smaller
than 11 – we recommend Tahoma,
Arial, Calibri, Century Gothic or
Helvetica Neue. If you’re even
thinking about using Comic Sans,
you’re going for the wrong job!
 Divide your CV into sections and
head these with titles in bold/
underlined text. Print your first
draft and glance at it quickly – is it
broken up into easily digestible
sections that you can scan your eye
down quickly? Be brutal and keep
refining it until you can get the key
points within 17 seconds – that’s
how long the average person has
to read a CV.

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Formatting to Impress
 Avoid lengthy paragraphs and keep the whole CV to a maximum of 2 pages. Bullet points
for skills and experience are your friend and don’t be tempted to be over-wordy because
it sounds good. You’re much more likely to impress with straight talking, friendly sound
bytes.
 Don’t try to cram everything in: You want to communicate the key points of your
experience, remember they can always ask for detail in an interview. What can you leave
them with that will prompt them to want to ask more?
 Convert to PDF (you should be able to do this via the Word ‘print’ function or if not, there
are free plugins online): It’s essential to a professional impression and to prevent anyone
being able to modify it.

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What to Write About:
 Contact Details
 Opening Statement (Skills and Specialities)
 Qualifications
 Employment History
 Work Experience
 Awards

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Contact Details
 Start with up-to-date contact details at the top: email, phone, postal address.
 If your email address is funkymonkey@gmail.com, you might want to set up a
new account for professional use going forward!
 Steer clear of using many non-letter characters (hyphens, underscores, full-
stops) (e.g., john.smith_1-2-3@gmail.com) since addresses like these are more
likely to be copied incorrectly by the recipient.

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Skills and Specialities
 Begin with a 2-3 line opening statement about yourself that helps the reader get a
feel for your core areas of experience and personal attributes in a nutshell. As
relevant as it can be to the job in question, the more you’ll invite the reader to read
on for more detail.
 Provide an overview of your skills and specialities. For psychology students/
graduates these could include: knowledge of SPSS; Excel; Microsoft Word, research
projects; presentations etc.
 Ideally tailor this section to the job/course you are applying for. For instance, if
you’re seeking a postgraduate course in clinical neuroscience and have
experience in conducting EEG brain scans, then make sure you state this here.
However, if you’re applying for an office-based job then such a skill will not be
necessary and the aforementioned software packages would be far more
important.

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Qualifications
 These should be listed with the most recently
completed first. If you’re currently studying for a
qualification, then add this at the top of the list stating
the date you expect to complete it.
 Provide details of the grades acquired and the
institutions you studied at. Most CVs should include
(where applicable) details of: postgraduate degree,
undergraduate degree, A-Levels (or equivalent), GCSEs
(or equivalent) and any other professional
qualifications. If you’ve completed the Extended Project
in Psychology or any Key Skills courses then these
should be included in this section too.

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Employment History
 Just like your qualifications, your employment history should be listed with
the most recent listed first.
 There is no need here to go into too much detail, but nevertheless make sure
you highlight the key responsibilities and skills you acquired from each role
(especially those which are required by the next post you are applying for).

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Work Experience
 Thereafter should follow details of any work experience or professional activities
you have undertaken.
 For psychology students/ graduates this may include: working for the BPS as a
representative; serving the role of a committee member for the Psychology
Society or representing the Departmental Board at your university/ college.
 If you haven’t got much to write about re employment or work experience then
you could write about your dissertation or mini projects undertaken during your
degree, whereby noting the types of research design you adopted, the measures
you included, and the analyses you carried out.

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Awards
 Finally list any awards you have acquired, with the most recent listed first.
 These may include:
 sources of funding;
 scholarships;
 BPS prizes;
 university awards.
 If your research projects have been published then make sure you reference these
too!

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What NOT to Write About
 First, don’t lie – at some stage you will get caught out!
 Only include details of prior jobs which you feel have equipped you with
skills you can transfer to the next job – it’s really not necessary to include
every job you’ve ever had.
 Don’t include reasons for leaving past jobs (unless absolutely necessary).
 Don’t be unprofessional about previous employers.
 Don’t try to include humour or sarcasm – it’s only likely to go against you.
 Don’t be vague – if you think you deserve to get the job, tell the employer
why!

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General Points to Consider
 Ask someone to check your CV for you before you submit. It’s always
beneficial to have someone else proof-read to ensure it reads well and there
are no errors.
 Don’t rely on spell-checker. If you’ve typed ‘there’ when you meant to write
‘their’, then obviously you won’t see any red underlining!
 Where possible tailor your CV to each job you’re applying for.
 You may wish to end your CV with details of referees, although many job
applications which you need to submit alongside the CV already have a
designated space for this.

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Final Words of Advice
 It’s easy to get fed up with having to produce yet another version of your CV
(and if you’re struggling to find work in general understandably your CV
doesn’t represent something fun you want to spend time on), but try to
remain positive as it really is the most critical action on your part in finding a
job. After all, you won’t have the chance to impress at interview if you can’t
get through the first hurdle.
GOOD LUCK!