Building Your CV

This article discusses how to build your CV.

If you’re not clear about what your CV says, and you’re not showcasing your passion for working in the wellness industry, then how will your next employer know?

Let’s look at four key areas that you need to consider when updating your CV:

Awareness and Clarity

The first thing you need to do when it comes to updating your CV is to know what it is you’re applying for. You need to be clear on the industry and the job type that the document is going to be sent for, in order to tailor it appropriately. It’s quite unlikely that you are only going to be applying to one job type and one industry, so how do you make this process more efficient?

What we want you to do is to go into your CV and duplicate it a few times. You are going to create a selection of prepared CVs ready to choose from. This means you’ll only need to make a couple of changes relevant to the specific company that you’re sending it to.

The key is that for each job/sector you’re exploring, you create a tailored CV to back it up.

Types of CVs

There are a few different types of CVs, the main ones being:

1. Biographical: Focuses on your career to date and all the experience you have gained.
2. Competency-based: Focuses on all the strengths you’ve acquired over the years and provides many examples.
3. Combination of Biographical and Competency-based

There isn’t a right or wrong CV, but if you are making a career transition in both the job and the industry, a competency CV could be the most relevant for you because it will showcase your transferable skill set.

If you’re looking to stay in the same job but just want to change industries, a biographical or combined CV could be the best way to go.

Format

What does your CV look like? How does it make you feel? Will it stand out and get noticed among others?

In the wellness industry, employers want to see your values and personality because it is integral to their business.

Content

This should be relevant to the position that you are applying for. Not every aspect needs to be included. For example, if you’ve never had a job before, you probably wouldn’t include work experience.

• Personal information – always include your full name and contact details.
• Personal profile – this is the hook to get people reading the rest of your CV. It should be no longer than a few sentences.
• Skills section – for the easiest way to tailor your CV to the job type, we recommend creating a list of many different strengths, and examples of how you’ve demonstrated these in your career to date, in a separate document.
• Qualifications – any relevant qualifications you might have can give you an edge over someone else. Give the name of the qualification and when you completed it, alongside any marks of merit.
• Work experience – consider previous jobs that demonstrate the skills you want to showcase. If you’ve worked in ten different jobs then you’ll probably want to select your previous three jobs and perhaps one or two others if they support your application. Remember, a CV should ideally be no longer than two pages – employers are short on time and want key information at their fingertips.
• Achievements – under the last few jobs you’ve had, we recommend you insert an achievements section. What did you achieve in that job? What were you proud of?
• Interest/hobbies – a chance for you to showcase your passion for wellness. To save space on your CV you could link to your blog or Instagram.
• Personal development – your chance to really demonstrate all the efforts you’ve been going to in your personal life to support your career transition. This includes any volunteering, courses you’ve been on, events you’ve attended, etc.

What do you think?

The key takeaway of this section is to tailor your CV. How can you be more specific to the job type and industry you’re applying for?