There are many reasons why you should consider putting together a Starter CV. Look at a CV as an historical document, outlining and presenting to another person your personal and work history i.e. education achievements, significant events, personal goals achieved. As you move from the educational system through to other stages of personal or professional development and/or the employment mainstream. Because it is your historical document a CV can be used for almost any purpose depending on your life decisions, and anywhere a summary history of what you have done is relevent and useful. For example, post graduate courses, temporary jobs, community or charity schemes you may want to take part in.

The key advice here is to think about what you want to achieve as a next step and mould your CV details appropriately.

Key pointers;

»  Presentation is important so do not underestimate it, format your CV document to show a formal professional structured style.

»  Make sure grammar and spellings are correct. The last thing you want is to fail because your CV is poorly written. Ensure punctuation is correct and sentences are not too long, or you continually start a sentence with 'And'....

»  Provide a brief introduction of yourself and try to bring out more of your personality. This is an opportunity to include [brief] details of what you have achieved.

»  All educational and work experience should be in reverse chronological date order, meaning the most recent details come first.

»  Personal details should be clear and correct at the top of the page. Name, no need to mention if you have middle names, address, complete in case correspondence may be sent to you. A correct telephone number should be given, avoid one which will not get to you most time as this can be very frustrating if someone wants to clarify any details and cannot get hold of you. If you don't mind including you age then do so, if you have an opinion against it then leave it out, your choice. Avoid unusual named email addresses, such as bloggerkingjohn@email address. Make sure it is sensible and is clearly identifiable as your name. The last thing you want to avoid before you start is an adverse first impression.

»  Be honest, life is easier that way and you will feel more confortable when questioned about any aspects of your CV history. As a Starter CV it would not be expected to have masses of background information, so do not pack it out with too many words, and avoid waffle.

»  If you have written your own CV then it makes perfect sense to ask a person you trust to review it. Another pair of eyes will more likely to provide valuable feedback which is important to shaping the final CV contant. Always see review comments as constructive, as all too often we these as criticism, which is missing the point. The more input into any work provdes a better published end result.