Sparkle from the crowd: CV Writing Tips!

Have you been thinking that you’re due for a bit of an adventure & the United Kingdom may be calling you.

This is the perfect time to partner with anzuk, spruce up your CV, and present it to a Headteacher in the UK.

We know how competitive it can be in securing your next awesome teaching role which is why we have structured whats hot and whats not below.

So, why should you take time to write an excellent CV? Having a CV that’s well-written and well laid out is the ticket to getting you noticed. It’s purpose is to demonstrate why you are the best person for the job.

The most important thing you can do on your CV is to take your skills and experience and apply them to the specific job you are seeking. The content of your CV should be relevant to the role you are applying for. That means you may have to draw more attention to your work experience and education that relates to the specific role you are applying for, so don’t be afraid to tweak your CV each time you’re applying for a different role in order to highlight different skills and experience.

That being said, CV’s always follow the same basic structure. Reverse chronological order is the way most CV’s are laid out. This ensures that your most recent roles (in theory those that are most closely related to the position you are applying for) are listed at the top.

Basic structure of a CV

• Contact information
• Summary/Objective
• Education
• Employment History
• Optional extras
• Volunteering
• Hobbies & interests
• Skills
• Reference details

What to do

A strong CV is clear and concise. Stick to no more than two A4 pages. The key is being organised, ordered, and succinct with wording. Picture how busy Head Teachers already are, if they receive loads of applicants it’s unlikely they will read each one cover to cover. Many will make a judgment on a CV quite quickly, so try to get all of your highlights across without waffling.

Hot tip: This may seem obvious, but use the same font throughout and always proofread your CV once you are finished with it.

What not to do

There are some things you should not do on your CV. This may seem obvious, but always check your CV for spelling and grammar. Stick to one font across your whole CV (we like Calibri, Ariel and Poppins!). And finally, try not to ramble on when you could just use a few words or short sentences to get your point across.

anzuk formatted CV

Click anzuk CV Template – Teacher to download our anzuk formatted CV template. You can use this as a guide to writing your CV. There are short descriptions of what you should include in each section within the template. And once you’ve finished writing it, don’t be afraid to ask your consultant to read it over for you! They may have some helpful suggestions.

All about engagement…

In order for you to be considered for a role, you will need to have a CV that engages the reader. Waffling on about skills, previous roles, or tasks that are irrelevant to the role you are applying for will ultimately frustrate the reader. They will lose interest and may not consider you. So always ask yourself, ‘How does this relate to the role I am applying for?’.

We hope you find the above tips useful in preparing a stand out CV. Please contact your anzuk consultant if you need any further support or if you would like to apply for a role with anzuk, register here!