Is your Curriculum Vitae:

WELL-PACKAGED?

Nice, crispy, white A4 envelope (or a clean, crispy PDF file if you are emailing it?)

Printed address label or envelope.

Good quality paper for the letter and the CV - don't 'liberate' cheap 80-gram paper from the photocopier at work. Invest in a ream of really good quality paper for your job search.

You don't buy products in the supermarket with cheap, dented, rusty or faded packaging and, funnily enough, neither do employers.

 

WELL-PRESENTED?

Generous margins all round.

Clear paragraphing and headings.

No silly fonts. Save them for your child's home-printed birthday invitations.

No miniscule font sizes so that you can cram more information onto the CV.

DON'T BIND IT! – Binders just make your CV harder to scan, photocopy, file and read. A paperclip or staple is all that you should use.

In short, make your written representation of yourself concise, logical and a pleasure to read.

 

THE MOST COMMON CV ISSUES Targeting | Research | Look & Feel | Details

For more on the subject of representing yourself in writing, we also have some thoughts you might find useful on the topic of cover letters and submitting an application form.

And here's an extract from Where's My Oasis? that discusses many of the mistakes we see people making at the written stage.