The job market is becoming increasingly competitive. According to recent statistics released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the number of applicants that apply for each graduate level vacancy stands between 48 and 110, depending on the type of vacancy. Even retail sector jobs see 64 applicants per open position. If you want to succeed in such a competitive job market, you need to have an interesting, well presented and error free resume. These templates and tips will help you build a CV that gets a good response.
1. The National Careers Service
The National Careers Service website includes lots of useful tools for jobseekers. The site has a CV builder, career action plan tools, guides to help you figure out what to put in each section of your CV, and much more.
2. About.com’s Resume Templates
Sometimes, it helps to see the sorts of information that other people put on their CVs. About.com has a handy selection of resume templates with example CVs for a huge number of industries, from teaching to web development.
3. The Damn Good Resume Guide
This site is packed full of tips for job hunters at all stages of their career. The Resume Tips section answers questions such a “How do you avoid looking like a job hopper” and “How can I explain getting fired”, as well as covering what to do if you’re transferring from the military to civilian life. If your career history is not a simple one, then the advice on this site will be invaluable.
4. The Job Guide’s Resume Builder
If you need a resume in a hurry, use this web-based tool to build one. The Job Guide is a service run by the Australian government, but it caters to people from all over the world, and the advice it offers is ideal for first time job hunters and those making a change to a new career.
5. Seek’s Job Advice
Knowing how to format your resume and what information to include in it is a good starting point, but it’s also important to describe your skills and experience in a positive light. The Seek website includes lots of tips for how to word each part of your resume so that you give examples of your skills and present yourself in a way that makes recruiters want to call you.
6. Monster’s Career Resources Database
The Monster Career Resources database includes lots of advice for job hunters. Learn how to avoid common CV mistakes, find out what recruiters want to see in cover letters, and get some insider advice on how to make yourself more appealing to prospective employers if you are currently unemployed or trying to enter a field in which you don’t have a lot of experience.
7. Susan Ireland’s Resume Guide
Susan Ireland’s Resume Site features more than one hundred resume examples as well as guidelines for cover letters and thank-you letters. This site will take you all the way from that first application to the post interview stage of your job hunt.
Byline
Rebecca Fox is a business graduate who enjoys writing about careers and employment. You can also find her blogging about the workplace on the Whitefields Document Storage blog.
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Good luck in your search.
Joey Trebif
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