Tag Archive CV writing Dublin

What Font Should a CV be?

Choosing the right font for your CV is essential to make a strong first impression. A professional CV writing service often emphasises how font choice impacts readability and professionalism. Whether you’re crafting a CV, cover letter, or optimising your LinkedIn profile, selecting the best font can elevate your application and set you apart.

Top Fonts for Your CV

Calibri
A favourite among professional CV writers, Calibri is a modern sans-serif font that offers excellent readability on both screens and print. Its clean design is ideal for creating a polished and professional resume.

Arial
As a widely used sans-serif font, Arial is straightforward and professional. Cover letter writing services often recommend Arial for its clean and easy-to-read design, making it ideal for CVs targeting corporate roles.

Garamond
If you want to balance tradition and elegance, Garamond is an excellent serif font option. Professional resume writers often choose this font for industries where a touch of sophistication is required, such as academia or law.

Helvetica
Known for its clean and modern look, Helvetica is favoured in design and creative fields for its crisp appearance.

Georgia
Georgia combines a traditional look with modern readability. It’s highly recommended by resume and cover letter experts for creating visually appealing documents that stand out without looking flashy.

Optimal Font Size and Formatting

Body Text: Use a font size between 10 and 12 points to ensure legibility without overcrowding. This is a standard recommendation from professional CV writing services.
Headings: Highlight section titles with slightly larger fonts, such as 14 or 16 points.
Consistency: Maintain uniformity in font type and size across your CV, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile to project a cohesive personal brand.

Fonts to Avoid

Steer clear of outdated fonts like Times New Roman, as they may give the impression that your CV is outdated. Additionally, avoid fonts like Comic Sans, which lack professionalism and could hurt your chances in competitive job markets. As professional resume writers emphasise, the font should reflect your seriousness about the role.

Additional Tips for CV Formatting

Spacing: Adequate line spacing enhances readability.

Emphasis: Use bold and italics sparingly to highlight key achievements.

Alignment Across Documents: Ensure consistency between your CV, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile. Professional LinkedIn profile optimization services stress the importance of aligning all elements of your personal brand.

Further Information:

For further information, contact The CV Agency by email at cv@cvagency.ie, telephone +35314991466, or WhatsApp +353894430983 about our expert CV writing services in Ireland.

The Graduate CV: 3 Top Tips

A graduate CV is very similar to other types of CVs in its fundamental requirements. Like all CVs, they should be carefully designed, well written and concise, with a good layout and a clear message.

Unfortunately, after countless hours labouring over essays, projects, and exams, many graduates fall at the final hurdle when it comes to writing their CV. The result of this is that otherwise excellent graduates do not get the opportunity they deserve.

Here are thee top tips from our senior CV writer about writing a graduate CV:

1. Enthusiasm

It is absolutely essential to show a potential employer you are enthusiastic about joining them. Make it clear in your CV and cover letter that you are passionate, motivated, and eager to be a part of their team. Even a candidate with no work experience can impress an employer if they are fully engaged and hungry to succeed.

2. Detail

The devil is in the detail when it comes to a graduate CV. Many graduates will simply include the most basic details, while omitting crucial facts that will give them the edge when it comes to getting called for interview. Be sure to include relevant experience from any internships, part-time work, courses, and extracurricular activities.

3. Focus

While you may be considering different career choices when you graduate, employers want to see that you are fully committed to working with them and 100% focused on that career. Your graduate CV should be clearly focused on the job you are targeting and avoid any statements which may give rise to doubt about your aspirations.

Not sure if your graduate CV is strong enough? Send your CV to cv@cvagency.ie and we will review it for free.

The Competency Interview

Examples. Examples. Examples.

Competency interviews can be a daunting prospect if you have never encountered them before. However, with a bit of preparation and lots of examples in mind they are very manageable.

Competency interviews can be entirely focused on a role’s competencies or employers may include them along with other more standard interview questions. Either way the focus will be on the key skills and abilities required for the position. Employers find them useful as it allows them to use your past performance to predict your likely future performance in the role they are hiring for. It also make it easier for them to directly compare various candidates. Rather than asking you specific questions, you may simply be asked to describe an example of an occasion where you displayed a particular competency. For example, an interviewer might say:

‘I am now going to move on to the competency component of the interview. The first competency I would like you to deal with is problem solving

In order to answer this type of question it is necessary to describe in detail an example of a time when you displayed the relevant competency. Preparation is really important for competency questions. If you prepare your competency examples in advance you will have a much better chance of dealing with them effectively on the day. Remember that employers are not looking to hear general statements such as ‘I am great at solving problems’. Instead, they want to hear a real example of a time you showed that skill and what you actually did.

Occasionally, interviewers will provide a list of competencies in advance. However, they can mostly be found within the candidate requirements of the job specification. Study this section carefully as it will help you understand what the employer is looking for.

The STAR technique

One of the most useful ways of preparing for a competency-based interview is to consider the STAR technique. STAR stands for:

  • Situation
  • Task
  • Action
  • Result

When using this method you need to describe the situation that occurred, what task you carried out, what action you took, and the result or outcome.

Here is a simple example for the competency problem solving:

The situation: ‘I had just taken on a new position as office manager when I noticed that staff were spending a lot of time dealing with slow and poorly performing computers.’

The task: ‘I set about pricing a range of new computers and worked out how much productivity would increase from the enhanced performance of new machines.’

The action: ‘I presented the information to the managing director and we purchased the new equipment.’

The result: ‘Staff were more productive as they were able to do their work more rapidly and there was less downtime due to IT problems.’

There are a wide range of competencies for any given position so prepare lots of examples and remember the STAR technique. It will help structure your examples and stay focused.

Some common competencies are:

    • Teamwork
    • Initiative
    • Organising & planning
    • Communication
    • Decision making
    • Motivation
    • Resilience
    • Conflict management
    • Problem solving
    • Customer-focus
    • Commercial awareness
    • Leadership
    • Adaptability
    • Analytical thinking
    • Listening
    • Influencing
    • Results/target orientation
    • Developing others
    • Relationship management

For further information or advice about your CV contact The CV Agency on cv@cvagency.ie or 01 499 1466

SALE NOW ON - 25% OFF MOST SERVICES UNTIL DECEMBER 6th - DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT - CVs FROM €71.25
SALE NOW ON - 25% OFF MOST SERVICES UNTIL DECEMBER 6th - DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT - CVs FROM €71.25