Tag: Curriculum vitae

1. 5 things you must include in a supporting statement

   October 30, 2019 11:10 am

   A supporting statement is a golden opportunity to say why you are the ideal candidate for a role. You can also pack it with all the information recruiters need when deciding whether to take your application to the next stage. So what should you include in a supporting statement to tick all the right boxes?

   First, let’s be clear about what a supporting statement is. If you are thinking that it is similar to a covering letter you’d be right. However, in today’s job market you are more likely to be asked for a supporting statement as CVs and applications are often submitted online or by email rather than by post.

   A supporting statement can be added to the body of an email with your CV attached or copied and pasted into an online form. Either way, you need to make sure it meets some basic requirements.

   Essential tips for writing supporting statements

   It’s important that your supporting statement is tailored to the specific job and doesn’t just repeat what you have said in your well-written CV. Keep your paragraphs short and make sure the overall length is no more than one side of A4.

   Here’s the essential things to include in your supporting statement:

   1. An introduction

   Use the first paragraph to introduce yourself and showcase your talent. Think about your career highlights and make sure they are mentioned high up.

   2. Your desire to work for them

   Use your supporting statement to explain exactly why you want to work for this particular organisation. What is it about them and this role that compelled you to apply?

   3. Your relevant skills

   Refer back to the requirements mentioned in the job advert or specification, and make sure you demonstrate how you match the skill set being sought. Give examples of your experience and the projects where you have excelled.

   4. Bullet points

   Make your supporting statement punchy by including bullet points to highlight key information. This will also make the page easier for recruiters to read and refer back to.

   5. Your name and contact details

   In case your supporting statement and CV get separated once printed make sure your basic details are on both documents.

   Help finding a new job

   If you are looking for new opportunities in the affordable housing sector then take a look at our services for candidates. Ocean Edge has nearly 20 years experience helping candidates find the perfect job.

   You might also find our blog posts on essential interview skills, job hunting etiquette and finding the perfect job opportunity helpful.

   To find out more about our recruitment consultancy services in London and Southampton get in contact: call 023 8000 1153 or email info@oceanedge.biz.

2. Does your CV stand out?

   February 6, 2019 10:30 am

   At some point pretty much all of us will be in the job market looking for a new challenge and a new role. It’s a crowded market but you may just be making it that much harder for yourself by having a poor CV. Your personalised curriculum vitae is your first potential point of contact with your future employer, it is ultimately your tool to market yourself so it’s absolutely crucial you spend time perfecting it.

   We see a lot of CVs here at Ocean Edge – some excellent and others not so much – so we thought we would share our top tips to help you make your CV stand out and grasp an employer’s attention.

   One of the first and foremost rules of CV writing is not to waffle. Too many CVs contain extensive personal profiles or pages and pages of irrelevant text, which will most probably bore the person reading it. Keep your CV to two pages maximum and if you find yourself writing long sentences, use bullet points. Bullet points look clean and are easy to process, which will make your skills more likely to stick in your prospective employers’ mind. You also want to list your relevant experience and skills before describing your education or other areas of your life. Employers don’t want to spend valuable time scrolling through paragraphs of information before they can see what you have done that is relevant to the role.

   Another tip is to not waste time on creating fancy borders or adding different colours and text styles. From our experience, employers like to see clear, clean-cut CVs in black and white, with an easy to read font. The aim is to make your experience and skills as simply presented as possible in order for a viewer to be able to read it quickly and gather the relevant information.

   In the case of CV writing, less is definitely more.
   In terms of context, stay away from cheesy overused phrases that waste valuable space on your CV. Using words such as ‘innovate’ to describe yourself, is not worth writing unless you can prove how you have been innovative. Instead of describing yourself as innovative, detail times that prove your skills. Other over-used phrases include, ‘team player’, ‘hard worker’. Again, instead of using these terms, demonstrate how you are a team player or a hard worker, by detailing your experiences.

   Overall, if you make sure your CV is easy to read, clean-cut and ultimately tailored to the job with a simple layout, then you will have the best chance in gaining the attention of your future employer.

   Our expert consultants are always happy to help you with your CV, feel free to get in touch.