Articles From the Team

A perfect CV gets you noticed…

After many months (possibly even years!) of contemplating making a move and browsing job boards without actually pressing the ‘apply’ button, you have now made up your mind and are ready to start the ‘search’…

The very first thing to do is to come up with a plan of action, starting with getting your laptop out, finding a quiet spot and perfecting your CV which will be crucial in getting you noticed. For many who have been in the same role for years, this may seem like a difficult task but fear not, as the following tips will give you a good starting point:

Employers generally know within a few seconds of scanning a CV whether it is of interest to them (or not) so increase your chances of not ending up in the ‘reject pile’ by summarising all the relevant information such as education, work history and skills as concisely as possible, ideally not going over two pages of A4. Remember, to save the juicy details for interview!

However, you should definitely include a personal statement to grab the reader’s attention as well as to highlight how your current skill set fits the role. Also, if you had any gaps in your employment history (a trip around the world perhaps or redundancy), you should most definitely account for them in your CV to avoid any raised eyebrows. However, remember to include any new skills that you have gained during your career break…a college course, volunteering and/or learning a foreign language is still very impressive!

Lastly and very importantly, proof read your CV not once but a few times to avoid the embarrassment of spelling mistakes and typos especially as “good attention to detail” is a prerequisite to doing a lawyers job well (N.B. spelling mistake was on purpose…did you spot it?) .

If you are a private client, family or residential property lawyer thinking of exploring opportunities in London, please contact BCL Legal on 0203 651 5620 or email: justynakucharska@bcllegal.com