CV

[Buleste]

Don't forget Font is important. If you can try to get Helvetica. It's classy and simple and really improves the looks of any document as it's font perfection. (If oyu can't get hold of it let me know and I'll create a rar for you.)

[Harrison]

Very true. Fonts are very important. Only ever use one font in the CV. Never user underlining if you can, it is not needed for titles, instead just use bold text and change the font size of importance of titles. Underlining should only ever be used to enforce a point, and in a CV the whole document is an attempt to do this, so it isn't needed.

A San-Serif font such as Helvetica, Tohoma or Futura are good. They make it much easier to read than Serif fonts like Times, and if sending a CV as a printed document, many employers look to OCR scan then in for future reference, and San-Serif make OCR recognition a lot easier.

Also avoid colour. You do not need coloured text within a CV. The only colour that you may use will be in the paper you pick. And this is another good point. Don't just print your CV onto standard photocopy paper/printer paper. It looks horrible and like no care has been taken. Go to a paper shop (The Paper Shop, or the Paper Mill Shop are 2 I know of country wide) and look though their extensive selection. The texture and type of paper you present your CV on can make a big difference, and can make it stand out a long way on its arrival at the employer. But I'm not suggesting coloured paper. I'm instead talking about textured or off white paper. Something that will feel higher quality when handled, and give focus in a pile of white generic CVs.

[Stephen Coates]

I print it onto 100gsm 'inkjet' paper. Looks much better than copier paper.

Any reason to choose Helvetica over Arial? I know they are different, but I tend to find that at first glance, they tend to look the same.

[Harrison]

Helvetica is slightly thinner and looks a little more published, whereas Ariel normally works better on the screen.

[Buleste]

Also Ariel is one of the most commonly used fonts with office but as Helvetica is a font you are supposed to pay for it is used a lot in professional documents.

Download the attachment and change your CV to one of the fonts and compare it to your old one. It's a minor tweak that may require some reformatting to get the CV looking spot on but it does make a real difference. Especially when you think that most of the CV's in a pile will be using Ariel so yours will stand out and look special. (plus it was always the font of choice on the Amiga for me )

[Stephen Coates]

So Helvetica has to be purchased?

I never really noticed that since I regularly use it on Macintosh systems where it is usually included.

Also, is the average personnel manager likely to notice the difference between Helvetica and Ariel?

[Buleste]

They won't notice it by name however they will notice visually. It's a case of visual association. Most professional manuals, books etc are done in Helvetica as it's the font of choice, whereas most things done at home on Office use the best looking font available and that is usually Ariel (plus most people use it as it's the first good looking font they come across). Give it a try. Print the first page using Ariel and then print the first page using Helvetica. It does make a big difference.