CV tips for the London Accounting Market

Your CV is one of the most important things to prepare before your big trip to the UK. A CV is one of your major tools to getting the job you want yet a surprising number of people spend little time updating it. Make sure you don’t sell yourself short and take the time to update your CV before you go. To help, we have gathered together some useful tips to consider when tailoring your CV to the London market.

UK employers and recruitment agents have reasonably fixed ideas about what they want to see in a CV and the 6 or 7 page CVs that are often used in Australia and New Zealand are not preferred in UK. You have 3-4 pages max to make your impression so don’t waste them!
Don’t waffle too much about career aspirations etc. - a single sentence will do the trick.

Make sure your CV is easy to read and important information can be located quickly. Use headings, a decent size font and bullet points. Graphics on CVs are not recommended by most UK recruitment agents so don’t waste your time putting them in. Ensure that you include up to date contact details: home and mobile phone numbers including area codes and an email address that you are checking regularly. If you will be using a different email address once you start travelling, include your travel email on your CV as well. A couple of details you may not normally include on your CV that are required when travelling to the UK are visa status and UK arrival date.

Give some detail on your previous roles in dot point form. Make your transferable skills clearly shine through in these dot points. Many Australian and New Zealand companies will be unknown to UK employers and recruiters so it is also worth giving some background on your previous employers such as industry, size of company and turnover. A summary of information to include for each previous role is: Dates, Company name, Job title, Industry description (or if a CA firm include description of client types/industries and sizes) and responsibilities.

Put your best foot forward with regard to qualifications on the front page – don’t leave it to reader to guess or find out at the end of the last page that you are a fully qualified CA. If you are part-qualified, make it clear how far through you are.

Always start with most recent and work backwards when listing work experience, education and qualifications. Don’t leave gaps in your work history dates. Where you may have travelled or taken time out to care for a relative, simply state what you were doing and the dates.

Don’t forget to include a section on IT skills. You should show the systems you have used and also your proficiency level. Also make sure you have contact details for 2 professional referees. If you don’t have these details initially, simply add a heading “Referees” and note that these will be provided on request.

Once you are happy with your CV – check it! Don’t let a simple spelling or other error ruin your chance at a good first impression. When you register with Mi4Corners we check that your CV will suit the UK market and will let you know if any changes are recommended.