You’ve got a few years work experience under your belt and now you’re looking to move up the career ladder. So what’s the ideal format for a mid management CV? Here’s a general CV layout we recommend.

Profile

A personal profile will summarise to recruiters what you’re all about and will persuade them to read on. For mid management jobs, recruiters look for a balance of proven work experience, evidence of progression, long term career potential, effective management skills and budget responsibility. Avoid the vague statements of "excellent team player" or "committed and motivated" and instead look at the job description and concentrate on the key competencies and skills needed. For example, for a project co-ordinator role there is a lot of emphasis on planning, monitoring and control so it’s these skills that should be incorporated into the profile. Make an impact and say everything in a short paragraph, no more than 5 lines.

Selected Achievements

• This section summarises your career highlights, shows evidence of progression and gives examples of where you’ve made a significant contribution to a company. This includes things like exceeding challenging targets, completing special projects and attaining professional qualifications
• These achievements are a key part of your CV so make sure that they are directly relevant to the role that you’re applying for. They should be quick and easy for recruiters to read. Put the headlines in your CV and keep the detail for the interview
• For example: Achieved 100% of my team sales target over three consecutive years, awarded Sales Manager of the Year in 2009.

Date from – Date to                        Company Name                                     Position

Bullet points are useful here. This helps the recruiter find key information more easily. You should list your most recent experience first.

• Make sure the dates are clear, when you started and finished the role and the month and year.
• Introduce the company you have worked for. For example: Barnet Homes (£400m operational budget 4 offices and 2500 staff). This allows the recruiter to understand the type and size of the company and gives your experience some context. It also saves the recruiter looking up the company if it’s less well known.
• Think about the role you have been performing and what you have done that was successful. Try to quantify the achievement as much as possible. Was there a special project you undertook, did you save the company money? These are all achievements you should put here.
• Another good tip is to use power verbs in your CV. For example: Directed a team, identified key performance indicators, generated increased revenues

Education and Training

List all your University, College and School education together making sure the dates are clear. Make sure you include grades, especially for degrees. You may also have completed internal and external training courses. Include the details in this section but only if they are relevant to the job you have now. For example:

• 1995- 1998  BSc (Hons) Business Administration, 1st class degree, Manchester University
• 1988- 1994  A levels: Maths (A) English (A) Physics (A) Biology (B) Chemistry (B)
• 1990 – 1999 GCSEs: Maths (A) English (A) Physics (A) Art (B) Chemistry (B) Biology (A)
• Technical:  Illustrator, Photoshop, MS Access, Excel, PowerPoint
• Courses:  Certification in Creative Problem Solving, Smarterwork

Hobbies & Interests

Activities and interests are important. They give a broader view of you and your other key skills that could be applied in work situations. Don’t just list things. If you like swimming say you love swimming because you like to keep fit or if you like shopping you could say you have an interest in fashion and trends.

References

Don't include reference details at this point. You don’t want to give their names out to anyone. You can say for example:

• Excellent references available on request