When applying for a nursery job, your CV is the first impression that an employer will have of you so it’s really important to make that first impression a great one.
Candidates often make these 5 common mistakes when writing their CVs, read our advice to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes.
- Not tailoring your CV to the nursery role you’re applying for
You don’t need to completely rewrite your CV every time you apply for a new job but it is a good idea to tailor your CV to each different role. This will show the employer that you’re really interested in their particular role and also allow you to highlight the skills and experiences that would make you the perfect person to hire.
The areas of your CV you should focus on are the Personal Profile/Summary, the work history and any relevant qualifications.
Read the job description for the role you’re applying for thoroughly and use that to help you tailor your CV. For example, if you’re applying for a Nursery Nurse role, the job description might mention that the company is looking for someone with great communication skills so make sure to highlight on your CV a time when you’ve shown these skills.
2. Spelling/grammatical mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes, but your CV isn’t the best place to make them. Making a spelling or grammatical mistake on your CV shows poor attention to detail which could put an employer off taking your application any further. Attention to detail is really important when working within a nursery so recruiters will be looking carefully at this.
Make sure you use a spell-checker but better still, get someone else to read your CV before you submit it.
3. Poor formatting
If your CV isn’t formatted well, it will be much harder for a recruiter to read it. You want to make it clear and concise, in a font size that is readable. Recruiters spend on average one minute reading each CV they receive so they need to be able to see the relevant information on your CV easily. Using a CV Template can help with this.
4. Irrelevant personal details
The only personal details you need to include on your CV are your name, location, phone number and email address. Avoid adding details such as your date of birth, a photo or marital status – these only lead to unconscious bias and do not help your application.
5. Not including your achievements
When writing your CV, it can be easy to just list all of the duties you performed in each previous job role but unless your previous duties were out of the ordinary then a recruiter will already be aware of the duties involved. You instead need to point out any achievements that would be relevant to the position you’re applying for alongside the duties.
For example, if you’re applying for a Nursery Nurse role you could highlight a time in a previous role where you achieved 100% satisfaction from parents.
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