University of Manchester Careers Blog

Don’t worry about your CV until you have found a vacancy to apply for.
Many students are so eager that before they even know what type of job they want to do they are writing a CV and cover letter.
STOP RIGHT NOW.

1 Decide what jobs you are interested in.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a part time job, internship or graduate job, it will make your life a lot simpler if you know what you are looking for. It’s like trying to guess what present someone will like when you don’t even know them.

• Try looking at the Which Career? section of our website to gain some inspiration or
• Download our I don’t know what I want to do guide for some suggestions of how to work out what’s right for you.

2 Find places that advertise those vacancies and start looking at them.
Which appeal to you and do you have the skills or qualifications they are looking for?

• Your careers account CareersLink has thousands of live vacancies
• Suggested vacancy sources by sector or type of job

3 Use the list of skills the employer wants to create a CV  or application that matches their needs.
Employers will expect to see evidence of your competence to evaluate how good you would be at the job. If you have done something similar before that’s great but don’t worry if you haven’t sometimes the same skill gained in a different way is fine.(transferable skills)

• Read our CV guidelines for more details and download the guide.
• See an Applications Adviser for 1-1 help the first time you apply for a job or course.

Repeat step 3 for every job you apply for. Check and double check that you are matching the needs of that specific role in that specific company.