Having a powerful, well-structured, and easy-to-read CV is essential if you want to land your dream charity role. Use the following guide to create the perfect CV layout and land those all-important interviews.

Use a simple format

One of the most off-putting mistakes that you can make when writing a CV is to use a complicated format or bizarre design. Ignore any advice that tells you that a ‘unique’ CV will catch the attention of an employer—while that may work in the creative industries, recruiters in the charity sector are looking for responsible employees with concrete skills and a solid profile. Your CV should be plain, easy to read, and structured in a way that highlights your core skills and recent work experience.

Put your name and contact details in the header

It’s important to leave your name and contact details on your CV, so that potential employers can get hold of you for an interview. With space being limited, you should place your contact details at the top of the page as a header, or in the top left or right corner of your CV. Don’t add your contact details as their own section—you’re wasting valuable space.

Add a powerful profile and core skills section

Recruiters in the charity sector aren’t simply looking for someone with a basic professional profile, they’re looking for individuals who are passionate about their charitable cause. For a perfect cv layout, you should structure your professional profile in the following way:

Professional Profile: Sitting at the top of your CV, this section should consist of a small paragraph to sell yourself as the ideal candidate. This section should summarise your most suitable skills, as well as your interest in the charitable cause. Don’t talk about your work experience in detail here. Give an overview of your professional interests, competencies and your passion for the charitable cause, along with any relevant successes.

Core Skills: Your core skills should be listed in bullet points to make things easy for the recruiter. You should format this section as follows:

For example:

Source: standout-cv.com

When writing your core skills, think about what a charity job demands. Unlike a traditional 9-5, charity jobs can involve unsociable working hours, last-minute plan changes and dealing with the public. Tailor your skills to fit this profile: highlight your adaptability, your competence at working in a public-facing role, and your ability to work under pressure.

Structure your roles for easy reading

Long sentences and chunky paragraphs are a big no when it comes to any CV, and this rule still applies to charity sector jobs. You should structure your roles in the following way to ensure easy reading for the recruiter:

Role: Your job title and the organisation you worked for
Outline: Your overall job description: who you report to on a daily basis, what department you belonged to, what ‘overall’ task you were in charge of
Responsibilities: Here, you can go into further detail about your tasks and responsibilities on any given day. Employers in the charity sector will be looking out for evidence of your core skills: your adaptability, teamwork, expertise, and experience in similar working environments.

To reiterate, the perfect cv layout avoids long paragraphs when describing your former roles and uses bullet-point form wherever possible. You want the reading experience to be as easy as possible for the recruiter, so offering bite-sized, memorable information is preferable.

Round off with your education

You should finish off your CV with your educational background—you don’t have to list all your GCSEs or A-Levels, but you should include qualifications that are relevant to the job. If you have a lengthy, diverse educational background, only include what’s necessary and relevant to the job. You should list relevant educational achievements in reverse chronological order, using the format in the example below:

Education

2013 – 2016: [Name of University] | BSc, Nursing

2012 – 2013: NVQ, Social Care | Level X

2010-2012: 3 A-Levels | AAB

Only add hobbies if relevant

Most recruiters aren’t going to be interested in your hobbies—however, if they are related to the cause or charity you’re applying to, it could be beneficial to include them. If your hobbies include volunteer work related to the charity (or cause) you’re applying to work for, you should include this, although it’s up to you whether you put it in your ‘work experience’ or ‘hobbies’ section. Otherwise, leave generic hobbies off. Your CV should be streamlined and structured in a way that conveys a message about your professional profile; adding ‘cinema and Netflix’ might dilute that message.

So now you have the perfect CV layout, don’t forget to check out the latest roles available in the sector. CV longer than two pages? Check out our advice on how to cut it down.