CV and interview tips
Your application is your chance to sell yourself by highlighting your experience, skills, personal strengths and achievements in a way that is directly relevant to the role for which you are applying.
The importance of a good CV
Your CV is your opportunity to show a prospective employer the best of what you've got. It sells your skills, experience, education, qualifications and shows them you're the right person for the job. Making a good impression is important in today's competitive job market.
What to include on your CV
- Personal Profile – Introduce yourself, your personal profile provides a summary of your career to date. Summarise your key skills, experience, and achievements.
- Career History – This showcases the organisations, industries, and sectors you’ve worked in. Include the position you held, dates of employment and a description of your role and responsibilities.
- Achievements – Make sure you include all your achievements, perhaps you were involved in making positive changes to policies or processes, or you were nominated for awards and recognised for your contributions.
- Education – Include your education, qualifications, and training.
Ensure your CV includes Personal details, Personal Profile, Career History, Achievements, Responsibilities, Education, qualifications, and training.
CV tips
Keep it consistent
Make sure your CV is easy to read and use one standard font throughout
Organise your achievements
List your career history in chronological order and include your achievements
Highlight your expertise
Showcase your skills, experience, training, education and qualifications
Outline your suitability
Provide a good overview of your suitability for the role / business
How to ace your interview
An interview is your chance to sell yourself by highlighting your experience, skills, personal strengths and achievements in a way that is directly relevant to the role for which you are applying. Preparation is key!
Interviews at NHBC are usually competency based, comprising of questions aimed to find out more about your skills, knowledge, attributes, training, and experience. They also assess how you would approach tasks, problems, and challenges.
Interview tips
Research
Research the organisation & make sure you understand the role you are applying for
Prepare
Make sure you understand the interview format and what is expected of you
Questions
Prepare some questions for the interviewers
Relax
Try to relax and be comfortable talking about yourself with notes to prompt you
Competency based interviews assess the following:
-
The knowledge or mastery of an activity or subject gained through involvement in or exposure to it
-
The aptitude or potential to perform to the required standard
-
The demonstration of specific, professional skills, knowledge or qualifications
-
The actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job
-
The things we do regulary, do well and that motivate us
The STARR method
Use the STARR method when constructing your examples. Your answers need to be as detailed as possible.
| Situation | Task | Action | Result | Reflection |
| Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. | What were you working towards or trying to achieve? | Describe the actions you took to address the situation with an appropriate amount of detail and keep the focus on YOU! | Describe the outcome of your actions. | What did you learn? What would you do differently next time? |
You’ll be asked open questions; typically, you’ll be asked to describe, tell, or provide an example:
- Describe a situation where you felt you were working under a high degree of pressure.
- Tell me about a time when you tried to stay positive following a setback at work.
- Give me an example of a time when you had to deliver an important piece of work to a tight deadline.
Preparing for your interview and considering what examples you could use prior to the interview should help you impress your interviewers!
For further advice and templates, please visit: Impress at a job interview | My World of Work