Your CV should include six different areas of information; personal details, education and qualifications, work experience, interests and achievements, skills and referees.

Normally your personal details would be your name, date of birth, address, telephone number and email.

For your education you should mention your university and degree subject; any relevant school work should also be included. Remember the reader of your CV may be used to a different scale of grades to you; you might be a Chinese graduate applying to a Western company or university, for instance. Therefore it is important establish how grades are scaled in your country. It is only necessary to mention accomplishments that show your best side; no need to state poor results and don't lie! Many people use reverse chronological order when listing dates; that is, start with the most recent date first and work backwards. Both chronological and reverse chronological are acceptable but stick with the same throughout your CV.

Work experience should emphasize skills that relate to the job you are applying for. Show how the experience developed you, so even working in a shop or restaurant involves working in a team and providing a quality service. Likewise if you are looking for a finance job, focus on numeracy and problem solving skills, whereas for marketing emphasise negotiating abilities. You may not have had much experience if you are a graduate student but don’t forget to mention internships; use them to show what you learnt and improved and what your responsibilities were.

Interests and achievements should be kept reasonably short. As you grow older your employment section will lengthen and this section will diminish. It is a good chance for you to mention any interests relevant to the job: current affairs if you want to be journalist. Examples of leadership: captain of a sports team, chair of a student society.