You’ve seen the job, love the sound of it, and even visited the school. So far, it ticks all the boxes. Now you have to convince the school of your dreams that you are the right candidate for the job. But before you start brushing up on your interview skills, you will need to make sure that your CV is set to impress your future boss. Get this right, and the rest will follow.

Forget fancy fonts, elaborate layouts, and online CV templates that require sophisticated software. The most important thing you should remember when writing your CV is that it should be clear and simple with a great structure.

James Innes, managing director of The CV centre, Romford, Essex, gives pointers for a good layout:

• Start with your name at the top of your CV, not Curriculum Vitae in bold! Employers already know what the document is, but need to know to whom it belongs. Next make sure that you follow this on with your address, home, work and mobile numbers, email and fax, if applicable, so that employers can find this info easily and quickly
  
  
• Next you should have a Professional Profile section which is possibly the most important part of your CV. This is your chance to elaborate on key skills gained during studies and employment and to relate this to the job specification, if available. Take time to write this section well and make sure it flows seamlessly, but avoid clichés at all costs. It is always best to write in the third person.
  
  
• Your career summary will need to follow on from this, and for most people who have been teaching for a number of years this can amount to a lot of information. It is best to use bullet points to break it up. Focus on specific responsibilities and achievements in each job role. When writing about your achievements, don’t forget to use power verbs as these are likely to have more impact and they can make a tedious list of responsibilities sound more like a list of achievements. Power verbs such as managed, achieved, maximised, strengthened, led, are easily applied to various aspects of the teaching profession, for example, I managed incidents of challenging behaviour in the classroom or I achieved 100% improvement in …..But don’t overdo it otherwise they will lose their impact.
  
  
• All good teachers show commitment to continuing professional development and employers definitely want to see evidence of this. So ensure that you provide evidence of further personal or professional training and INSET days.
  
  
• Employers don’t really want to know about your obsession with astrology or how much you love Manchester United. They would be curious, though, if you had a relevant interest such as a passion for green issues, or an interest in sport as these can be utilised in school. So think about whether it is worth mentioning your interests.
  
  
• Recruiters often deal with lots of applications and they need to be able to see key information clearly and easily to decide who is going to get over that first hurdle of securing an interview. So if your font is set at BodDemItasup with double strikethrough effects but recruiters cannot see your key skills clearly, your beautifully presented CV will be unceremoniously binned. So keep presentation clean and simple.
  
  
• If you are submitting a CV online, then use a readable font that is easy-on-the-eye such as sans serif, or Arial. Comic Sans is alright for the classroom, but definitely won’t impress employers. Use borders, by all means, but nothing too fancy. 

For more CV advice visit www.cvcl.co.uk