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Your profile- the purpose of the profile is to make sure that a prospective employer knows what you can do for them. They must be able to take the information in quickly and know what you can do, for who and where you want or are able to work

Career and work achievements. As well as showing the details of the company you worked for, complete with dates, you must make sure that your achievements are highlighted. Be very specific about exactly what you have done for that employer. Be as specific as possible and be prepared to be able to back this up if you are asked to do so.

Bullet points. Bulleted points are a very powerful tool allowing you to show what you have achieved clearly and legibly. Bullet points of achievements should be no more than two lines long, with no more than four bulleted points for each employer

Older work experience. Work experience gets less relevant the longer ago it was gained. If you have work experience over 8 years old, make a separate section on your CV for other work experience. List each job with dates, one line for each job

Adding value to your computer skills. Employers are plagued with people saying that they can use MS Word, Powerpoint, etc. Try showing how you have used a programme. For example, I designed and made powerpoint presentations for the Sales Directors monthly sales meeting. A subtle yet very powerful tactic.

Date of birth. You never know where your CV will end up on the internet. Make sure you protect your identity by never including your date of birth. If you want to include your age (you don’t have to), just state it- 55 years old for example.

Professional qualifications are gained and awarded through companies, training providers, private individuals, etc. They are very different from Academic qualifications. Academic qualifications come through schools, universities, colleges, etc. They are very different qualifications and should be listed separately in two separate paragraphs. This simple process shows you understand the difference and the relative importance of each. A professional CV service will understand this and make sure it happens for you.

Gaps in your CV. There should never ever be a gap in your CV that will allow a potential employer to question what you were doing. If you have had a career break or an illness then show what you were doing. People need to know- never allow a question to arise in the mind of an employer- make sure the reader never has a reason to reject you

How long should the CV be? As a rule of thumb, two sides of A4 with normal margins is correct. This is the standard, is expected and should allow the reader to take in the information quickly. Another quick point- use a standard font like Arial and use from nine to eleven point sizes are ideal.

Being honest in your CV is, in my opinion a no-brainer. It’s often been said that liars need a great memory- far easier to tell the truth in the first place.