Making the move from the Forces to a civilian career is much simpler with a strong, well-worded CV.

Service leavers make highly attractive employees and most private sector employers recognise that they are exceedingly well trained, highly skilled, with a reputation for being committed and capable employees.

Regardless of function all ex-forces personnel have a wide range of transferrable skills which are in big demand by many organisations.

Writing a CV that presents your skills and abilities in an effective and powerful way that is attractive to a civilian employer is the key to getting that all-important interview.

But you only have one shot at impressing the recruiter – get it wrong and your application will have failed at the first hurdle.

Competition for jobs is very strong and you will be jockeying for position with many other applicants from all walks of life.

In reality a recruiter will often have over 100 applicants’ CVs to go through for a position so the time they will have available to read each one is very limited.

Therefore your CV needs to tell the reader quickly why you should be considered a serious contender for the job.

First you need a strong profile statement that accurately summarises your best personality traits, a brief overview of your job function, and what your objective is. This needs to be written in such a way as to inspire the reader to read more.

A skills breakdown should be included near the beginning of the CV and should give an easy to read summary of the skills you have developed that would be most useful in your job. Any examples you give will add weight and credibility.

The big section is your employment history. This must be concise and proportionate. If you spent 10 years in one role it deserves more space than a job you only had for 3 months, but should still contain only a few or your key responsibilities. It must not contain large parts of your official job description copied and pasted onto the CV because that doesn’t say what you actually do.

Remember your CV does not need to include everything you have ever done!

If the CV is presented in an attractive way with easy-to-read fonts and the subtle addition of some colour then it is more likely to stand out in a pile.

As ever, though, of far greater importance are the content of the CV, the structure, and the language used.

To ensure that the reader is captivated, convinced, and ultimately compelled to invite you to interview, every word, each phrase and all sentences have to be carefully considered, thoughtfully selected, and presented in such a way as to inspire action.

If you are not sure whether your CV or resume is up to the task it would be a good idea to get someone to look over it.

Who better than an experienced, professional CV writer who can analyse and assess it for you for free? They can give you their professional opinion as to whether your CV not only looks right but gives enough compelling reasons why you should be invited for interview, or whether you will never hear from that prospective employer again.

If it needs work they can do it for you quickly and cheaply so your next application won't be wasted.

Before you send it to anyone else get your CV checked out.

Try this.

Click on FREE Advice and Checking, and when you submit your CV for analysis not only will you receive a free,  comprehensive report on the strength of your CV but you can also download free advice on how to write a CV.

These are free services, and you would only need to pay anything if you asked to have your CV written or re-written - there is absolutely no obligation whatsoever.