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The ICAEW Guide to Successful Job Search

Episode 5: CVs that stand out and impactful cover letters

Your CV has less than 30 seconds to make an impression on a prospective employer. In the fifth podcast of The ICAEW Guide to Successful Job Search series, host Simon Gray, FCA, explains how to make sure your CV or resume gets their attention.

To create the ICAEW Guide to Successful Job Search, ICAEW worked with Simon Gray, author of ‘Super Secrets of Successful Executive Job Search’ and founder of Career Codex, in addition to experts from across the recruitment and business world to share their knowledge of how to find and secure the job you want.

In Episode 5, ‘CVs that stand out and impactful cover letters’, Gray discusses the power of a good CV and cover letter, and provides his top tips on how to make sure yours have the wow factor.

“Just as a movie trailer highlights the key elements of a film you’re considering watching, your CV shouldn’t tell your life story, but instead contain enough relevant information to grab the interest of the reader,” he says.

Gray explains why it is important to write your CV from scratch for each position and shares his steps to writing a stand-out CV and cover letter.

In this podcast Gray is joined by:

  • Sally Adams, Acting Chief Financial Officer at Electrocomponents Plc;
  • Andrew Clark, Finance Director at Costa Enterprises; and
  • Jonathan Firth, Managing Director Michael Page Finance.
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Episode guide

You can listen to the rest of the series on icaew.com or on iTunes:

Episode Title Date available
Getting started 5 February 2016
The job market environment  12 February 2016 
The psychology of job search success  19 February 2016 
The importance of planning your job search  26 February 2016 
CVs that stand out and impactful cover letters  4 March 2016 
Getting in front of decision makers  11 March 2016 
The power of networking  18 March 2016 
Positioning yourself online  25 March 2016 
Delivering a first-class interview  01 April 2016 
10  Handling the offer and negotiation stage  08 April 2016 

Further information