When writing a CV for the first time, young adults may need some encouragement and guidance. An effective way to begin is by sharing your own CV and discussing your career experiences with your child.
Why review your CV with your child?
Mastering the art of writing, structuring and updating a CV is a vital life skill, and what better way to begin than by sharing your own CV and explaining how it impacted your career? This approach provides your child with essential knowledge about CV writing and offers meaningful life and professional insights from your employment experience.
To guide your child through your CV, consider the following suggestions:
Explain how careers evolve
CVs will change over time and must be updated as your career develops. In today’s dynamic job market, pursuing various roles and embracing non-linear, “squiggly” career paths has become commonplace, allowing individuals to explore diverse roles and work environments. By sharing your own evolving CV with your child or obtaining one from a friend or family member, you can offer valuable insights into adapting CVs to reflect career progression and changes. This will enable them to appreciate the importance of flexibility and continuous learning in their professional journeys.
Help young adults understand transferable skills
Transferable skills are a core set of abilities that can be applied to various jobs and industries. They can be gained from education, volunteering, work experience or even hobbies and activities.
These skills include leadership, time management, prioritisation, delegation, communication, research, and analysis. But why are they important to include in your CV? Because you can take these skills with you from job to job and use them in most professional situations. They can help you become more employable, bring immense value to every workplace, and help you adapt to a wide range of roles. By explaining the importance of including their transferable skills in their CV, you are setting your child up for career success.
Show how to communicate responsibilities and challenges
Now that you have explained the value of transferable skills, it’s time to turn to one of the most crucial CV writing skills: effectively describing each role in a concise and engaging way. Show your child how your CV highlighted your responsibilities in each role and your relationship to the rest of your team – as well as any challenges you overcame and achievements you are most proud of.
Explain how the trick is to avoid adding unnecessary detail instead of focusing on the most critical information that demonstrates the value you can bring to your next employer.
Talk about continuous growth and learning
As your child comes to the end of their studies, they might think that their education days are behind them – so now is your chance to explain that continuous learning and development are essential life skills.
Explain how you upskilled throughout your career and how this benefitted you. This could include certificates and credentials you gained or on-the-job training such as speaking in public and managing colleagues.
By highlighting a growth mindset in their CV, young adults can demonstrate a mix of hard skills (essential attributes for job performance) and soft skills (personal qualities that make you more effective). This shows employers that they are committed to developing their skills and adding value to their workplace.
Talk about career transitions
Not all jobs will be a perfect fit, and very few roles are for life. Sometimes, roles end much sooner than ideal for reasons outside of our control. Explain that it can be helpful to include explanatory details in their CV. They could indicate any temporary roles or short-term contracts, and they don’t need to mention very short-lived roles.
Chat about your child’s dream career
Now that we’ve discussed everything about careers and CVs, it’s the perfect opportunity to get your child to think about their dreams and interests. Ask them what kind of workplace they’d prefer; would they rather work in an office, get out and about among the public, or pursue a role that requires travelling? Would they like to work as part of a team or be more independent? What skills would they like to learn and develop, and do they have a dream role in mind?
Discuss their expectations and aspirations with them, and encourage them to think about what experience or skills they need to achieve their ideal role.