Skills-based CVs can be very effective when applying to jobs in sales, media and the

creative professions. In this example, Victoria is looking for a job in sales which would use
her language skills. Her degree is not business-related.

Victoria Sinclair
42 Henwick Farm Road Redditch WR7 8AJ
Tel: 01905 444444 Mob: 07333 222777
Email: v.sinclair90@nomail.com

Education and Qualifications

Nottingham Trent University (2006-2010)

BA (Hons) Sociology with Italian, 2:1 degree expected
Third year spent at Universita di Siena, Italy

Mary Tudor Secondary School, Redditch (1999-2006)

A levels: Italian (B), English (C), Psychology (C)
GCSEs: 7 subjects grades A-C, including English, Maths and Science

Victoria used the job description and person specification to identify

Skills and Abilities which skills were most important for the job. Don’t just copy these;
they will vary from job to job!
Communication
 Experienced in dealing effectively with a wide range of customers in retail
services and restaurants
 Demonstrated my verbal communication skills strengths through
successfully living, working and studying abroad
 Gave presentations in English and Italian to lecturers and fellow-students as
part of my course
 Developed excellent report-writing skills from my work in student media in
Nottingham and Italy

Leadership
 Developed team-leading skills, including motivating team members, and
encouraging good performance in my role as captain of the university
badminton team
Using bullet  Gained managerial experience as a bar supervisor where I learned how to
points helps train motivate temporary staff
keep thing s
brief. Using Teamwork
an action  Learned to adapt quickly to different teams through the variety of casual
verb at the work I have undertaken
start of the
sentence  Gained insight into how teams can develop strategies to deal with problems
makes it through participating as a team member in project assignments as part of
strong and my course
lively.  My year abroad developed my ability to join and contribute to groups and
find common ground to move forward

Organisation and time management

 Learned the importance of prioritising competing demands whilst at
university and especially during my year abroad
 Learned to delegate the organisation of training sessions to other members
of the badminton team when I had academic deadlines to meet
  Balanced supervisory responsibilities with serving customers at Il
Restaurante Verde, Siena alongside my academic study

Work experience

Sales adviser, Phones are Us, Birmingham (Aug-Oct 2008)

 Assisted customers in choosing handsets and price plans. Resolved
occasional technical issues. Needed to have a quick grasp of the full product
range and their ever-changing features.

Sales assistant, Next, Solihull (Summer 2006 and 2007)

 Serving customers at the till, filling up with stock and answering customer
queries during the busy summer sales period.

Bar supervisor, Ristorante Verde, Siena, Italy (Nov 2006-July 2007)

 Worked weekends as a bartender and progressed on to supervising the bar,
training new staff and handling customer complaints. This really developed
my Italian and my time management skills as I had to balance this job with
my academic study.

Sales assistant, Marks and Spencer, Birmingham (Summer 2005)

 Continuation of a Saturday job I had from age 16.

Additional skills

 Computing: fully conversant with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and

PowerPoint) and Internet explorer
 Driving licence: full clean UK licence and have driven abroad
 Languages: fluent in Italian and have good conversational French

Interests and achievements

Sport: I am a keen badminton player and have represented the university. I am

currently captain and represented Siena during my year abroad. I visit the gym and
swim regularly.
Media: I have been a regular contributor to the student union newspaper since my
second year, covering sports events and student issues. During my year abroad I
contributed to a newsletter for foreign students in the local area
School: I was Deputy Head Girl at my school and gained experience of organising
events and representing fellow pupils.

Referees

Dr Mary Smith Ms Kate Holding

(Personal tutor) (former line manger)
School of Humanities and Languages Next plc
Nottingham Trent University High Street
Burton St, Nottingham WR2 6AJ Worcester
WR1 1SP

T: 0115 320 9000 T: 01905 345678

E: maryjones20@ntu.ac.uk E: kholding@next.co.uk