What information should a CV include?

Personal details: your name, address, date of birth, telephone number and email.

Education and qualifications: Your degree subject and university, plus A levels and GCSEs or equivalents. Mention grades unless they are poor!

Work experience:

1) Even work in a shop, bar or restaurant will involve working in a team, providing a quality service to customers, and dealing tactfully with complaints.

2) Try to relate the skills to the job. A finance job will involve numeracy, analytical and problem solving skills so focus on these whereas for a marketing role you would place a bit more emphasis on persuading and negotiating skills.

Interests and achievements:

1) Keep this section short and to the point. As you grow older, your employment record will take precedence and interests will typically diminish greatly in length and importance.

2) Any interests relevant to the job are worth mentioning.

3) Anything showing evidence of employability skills such as team working, organizing, planning, persuading, negotiating etc.

Skills

The usual ones to mention are languages (good conversational English, basic Spanish), computing (e.g. "good working knowledge of MS Access and Excel, plus basic web page design skills") and driving ("full current clean driving license").

Referees

Normally two referees are sufficient: one academic (perhaps your tutor or a project supervisor) and one from an employer (perhaps your last part-time or summer job).

The order and the emphasis will depend on what you are applying for and what you have to offer.

If you are applying for more than one type of work, you should have a different CV tailored to each career area, highlighting different aspects of your skills and experience.

Read the text and answer the following questions.

1. How to inspire your colleagues?

2. Where can you go with your colleagues to improve your interpersonal relations?

3. How to deal with stress at work?

Good office culture

A good office culture can create a fun and productive atmosphere and encourage a team to work better, be more enthusiastic, and to grow together. We’re all more likely to work better if we’re happy and comfortable in our work environment. So how can you create a great office culture for your team? Read on for the tips on creating an enjoyable workplace.

Keep your team inspired by providing them with a pleasing workspace. Consider things like lighting, furniture and decorations. Open blinds and windows, add posters, artwork and plants, and provide furniture that makes people want to spend time at their desks working. Encourage the team to contribute their own suggestions and work together on compromises to ensure they feel empowered about their space.

Sharing conversations, meals, and other celebrations can help you to build a community within your workplace. You can encourage your colleagues to build relationships by inviting them to share what they’re working on with the team, or by organizing a communal lunch or afternoon tea where they can get to know each other better. Enjoying the company of the people you work with will help make Monday mornings a more enjoyable experience!

It’s important to be aware of any stress or pressure your colleagues might be under such as working towards a deadline, and to show your respect for them by offering help and support, or giving them space and quiet if they need it. Respect should be applied in all areas of work including being aware of team members’ cultural differences and lifestyles, and ensuring that nobody feel unwelcome or made fun of. It is vital that everyone in a workplace feel equally welcome and deserving of being in the office to do their work and to feel included as a social part of the team.

Make sure that everyone is certain of the direction the business is heading in and aware of the targets and goals that the team is aiming for. There are simple things that you can do to ensure that everyone is on the same page in terms of goals and direction, such as having a brief meeting at the start of each week where everyone is encouraged to share what they’re working on, or what they hope to achieve within the week.

13. Read the text and decide if the following statements are true (T) or false (F):

1) Market structure describes how competitive a market is.

2) Perfect competition and pure monopoly are opposites.

3) Four conditions are necessary for perfect competition to exist.

4) In perfect competition every company makes a slightly different product.

5) Perfect competition makes it easy for new companies to start trading.

6) When there is perfect competition, companies are able to set any price they want.