Your CV has to project attainment of skills required by the employer. Most employers use the CV as a focus for the structure of the interview. You should use it to direct the interviewer's mind to your good points and your achievements. It should continue to work in your favour after the interview as the interviewer will probably reread it before making a decision on who should be invited to the second interview stage or to whom the job should be offered.
Not only should your CV be aesthetically pleasing, people should be able to find the information they want quickly. There should be a logical sequence to the information you are giving.
It is usually best to try and keep your CV to two pages of A4: this forces you to be concise and only include relevant information. Keep your sentences short and punchy, and use bullet points to break up the text under section headings. Limit description of work experience to four-six bullet points.
Insufficient detail about duties and achievements within positions doesn't allow the reader to make a proper judgement on your abilities. An employer will only want to employ you if they can see a benefit in it for themselves.
Your CV should be carefully checked for such errors before you send it to employers. Tiny errors in your CV can detract from an otherwise good CV and make you look lazy or careless. Always use the UK spelling check option on the computer before printing, and it is usually a good idea to get someone else to read over the CV & letter.
Click here for tips on CV layout.