I'm afraid your CV is wrong in about every important aspect - content, tone and style. A competitive CV needs to be much more closely tailored to the specific job requirements and show a lot more specific evidence of relevant skills.

In this case, the job advert is quite explicit.

Red = skills you have to show, ie bullet points you need to create
Green = words it would add value to get in your CV or covering letter somewhere

Because you’re willing to learn, you’re passionate about mobile technology and you have strong technical programming skills that you’ve perfected throughout your degree or in your spare time. You have excellent attention to detail and are a good problem solver. You are logical and methodical and are looking to apply your learning by developing some of the most iconic apps or robust server solutions in the industry.
Why Apadmi?
Apadmi is the UK’s leading mobile app developer, winner of App Developer of the Year 2014 and a Top 10 Global App Developer as listed by Washington DC IT research firm, Clutch.
From the BBC iPlayer Radio app to the Guardian Witness, Apadmi has a track record of producing high profile, award-winning apps and server solutions.
Known as the experts in mobile technology, we pride ourselves on Apadmi’s deep heritage within the mobile industry; our CEO and many of the existing team helped to develop the first smartphone back in 1998.
Since then, we have partnered with some the world’s most renowned and recognised brands, including the BBC, The X-Factor, the Guardian, BT, Lexus, Aviva, AstraZeneca, Range Rover and EE.
At Apadmi, you’ll enjoy the friendly, relaxed environment where you can dress comfortably and work relatively flexible hours. We also have a fancy coffee machine and excellent social activities.
We are committed to producing creative, innovative and robust solutions to complex problems. We’re the people companies want building their app. Our team are all top of their game – we’ll expect nothing less from you.
Specific Requirements
– A degree in Computer Science or equivalent is not essential, in fact we are open to any degree. What is essential however is experience working with code. This includes one or more of the following languages:
– .Net
– Java
– Objective C
– Experience with iOS and Android development
– Javascript
The Role
As a Graduate Software Developer you will be expected to work in teams and also equally well individually. You’ll experience the prototyping of new development ideas and technologies and also work on high profile projects for some of the world’s most renowned brands and companies. You’ll be meeting daily and weekly objectives and have regular stand up meetings with Project Managers and Tech Leads. You’ll also be exposed to high levels of learning, getting together with colleagues and managers sharing best practice and industry updates.

These are the words they will be scoring when screening applications.


A CV is a formal business document that gives the employer evidence that you have the skills to do the job they are offering. Even if it is work experience or an internship, they want to see you are on track, a credible candidate; otherwise they are wasting their time. A CV is not any sort of certificate or general summary of your life. Most importantly, a CV is not about what you want to say about yourself, it is about what the employer wants to read about you – often very different things.

So to write a competitive CV you need to go through these four steps -

1. Decide what job you are writing the CV for. There is no such thing as a general CV, a CV is written for a specific job/skill set

2. Make a list of 4-6 specific skills the employer is looking for, if they haven’t already listed them in the job description. You may have to do some further research of the job advert doesn't say. Try looking for similar jobs in other places, or careers websites often list skills required for jobs

3. Work out how you can offer evidence, not just claim, that you have those skills. That means give an example of a time you have applied the skill, not just say you have it.

4. Write your CV in an effective style, that means clear, direct and pay attention to detail

You can't write an effective general CV, employers always have a specific set of skills they are looking for. They will be reading through CVs looking for the 5-6 people who have the closest fit to the skill set they are looking for. They won't read between the lines when they have plenty of applicants who will have tailored their CVs. So you need several CVs if you are going to apply to different work areas or even different companies if it is highly competitive career you are entering.

Take as much of the language from the job advert or website across to your CV as possible. You need to create an echo between what they are looking for and what evidence you have got. So use the same words they use, within reason.


The main conventions are -


On the content

You begin the CV with the name you use centre, top of the page. Don’t put CV or Curriculum Vitae, it is self evident what the document is. Don’t give a choice of names, if you are always called Steve or Bob or Jo, that’s fine, you don’t have to put Steven, Robert or Joanna. Never put a ‘funny’ nickname even if everybody you’ve ever known calls you it. Never put your middle name. Never put any post-nominals (eg BA, BSc (Hons))

You never put your date of birth, nationality, or any personal information in a CV that the employer cannot legally use in deliberating your application (faith, gender, marital status etc).

Never, ever put a photo in a UK application unless an employer asks for one – which they shouldn't do because it is considered very bad employment practice.

Don’t label your email address, mobile number, landline number etc. They all have a unique format just so that people can recognise what they are without labels.


Don’t give more than one address, employers don’t follow term dates.

You don't have a profile until you have about 5 years of professional experience, so don't try to write any general opening section until then. Even then, think twice as most employers don’t like them.

The objective of every CV is to get you to interview. Your career objectives should not be revealed to an employer. They want you to do the job they are offering, nothing else.

The sections in a CV are, in order, Education, Experience, Volunteering (if you have sufficient), and Interests. There should not be a separate Skills section, with the exception of IT Skills, Lab Skills or Technical Skills if they are directly relevant to the job you are applying for.

There is no place in a CV for a detached list of skills. If you genuinely have those skills, then you need to provide evidence. When you provide evidence then part of that is the context in which you gained the experience, under an appropriate employment, experience, volunteering or interest section. Skills claimed out of context are meaningless and ignored. There is another type of CV called a Skills based CV, but it is used in very specific circumstances, and you aren't in them if you are under 25 or so. An employer will expect a straight chronological CV from you.


Everything in a CV goes in reverse chronological order, ie A levels first, GCSEs second and most recent job first, previous jobs next etc

If you have overseas qualifications you need to estimate what they reflect in terms of position across the whole cohort eg Afterschulerstifcat (A level equiv) grade 54/72 (top 3 in year of 200)

Titles should be on a single line, in the order Date [tab] Role, Organisation, Location, with only your role in bold.

You never use sentences and paragraphs in a CV, the employer will not engage with blocks of text when they have 50-100 CVs in front of them. You need to use short, informative bullet points.

Bullet points should be a maximum of two lines long. If yours are longer you should either re-phrase them or split them. In both one and two line bullet points you need to almost fully fill the lines, or your CV looks gappy and untidy. Don't use full justification though, it makes it harder to read.

Bullet points should begin with the relevant verb, in the correct tense eg Led, Organised, Managed, Presented, Created, Designed etc.

You don't say ‘I’ or ‘my’ in a CV, it is implicit.

You don't say 'this showed....' or 'this required....', or 'this taught me........' etc. Employers are hard-nosed; they want to see what you did. It is also very patronising to read when the applicant is an applicant, and the reader is a professional.

You should not end verbs in –ing ie Managing, Leading, Helping. These -ing verb endings are impersonal, they describe the job, not specifically your activity. A CV is specifically about your personal activity, what you do or what you did, not what generally needed doing.

You can also make it sound more impressive by adding some more descriptive words and phrases eg successfully, quickly, to a tight deadline, consistently, regularly, effectively, efficiently etc.

You need to pin the bullet point down to real world examples. Don't just say 'organised various events', you need to give the reader an idea of the scale and scope of what you did eg





Organised a successful street party in local street, to raise money for Save the Children
Negotiated street closure with local town council, attended 2 meetings with councillors, wrote 2 letters and completed 3 official forms to achieve formal support
Organised tables and chairs for over 100 guests, also tents and all necessary safety notices
Delegated responsibility for providing food amongst neighbours
Raised over £300 for Save the Children and brought the community together




Don't waste space describing organisations or jobs, this is your CV, and everything should be about what you did. You need to describe the scope and scale in your bullet points, the employer needs to understand how big your achievement or activity was, so use numbers whenever possible. It is especially important to use numbers when you are applying for numerate jobs.


Your Interests section is written in exactly the same bullet point format and giving evidence of relevant skills. No-one really cares what your interests are, but this section gives you the opportunity to demonstrate skills that you might not have had enough work experience to show.

You don't mention references or give referee names and addresses in a CV. If they ask for references at the time of the CV application, give them on a second sheet/page.


On the presentation

You only have one side of A4 to use.

A CV is a formal document not a certificate, so there should be nothing ‘pretty’ about a CV. It is not a demonstration of your creative ability with MSWord.

Don't use any text boxes or tables, and don't use colour or any shading. You don't know how the Employer/reader's printer is set up, or if your CV will be photocopied. Some employers use software the strips out your text and puts it into another format. This works more reliably if you haven’t got tables and text boxes in the CV.

Your margins should be not less than 2cm and don’t use the header or footer space. Again, you don’t know how the employer’s printer is set up, but CVs are usually read in hard copy.

Don’t use hyperlinks for your email address, and don’t even put in other links or urls. Employers won’t click on them, and they may mess up automated CV processes that large volume employers use to handle applications.

Also, don't use templates from places like MSOffice. Employers usually assume you are using fancy presentation to cover up for lack of content in the CV. Even if this isn't true, you don't want to give them that impression. Keep it clean and simple and let the content to the talking.

This advice goes even for creative positions. Professionally, no-one really thinks one side of A4 is a valuable place to demonstrate creativity; mastery of Word isn’t that big a deal. If an employer wants to see your creative side they will ask for a portfolio in a specific format.

Full caps is just as shouty in hard copy as it is online, don't use it.

Don’t right align dates or any parts of your text. The employer will want to take a quick 20 second or so scan of your CV, so you need to make it suitable for speed reading. That means left aligning everything, not using full caps and using a serif font.

This is a pretty full package of all the basic professional conventions for a CV used in the UK.



A covering letter is a vital part of the CV application. It gives you the chance to explain why you want to do this work, why you want to work for this employer, and why you’d be good at the job. It’s like a double check that the employer has understood your CV.

A covering letter is the twin document to a CV and should be in the same font, margins etc. It is also not more than one side of A4, with the main body of text forming about half of the page. The main body of the letter should be about 300-350 words long. Otherwise, the layout is the same as any business letter.

It should begin with a clear statement, This is an application for [job] as advertised in [location], reference [if available]

Then a short paragraph (3-4 sentences) saying why you want to do this sort of work.

Then a short paragraph (3-4 sentences) saying why you want to work for this organisation.

Then a longer paragraph which draws together the points of your CV and highlights your three most relevant skills

Then close confirming anything they say is mandatory (often nothing) and thanks.


The reason for using this structure is that it contains an implicit argument that goes 'I want to do this work, I want to do it with you and I'd be good at it'. You don't directly say that, but that is the message you should be leaving in your reader's head by the end.

If you are emailing your application, then attach both the CV and the covering letter as JSmithCV.doc and JSmithCoverLet.doc and in the email say something simple like

Dear [whoever]

Please find attached my CV and covering letter in application for the [job title] as advertised [wherever]. If you have any other questions or need the documents in an alternative format, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Many thanks

Your Name

These are the basic conventions for UK CVs that should serve you well in most circumstances. If you follow this advice, then a large majority of employers will read your CV and engage with the content. Job selection is a human activity though, people have their preferences, and this format won’t suit absolutely 100% of employers. That’s why you hear stories of people who get interviews with dreadful CVs that break all the rules. However, it’s a matter of chance, the more conventional, clear and relevant your CV is, the more chance you have of getting to interview.