6 Steps to Create a CV and Find Work in the UK

Working and living in the UK can be very beneficial for your long-term professional career. Gaining valuable references from UK employers or permanently settling in the UK can be life-changing. No matter how old you are or how many years you’ve worked in your industry, there are plenty of job opportunities in the UK.

According to published data, 21,4% of workers in the UK are in “professional” jobs, or those which require college degrees. Additionally, 10,3% of workers work in “elementary” jobs, with the remaining percentage being allocated in the in-between job categories. As of 2022, approximately 32,5 million people are working in the UK, with the median annual earnings of full-time employees being at £31,280 in 2021.

Whether you have a college degree or are self-taught or went to courses and seminars to develop your skillset, the UK will welcome you as an ex-pat looking for work. Before you head abroad, however, you’ll need to create a CV that a UK employer will find acceptable from job applicants. Here’s how to create a CV based on UK employer standards so that you can land the job you want to with Jobs OneGlobe.

Perks of Working in the UK

Before you create a CV and look for work abroad, let’s talk about the UK and its employment prospects. Recent findings have shown that there were almost 8,1 million part-time workers in the UK by the end of 2021, a bump of 71,000 compared to the same time in 2020. The Office for National Statistics reported that 30,3% of all workers were in the public administration, education, and healthcare sectors in 2020, employing the highest percentage of workers in every ethnic group. This opens the door for international employees from around the world to seek professional employment in the UK in a variety of industries and niches.

The UK is an international environment with people of different ethnicities, religions, countries of origin, and native languages living and working there. While the official language in the UK is British English, minorities have found their place in the UK and have contributed to its workforce. Once you create a CV and start looking for jobs in the UK with Jobs OneGlobe, you’ll be a step closer to living and working in the UK. Here are some great reasons to place the UK at the top of your list of countries to work in:

• Experience the British cultural heritage firsthand
• Gain access to high-quality education and healthcare
• Enjoy England’s unique climate
• Live and work in a country with a high living standard
• Gain the opportunity to pursue permanent UK residency
• Enrich your CV with valuable UK-based references

How to Create a CV to Find Work in the UK

1. Understand the Role of your CV

Your CV, or Curriculum Vitae, is a short overview of your personal and professional skills as presented to a potential employer. Your CV is NOT an essay, a motivational letter, or a presentation. This is why you must understand what your CV is supposed to accomplish before you create a CV. You’ll use your CV to apply for job opportunities and showcase your qualifications, education, and past professional experiences. It’s essential that your CV is truthful, objectively written, and that it doesn’t embellish or overblow any of your skills, talents, or experiences.

“Emphasize your strengths on your CV, in your cover letters, and your interviews. It may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people simply list everything they’ve ever done.” – Marcus Buckingham

2. Transliterate All of your Data into English

Depending on where you come from, you may need to transliterate your personal information before you create a CV for jobs in the UK. Transliteration represents the process of writing data from one alphabet and language into another. In this case, if you come from countries with alphabets other than Latin (Greece, Russia, China, etc.), you’ll have to transliterate all of your data and documents. This applies both to personal information and any documents you want to hand in as references or legal working Visa requirements.

If you’re coming from a country with treaties with the UK, you may not need to go that far and simply work on your English language skills. You can use OneGlobe Language Learning to spruce up your English before job interviews, especially once you start the process of moving to the UK. Create a CV with UK employers in mind and your employment prospects will become that much higher.

3. Outline your Education and Work Experience

The professional experiences section of your CV is arguably the most important part of the whole document. It serves to describe your formal education and any past professional engagements you may have had. To create a CV people will consider it seriously, you need to be mindful of how you write this part of the paper.

Be thorough in explaining what roles you filled with previous employers, what you’ve done there, and how you’ve contributed to their companies. Be very detailed in your formal education, as many employers place great value on which college you went to, what your grades were, and what you majored in. This is particularly true for administrative, legal, and healthcare job positions but less so for IT, design, and writing, for example.

4. List your Soft and Hard Skills

Both soft and hard skills are important when you sit down to create a CV for a UK-based employer. Your soft skills represent the interpersonal, leadership, and teamwork skills you possess. Are you a problem-solver and find project management easy? Write it down and elaborate on those points during your interview. Hard skills are the polar opposite of soft skills as they refer to skills related to your job position or professional orientation. For example, if you’re a programmer, your hard skills can include Java, Python, C++, etc.

Hard skills are impossible to fake because employers often implement job interview tests and trial work periods where everything is double-checked anyway. This means that you should never rely on untrue statements or skills when you create a CV for employment abroad. If you lack in any one skill, use online learning tools to make up for it and then legitimately add these points to create a CV you can be proud of.

“Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.” – Denis Waitley

5. Talk About Your Hobbies and Interests

Many employers will go above and beyond looking at job-related skills and want to find out more about who “you” are. This is a great opportunity for you to also mention your hobbies, interests, and pastimes to UK employers. Whether you enjoy swimming, reading, or mountain-climbing, be proud of who you are and mention these points.

To create a CV that an employer will want to follow up on, you’ll need to stand out from other job candidates. Your hobbies and interests are an amazing way to do just that. They’ll help employers recognize your values more easily and help them fit you into their business culture more successfully.

6. Include Up-To-Date Contact Details

Once you create a CV with all of your professional information included, you should also provide your employers with valid contact information. Info like your email address, telephone, social media profiles, etc. needs to be valid to allow the employers to contact you. The effort you put in to create a CV will be in vain if people can’t reach you by referring to it.

Failing to provide them with functional contact information might make your application process harder than it needs to be. Take your time and double-check each of your contact channels so that you’re readily available to answer through each one. Answering employers’ messages within 24 hours are considered good practice and UK business owners will appreciate your proactivity immensely.

Create a CV with the Professional CV Builder on Jobs OneGlobe

As you can see, it takes some patience to create a CV that will entice potential employers into hiring you. It can be difficult to make a CV if you don’t have any proficiency in graphic design software but want to make your CV appealing. This is why Jobs OneGlobe has enabled candidates such as yourself to create their CVs more quickly and easily. All you need to do to get started is to create your account on Jobs OneGlobe and visit your Dashboard.

The professional CV builder on Jobs OneGlobe is built with the help of HR professionals with insight into employers’ wants and needs. As you’re trying to find work in the UK, using this CV builder to create your CV will make your employment prospects favorable. Here the reasons to use the CV builder available on Jobs OneGlobe:

• Create your CV through a user-friendly UI without any coding or design skills
• Update your CV in moments, or, create entirely new CVs for different jobs
• Maintain your CV on Jobs OneGlobe and never lose your CV again
• Spend your time applying for jobs instead of creating your CV by hand

Finding Great Work Opportunities in the UK

The best way to find great work opportunities in the UK and other countries, in general, is to create a CV you’ll be happy with. Your CV is effectively the first impression you’ll make with an employer – you want to do it right. Create a CV by using a reliable job application platform to do so instead of writing one by hand and hoping for the best.

Writing your CV through Jobs OneGlobe and using it to apply for job listings on the same platform will make your job hunt smoother and more successful. If you’ve settled on working in the UK and want to try your hand at landing a job there, don’t wait – grab your new career opportunity sooner rather than later.