How to improve your CV this Summer..

This isn't a normal post from me, but its something that I feel that you'll hopefully find useful and beneficial! I know that summer is a time for opportunity as well as relaxation. These tips are what I think will help you stand out and seem like a well rounded individual who will work hard which will hopefully result in employment/placement in sixth forms, colleges or universitys!

Extended Project Qualifications or otherwise known as an EPQ is something that I am not able to do due to my school only letting certain callibres of students take part which is a deep shame. An EPQ means that you will study a topic of your choice in a greater depth and you will work closely with a teacher known as a mentor. It does not have to be a topic related to school subjects and can be lots of fun. It does take a lot of work and management so you must be willing to put in time and effort. As this has to be done with teachers, it is something I would recommend that you talk to your school about it and a teacher that will be willing to help you.

Online courses are widely available across the web some are costly and some are free, ones that I reccomend and are taking part in are available via futurelearn. These courses are very much vocational meaning they apply to certain jobs rather than specific subjects, for example, there are many courses available to Journalism, nursing, and a large host of others. Each course runs for a certain extent of time and all differ. They are free, however they offer printed statements of participation and exams on courses and there is a charge for these. I do recommend getitng one or two printed statements in case you are asked however one for each course you take seems excessive to me... Some schools offer funding and so may offer to pay for the statements so talking to a teacher about that before the start of summer is my reccomendation so that you can begin to take part if you wish. They can be a lot of fun and an opprunity to learn something new! I am going to be doing courses centred around nursing/journalism/history/geography/politics/english language.

Something that I have enjoyed recently is working with my local girl guides. I help out at rainbows once a week which is where girls aged 4-6 go for an hour and we do a range of activies/outings. It's so much fun, and I always look forward to going every week. I do this for free as with the elder leaders so this is known as volunterring. Volunterring does not only account for girl guiding, you can help out a local charity shop, (something I'm looking at doing in the summer) help out at animal shelters, etc. It is very rewarding and lots of employers and schools look for volunteering on CV's and strengthens the likelyhood of your acceptance.

So those are my recommendations for improvements to your cv's, I'd love to hear about yours in the comments below!