Most important will be your CV! It’s also a good idea to have the below items/documents and information ready before applying for a job:
• A cell phone so that companies can contact you, ideally this should be a smart phone so you can receive email and what’s app
• An email address (or someone’s email address that you can access daily)
• Copies of any certificates
• Photo of you
• Cover ‘letter’ I prefer to call it a ‘Cover Paragraph as this can be as part of your cv’
• Reference letters (Note: these are not certificates of service but reference letters from employers)
• Food portfolio if applying for a Chefs position
• It would also be beneficial to have what’s app and zoom as many employers will want to do interviews via one of these means and they all have different preferences as to which one

There is no set rule for this & different recruiters may give different advice but for us its ideally 2 pages but no more than 3 (this doesn’t include certificates or reference letters) 1 page is also ok but only if you have minimal experience and can add everything you need to onto just 1 page.

What information should my CV have on it and in what order?

• Personal information

: Full name and name you prefer to go by
: Photo of you
: Brief cover letter/paragraph
: ID number or passport number
: Nationality, if you aren’t South African, state your visa status
: Languages
: Marital status and dependents – Put single if you are not married but if you are in a long-term relationship you can put the words ‘In a committed relationship’
: License – only put this if you do have a license and state what code (if you have a PDP this must be stated here) If you have your own vehicle you can also put ‘own transport’
: Address – Postal not required only closest town and Province
: Contact number, email and LinkedIn profile link (if you have one)

• Education:

: School attended, and grade passed and what year you passed NO NEED TO PUT SUBJECTS

: Information on Higher education and courses attended – include the institution as well as the course subject and year completed

• Work Experience:

: This should go in order with your CURRENT OR MOST RECENT EMPLOYER FIRST – VERY IMPORTANT

: It must state your employer/company name, your position at the company, your start to end date or state ‘current’ if you are still currently employed – No need to list exact duties, however you can for your last 2 places of employment if relevant to the job you are applying for, keep the duties brief, short and dont copy and paste them from one job to another.

: Reason for leaving – keep it brief & only list this if you were employed for a year or less, unless it clearly states that this was a contract

: Next company same as above

: Keep adding employment information until the last one is your first job

• Achievements:

: List any achievements that are relevant such as you obtained 100% in an exam, you were rewarded an achievement award at school or higher education, you were made employee of the month at a company, you contributed in some way to the company that you feel is a huge achievement

: keep achievements brief, to the point and relevant

• References:

: List your contactable references in order of your most recent employer, IF your current employer should not be contacted DO NOT put their details here. NEVER list a reference without checking with them first.

: Give the person’s name, position in the company, phone number and email address

: References can only be made by Owners/managers or HOD’s not friends, colleagues or family members

• Do not put a fancy border on your CV or a background this is distracting
• No different colours, again this is distracting and can come across as a bit unprofessional
• The font must be all the same and a font that can be read easily like the following font’s available on WORD: Calibri, Bell MT, Arial, Times New Roman. Use a size of around 12.
• No random clip-art photo stuck on the CV
• Do keep it short and to the point
• If you left a place of employment due to a negative reason such as : you didn’t get on with a colleague do not put this on your CV as even if it was the colleague who was the problem it may not come across like this on paper and it is better to explain this to an employer in person if the information is required
• Do make sure your CV is up to date
• Do make sure your CV is truthful and put on all places of employment are listed even if they were contract roles or you weren’t at the place for long