Most CVs are set aside in seconds, and usually not because the person is unqualified. It is because the reader cannot see quickly enough what they can actually do.
Keep it to one page. Name, phone number, email and area at the top. Two lines saying who you are and what work you are looking for. Then your skills, then your experience with the most recent first, then education and short courses.
Describe experience in results rather than duties. Served customers says very little. Served around sixty customers a day and handled the daily cash without a shortfall says you can be trusted with responsibility. Numbers, however small, make a claim believable.
Unpaid work counts. Helping in a family business, volunteering, running a youth or church group, coaching a team: all of it shows reliability, timekeeping and teamwork, which is what most employers are screening for at this stage.
Then check the small things that quietly cost interviews. Use a plain professional email address, leave out a photo unless it is requested, confirm your phone number is correct, and save the file as a PDF with your own name in the filename. Read it out loud once, or better, ask someone else to.
Our team reviews CVs and runs mock interviews with young people every month. Bring what you have, even if it is only half a page, and we will work on it with you.
