How to Include Additional Information on Your CV

Types of additional information to include

The additional information you’ll want to include on your CV will depend heavily on your work experience, and whether there are any gaps in your skills from working that additional information could fill. Firstly, review the job description and compare it to your work experience to see how it matches up. If there are any necessary skills or experience listed by the employer that you’re lacking, but which you could prove by listing additional information, then you’ll start to gain an understanding of the necessary additional content for your CV.

Take a look below for some of the key details you could include in your CV’s additional information section:

Licences and certifications

Licences and certifications can supplement your main qualifications and show a dedication to self-development and career progression. If you have any licences or professional memberships that are necessary for the role you’re applying for, you could either add them to the personal info on your CV, or to the additional information section. These might include driving or first-aid certificates, criminal records checks (DBS) or licences to operate specialist machinery. They could also include memberships to professional registers such as the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority, the General Medical Council, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, or similar organisations.

In addition to professional licences and memberships, you could include any certifications or training you’ve completed that are relevant to the role. These could include official certifications from relevant industry bodies or online training and certifications you’ve completed under your own initiative, such as IT skills certifications, customer service training or health and safety training. Just make sure the certification is relevant to the job description, and if it comes from a recognised professional body, such as the Project Management Institute, this is all the better.

Achievements and Awards

Listing your achievements and awards can be a great way to show the impact you’ve made in your career to date. While you’ll want to highlight achievements in your work experience section, a dedicated section for achievements can help the reader to quickly and easily assess the value you’ve added in previous roles. Make sure you quantify your achievements with data and evidence that shows the positive impact you made.

Listing any awards and other recognition you’ve received is another valuable addition to any CV. Awards show that you’ve stood out from your peers and performed to a high standard, which should encourage employers that you’re capable of replicating that standard of work in the future. Consider including any personal awards you’ve won, whether during your studies, or in employment. You may also wish to include team or organisational awards that you’ve contributed to, such as industry awards.

Relevant Hobbies and Interests

Your hobbies and interests are an ideal way to showcase relevant transferable skills and experience that you’ve been unable to demonstrate through your work history. If you’re a junior candidate with relatively little work experience, you might consider adding your hobbies and interests if they’ve helped you to develop skills you can transfer to the workplace.

Including your hobbies and interests can also add colour to your CV, showcase your personality and help to differentiate you from other candidates. Mention hobbies and interests that make you different from the average person, rather than everyday activities that many people take part in. Also, be sure to always relate your hobbies and interests back to the job description, to help demonstrate your suitability for the role.

"The key to creating an impactful additional information section on your CV is to present the information clearly and concisely, and focus on showcasing your relevant skills and experience."

Best Practices for Including Additional Information

The key to creating an impactful additional information section on your CV is to present the information clearly and concisely, and focus on showcasing your relevant skills and experience. Read on to make sure your CV does both those things.

Creating a Clear and Concise Additional Information Section

Every part of your CV should be clear and concise, and your additional information section is no different. The work experience section tends to be the most detailed part of any CV, so when you include an additional information section, make sure it’s brief and adds as much value as possible for the space it takes up.

Choose a clear, descriptive heading such as ‘Additional Information’ or ‘Relevant Skills and Experience’ and then add subheadings to separate each subsection, such as ‘Certifications’, ‘Awards’ and ‘Hobbies and Interests’. For the information in each section, use bullet points and focus on minimising your word count as much as possible, using strong verbs that showcase the impact of your skills and experience, and the value they might offer to employers.

Showcasing Relevant Skills and Experience

An effective additional information section will be targeted specifically for each job you’re applying for. Review the job description and identify any gaps skills, achievements and experience the employer requires. This will give you an idea of what to include in your additional information. Don’t include more additional information than what is required to prove the essential and desirable skills listed in the job description.

Avoid adding information that doesn’t contribute towards showing the hiring manager that you’re right for the job. This will bloat your CV and reduce the impact of the document overall. Write your additional information section in plain, easy-to-understand language and avoid using industry jargon, clichés or business-speak. These things tend to just make your CV less easy to read.

Examples of Effective Additional Information

The content and tone of your additional information section is likely to differ depending on your career stage and seniority. For experienced candidates, additional information usually relates to details that help set you apart from the pack and mark you out as an outstanding candidate. By contrast, for junior candidates, the section is more useful for proving the basic skills and experience required for the role.

Here are some examples of effective CV additional information sections for both experienced candidates and junior candidates with no, or little, relevant work experience:

Experienced Candidate

An experienced candidate may include career accolades and recognition in their additional information section, to show their status and mastery in their field of work. As CVs for experienced candidates can be slightly longer than for junior roles, candidates can go into greater detail in this section. Take a look at the following example of what to include in a senior candidate’s additional information section:

Junior Candidate with No Experience

For junior candidates, the CV additional information section is more of a vehicle for proving to employers that you have the necessary skills and experience for the role. As such, it fills in gaps that aren’t covered elsewhere in your CV and is generally shorter than it would be for a senior candidate.

Here is an example additional information section for a junior candidate:

Key Takeaways for Additional Information on Your CV

Whether you’re an experienced candidate or a recent graduate applying for entry-level roles, your CV’s additional information section can help you to stand out and showcase relevant skills and experience. Make sure every detail you include is relevant to the job description, and make sure your additional information section is concise and clearly formatted. CVwizard’s CV templates can help you to create a professional CV that makes a strong impression with employers. Sign up today and find CV examples and simple tools to make all the difference with your applications.