OMs Callum Stewart and Sarah Woods share top tips on how to create a CV that stands out

On Thursday 18 June, the OM Society hosted its first virtual event. The webinar was based on how to make a CV stand out - mainly aimed at the Class of 2020 and OMs under the age of 30. Under normal circumstances, lots of students and OMs would be expanding their CVs, whether it be by volunteering or obtaining work experience, but due to Covid-19 everything has been put on hold. The OM Society decided to host the webinar to highlight ways in which people can use this time effectively, to still gain invaluable experience and add to their CVs.

OMs Sarah Woods (1996-2006; MPS/2006-11; The Lakes) and Callum Stewart (2006-08; Bullock) were our guest speakers for the evening and both shared some fantastic top tips.

Callum is the Lead Development Officer and Adjunct Instructor for the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University. During his time at Millfield, Callum was a Senior Prefect, Head of House, and Men's 1st XI Football Captain. He later received his Bachelors of Arts Degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of the West of England-UWE Bristol, and earned a Master of Arts Degree in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Sarah joined Millfield when she was three years old and went right the way through, leaving when she was 18. She is the Regional Manager for the South East at The Wave Project, the UK’s Surf Therapy charity. Sarah has oversight of four regional projects, as well as policy, safeguarding and development. She joined the Wave Project after three years in the Development Department of the National Theatre, and two working in educational fundraising at Jesus College, Cambridge. It was here that she studied for her BA in English from 2011 to 2014.

Callum explained during one of his tips that: “Most of us who attended Millfield are high achievers, that’s why we were at Millfield. Put down your achievements, tell your story, be proud. You don’t need to put 20 of them, what we want to see is current day examples and how they apply to the job you’re applying for”.

One of Sarah’s key insights was: “It is absolutely fine to be figuring everything out, to chop and change, to try new things out and make different decisions, but one of the essentials whilst building a CV, especially when you are just starting out, is to be able to frame everything you pick up along your journey in a way that you can then use for yourself going forward”.

The webinar concluded with some incredibly interesting questions; attendees asked about layout of CVs, what to avoid, what to highlight and how to best use the OM Society at this time.

You can watch a recording of the webinar here: https://bit.ly/2Z1GJTi