Before starting out your job search you need to identify your areas of interest. It is very likely that you will want to pursue more than one career path but to be successful you need to focus. You can try your luck and explore other opportunities but a broad job search and CV is less likely to succeed. A school leaver or new graduate has the advantage since employers simply want to see potential rather than on the job skills. On the flip side skilled, experience workers can hit the ground running.

Your next step is to research your target companies and the career path you've decided on. Read up on the industry using journals, papers, archives, reports, and websites. Take a look at some of the latest industry trends - you want to be sure your career path has a future.

There are a number of ways of finding vacant positions but before you do make sure you write a CV. A CV is a sales document about you and its purpose is to get you invited to an interview.

You have a number of choices on how to write a CV each one with its own drawbacks and advantages. You can use the CV services of a writer, these are professional CV creators who will make a CV just for you. They take all your information - profile, objectives, career history, skills, references, hobbies, or simply your old CV and put them in either a ready made template or individually crafted CV designs. They are normally very expensive and it's a one off service - any changes after the initial acceptance period will be charged for.

The cheaper option is to write the CV yourself there are hundreds of example CVs on the web and the only hurdle is the CV design and format. Since a CV is about you, you know everything that needs to go into it - you'll need to spend some time on the wording but getting the format right is the most difficult part. This is where most people get stuck. Using Microsoft Word can be quite daunting for someone who knows little about computers. This is where automated CV builders come in. They fill in the gap between those who don't want to waste time using Word and need a proven, professionally formatted CV quickly. There are plenty of them on the web but you really need to look for ones that give you added benefits like an optional review service, unlimited access, unlimited changes, online CV designs, optional web CV and an easy to use interface. Your CV is an important step in getting an interview and is one of the first impressions prospective employers get of you.