I recently did a CV tips session at Reading University, and as a result have been reviewing around 20 CVs from the perspective of a future employer. Here are my top 10 CV tips:

1. Tell stories. Most graduate jobs don't actually need a CV plus cover letter any more – they use online application forms, so the CV is a template from which you will pick out, paste and adapt the relevant details. Notice that most application forms ask questions, inviting you to tell a story; for example, to show how you reacted, dealt with a difficult situation or explain what you learned – so present some of your experiences as mini-stories about your role in a situation.

2. Put the most relevant section first. For a graduate job, your university academic details are more important than your work experience, except if you have a lot of full-time work under your belt (maybe a year or more) – see my previous post about experienced candidates.

3. Local currency for degrees and exam results. If you are applying for a job with an employer in a country other than where you have studied, then include the local equivalent of that result – much easier for the recruiter.

4. Your choices give me some clues about your motivation. I want to see some evidence of the decisions that you have made: which electives? What is the title of your dissertation? And are these consistent with the type of job that you are applying for?

5. Academic details for an academic job please. If you have completed any university exams yet, then a legal employer is going to want to see those to see that you are on track for a good degree result – include the details, especially if in any exams you have attained a very high mark. In the UK a first would really stand out, even in a first-year exam.

6. Positive words in your work experience section. Whatever your work experience happens to be, then include positive words about your role: avoid "observed", "attended", or worse "was encouraged".

7. Skills. Organise your description of work experience and activities around skills that are relevant to the job; this shows the employer that you know what skills a lawyer needs – not always obvious to all candidates.

8. Show me that you finish things off. Another useful thought to have in mind with respect to work experience and interests is to demonstrate output and completion – i.e. that you can organise and deliver something, even against the resistance of others.

9. Leave it off. In my opinion, there is no place on a CV for: typos, bad grammar, date of birth, politics, full clean driving licence, photo, referees or home address – although not everyone agrees with me on these, particularly that last one.

10. Non-obvious relevant IT skills. I assume that all law students can use Microsoft Office and legal research packages, but I'm more interested in, for example, document management skills (see above about demonstrating that you understand the skills that a lawyer needs). I'd even include relevant use of social media, if for example you think that it helped you organise an event or a group.

Toby Hornett is an in-house lawyer, formerly at Clifford Chance. Click here to follow Toby on Twitter and click here to visit his blog, legaljobtips.