Education, Training, Qualifications...

Firstly, don’t panic if there isn’t much to write in this section. There is always an option to add training here and include any qualifications that are relevant. So optional headings could be Education and Training, Qualifications and Training, just choose the right option for you.

When it comes to what you include, use common sense. If you are an Operations Director and you have your GCSEs on your CV it is a waste of space. Always make sure everything on that CV is there to add value, we don’t want space fillers!

If you are a school leaver or have just graduated, GCSEs may be a lot more relevant and also if your work experience doesn’t showcase the skills you need and perhaps you are moving from manual work into an admin role, you may want to indicate you have GCSE Maths and English for example.

Plus of course if the job description requires you to include GCSEs and/or A Levels then please do, but if you have more recent and more relevant qualifications like an apprenticeship, a degree or professional training then don’t put on school qualifications.

In some cases there may be no official qualifications to speak of, so just don’t include the education section.

Structure

Structure wise, let’s give you an example, for a degree put the University name, the qualification, then the date (if you want to - this isn't necessary). The qualification or name of the training should be in bold. The grade isn’t necessary unless it was a first and you want to shout about it because it is relevant to your current career, and no info on the specifics of the course is needed.

Training can have its own section if you have done a significant amount, as then it will look better separated from qualifications, use some judgement here. Remember we always want the CV to look as readable and uncluttered as possible.

The example shown below has a lot of training and education but please remember you don't HAVE to include dates or where the course was if you don't think it is highly relevant, especially for internal courses. Lining things up is really essential for readability though.