CV Writing Tips
Your CV is a very important document; with it rest your hopes and dreams for the future – that next step up the career ladder, a better position, more money, new challenges, etc. Your CV therefore has to represent the best you have to offer if you do not want to miss out on that job you saw which was ‘perfect’ for you. The word Curriculum Vitae literally translated means the ‘story of your life.’
Even when it comes to salary negotiations a well written CV can help. If your CV conveys your full worth you are likely to get a higher salary offer than you might have done with a poorer CV.
Of course your CV can continue to work in your favour even after it has obtained an interview for you. It can help you at an interview by carefully focusing the interviewer’s mind on your good points and on your achievements. Once you have left the interview it will continue to work in your favour as the interviewer will probably reread it before making a decision, either on who should be invited to the second interview stage or who the job should be offered to.
When preparing and writing your CV make sure you give yourself plenty of time, a rushed CV will stand out as being sketchy, and gaps or inconsistencies will work against your application.
Before you start
Sit down with a piece of paper. Look at the job(s) that you are applying for. Consider how your skills, education, and experience compare with the skills that the job requires. How much information do you have about the job description?
Sometimes employers do not give enough information. Ask for more detail if needed. Spend time researching detail about the job(s) that interest you and information about the employer – their structure, products, successes, and approach – from:
- Their own publicity, reports and publications
- A library (business reports, trade papers)
- College career office
- Newspaper reports
- The Internet
Picture yourself to be a busy manager in the employer’s office. He (or she) may have to read through 100 CVs in half an hour, and will have two piles – ‘possibles’ and ‘waste-bin’.
WHAT TO INCLUDE
Personal details
Name, home address, phone numbers, email address.
Education
Give places of education where you have studied – most recent education first. Include subject options taken in each year of your course. Include any special project, thesis, or dissertation work.
Pre-college courses (high school, etc.) should then be included, including grades. Subjects taken and passed just before college will be of most interest. Earlier courses, taken at say age 15-16, may not need much detail.
Work experience
List your most recent experience first. Give the name of your employer, job title, and very important, what you actually did and achieved in that job. Part-time work should be included. – don’t labour too much on what the companies do as a business the interviewer will probably already know of them, they are interested in knowing what you did for the company. Give reasons why you left each employment.
Interests
They will be particularly interested in activities where you have leadership or responsibility, or which involve you in relating to others in a team. A one-person interest, such as stamp-collecting, may be of less interest to them, unless it connects with the work you wish to do. Give only enough detail to explain. (If you were captain of a sports team, they do not want to know the exact date you started, how many games you played, and how many wins you had! They will ask at the interview, if they are interested.) If you have published any articles, jointly or by yourself, give details.
If you have been involved in any type of volunteer work, do give details.
Skills
Ability in other languages, computing experience, or possession of a driving licence should be included.
Associations / Memberships
Include details of all professional memberships and Chartership status. If you are working towards professional membership explain what stage you are at.
References
Usually give two names – their position, company and contact details
Length
Normally 2 sheets of A4 should suffice. However on occasion there may be need to go longer than this but certainly never more than 4 pages as this will not be appreciated by a busy employer.
Put page numbers at the bottom of the pages – a little detail that may impress.
Optional extra
It can be good to start with a Personal Profile/Objective statement. This is a two or three sentence overview of your skills, qualities, hopes, and plans. It should encourage the employer to read the rest.
Presentation
You may vary the style according to the type of job, and what is accepted in your country and culture. So a big company would normally expect a formal CV on white paper. Consider using a two column table to list your educational qualifications and courses taken.
Don’t be afraid to use bold and/or underline print for headings. However less is more, do not be tempted to use lots of different font types and sizes. You are not designing a magazine cover! Remember to ALWAYS use the spell-check on your computer! Consider using ‘bullets’ to start sub-sections or lists.
