Need help with your cv or just want some interview tips? Our help and advice centre has up to-date career help. CV Help? WRITING A CV RESUME If you are looking for a job, then it is very important that you understand how to offer yourself in the best way to an employer. This is done by writing a 'CV' - curriculum vitae - Latin for 'life story', called in some countries a 'resume'. WHAT IS A CV RESUME FOR? A CV resume is quite simply an "advert" to sell yourself to an employer. You should send a CV to an employer when they ask for one in a job advert, or when you are enquiring if any jobs are available. So the purpose of your CV is to make you attractive, interesting, worth considering to the company and so receive a job interview. An employer may have several hundred enquiries about a single job. He or she will only choose a few people who appear suitable for interview. Therefore, your CV must be as good as you can make it. GENERAL ADVICE If you are a student, there is probably a career advice office in your place of study. They are there to help. They may have fact-sheets of advice on how to prepare a CV. Make full use of them. However, employers do not want to see CVs that are all written in exactly the same way. Therefore, do not just copy standard CV samples! Your CV should be your own, personal and a little bit different. A CV should be constructed on a word-processor (or at least typed), well laid out and printed on a good quality printer. Do use bold and/or underline print for headings. Do not use lots of different font types and sizes. You are not designing a magazine cover! Do use plenty of white space and a good border round the page. Do use the spell-check on your computer or check that the spelling is correct in some way. Consider using "bullets" to start sub-sections or lists. Because you are using a computer or word-processor, you can easily "customise" your CV if necessary, changing the layout and the way you write your CV for different employers. Picture yourself to be a busy manager in the employer's office. He or she may have to read through 100's CVs in half an hour, and will have two piles - "possibles" and "waste-bin". WHAT TO INCLUDE Personal details Name, home address, college address, phone number, email address, date of birth. 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. 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. References Usually give two names - one from your place of study, and one from any work situation you have had. If this does not apply then use an older family friend who has known you for some time. Make sure that referees are willing to give you a reference. Give their day and evening phone numbers if possible. Length Maybe all you need to say will fit onto one sheet of A4. But do not crowd it - you will probably need two to three sheets. Do not normally go longer than this. Put page numbers at the bottom of the ages - a little detail that may impress. Style There are two main styles of CV, with variations within them - Chronological and Skills based. Chronological Information is included under general headings - education, work experience, etc. With the most recent events first. Skills based You think through the necessary skills needed for the job you are applying for. Then you list all your personal details under these skill headings. This is called 'targeting your CV', and is becoming more common, at least in UK.
But it is harder to do. So take advice on whether it is OK in your country and culture, and how to do it best.
Optional extras 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.
You could add a photo of yourself - either scanned in by computer, or stuck on. But make sure it is a good one. Get a friend (or a working photographer) to take a good portrait. The pictures that come out from automatic photo-machines usually make you look ill, like a prisoner or a little "devil" or all of them! |
