A Curriculum Vitae (CV) is quite simply an advertisement to sell yourself to an employer. The main 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. Therefore, your CV must be as good as you can make it.
The terms 'Curriculum Vitae' and 'Resume' are generally interchangeable. But, they do differ in many ways. While both are lists of the most relevant information of a person seeking a job, there are a few basic differences. While the CV represents in-depth and structured information about the professional experience and qualification of a person, the resume usually is the same thing in a short form.
CV is the most accepted form for job applications all over the world. The resume, on the other hand, is the most accepted form for job applications in USA. The CV is used in USA exclusively for jobs in academics.
A CV should be well laid-out and printed on a good quality printer. You should use bold and/or underline print for headlines. Do not use lots of different fonts and sizes.
Before submitting your CV do not forget to spell-check/proof-read. This is important.
Also, make sure you include all the information about yourself that will help the recruiter to consider you as a potential candidate. Remember the principle: "If they did not hear it, you did not say it".
Picture yourself to be a busy manager in the employer's office who has to read through hundred of CVs in half an hour and select the best from them. Thus, your CV must be precise, easy to read and attractive.
After you have written your CV get someone else to look at it. What you have written may seem simple and obvious to you, but not to other person (and ultimately an employer). Go through it again and again and refine it to make it short, easy to read, attractive and error-free.
Preparing to write your CV
Sit down with a piece of paper. Look at the job 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 that interests you and information about the employer—their structure, products, successes, and approach from their own publicity, reports and publications, as well as newspapers and internet.
Information to include in your CV
Personal details: Name, home address, college address, phone number, email address. Do you have your own web homepage? Include it if it's good!).
Education: Give places of education where you have studied. Most recent education should be listed first. Include subject options taken in each year of your course. Include any special project, thesis, or work.
Pre-college courses should then be included, with grades. Subjects taken and passed just before college or during 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 also be included in your CV.
Interests: Employers will be particularly interested in activities where you have undertook leadership role or a responsibility, or which involved you in relating to others in a team. A hobby such as coin-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 this in 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 include the details.
Skills: Ability in other languages, computing experience, or possession of a driving licence should be included in your CV.
References: Usually give two names—one from your place of study, and one from any work place. Or, if this does not apply, then an older family friend who has known you for some time should be given as a reference. 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 and layout your CV with reasonable line-spacing and white spaces around. No harm if your CV takes two A4 sheets. Do not normally go longer than this. Put page numbers at the bottom of the pages—a little detail that may impress.
Style: There are two main styles of CV, with variations within them.
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. Do take advice on how to do it best.
Covering letter: When sending in a CV or job application form, you must include a covering letter. The purpose of the letter is:
To make sure that the CV arrives on the desk of the correct person. Take the trouble to telephone, and find the name of the person who will be dealing with applications or CVs, and address your letter, and envelope, to that person by name. (In a small company, it may be the managing director. In a medium size company, it may be the head of section/department. Only in a large company will there be a Personnel or Human Resource Department.)
Clearly say what job you are interested in. If you are sending in a 'speculative' CV hoping that they may have work for you, explain what sort of work you are interested in. Do not say, 'I would be interested in working for ABC Ltd', but say 'I believe my skills equip me to work in the product development department/accounts office/etc'.
Start your letter with an underline heading giving the job title you are interested in. (If you saw the job advertised, say where you saw it.)
Application forms
To apply for some jobs, the employer will send you an application form. You should still use a covering letter, and send your CV also unless told not to. Application forms need as much care to write as CVs.
Other points
Keep copies of all letters, applications forms, and CVs sent, and records of telephone calls and names of those you spoke to.
The main features of the CV, in brief, are:
- CV is a list of all your achievements until the date you are submitting it, presented in reverse chronological order (i.e. the latest achievements first).
- A CV is ideally two pages in length, though it can sometimes go up to three to five pages.
- CV should include everything that you have done and can be classified as work outside the home—whether paid or unpaid; hence, it is okay if the Curriculum Vitae contains voluntary and honorary positions and work done in such positions.
- The CV structure should be very systematic and is generally drawn in a specific order.
- A CV is normally accompanied by a cover letter, which summarizes what it contains and points out the match of the applicant with the job.
The Resume
- A resume is a precise and very brief document representing at-a-glance your key skills and main achievements.
- A resume should not be longer than one page, unless in rare exceptions.
- A resume would contain of only what is strictly relevant to the job applied and nothing else—it is more important to have all the information contained within one page.
- A resume should highlight your skills and achievements above all other things.
- A resume is usually presented without a cover letter because the main reason you are submitting the resume is fast processing; a cover letter would defeat the purpose.
A resume usually can be written in three very different styles - (i) Chronological resume—whereby your skills and main achievements are listed by date starting with the most recent ones first, (ii) Functional resume—whereby your skills and experience are more highlighted than anything else and (iii) a combination of both—whereby both skill and achievements are presented hand-in-hand.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Do not ever falsify information, or give any misleading information to an employer under any circumstances whatever. It's illegal, it's self destructive, and it's just plain stupid. Do not put yourself in a position where your statements can't be trusted. Only give verifiable information, and do not exaggerate. Quality of information is what really matters on any CV. Keep it real, at all times | |
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