Definition of a CV
A marketing tool designed to convey your qualifications to a prospective employer.
It advertises YOU for the position in which you are applying for.
What to include in your CV
- Contact Details
- Career Objective
- Summary or Highlights of Qualifications
- Education
- Work History
- Professional Memberships
- Relevant Volunteer Experience Activities / Interests
Contact Detail
Ensure that it is current and provide several options for contacting you (home phone number, mobile phone number and email).
Career Objective
This statement should be employer centered versus self-centered. It communicates what you want to do for the employer, as opposed to what you want from them.
Summary of Qualifications
This section should immediately follow the Career Objective. It summarises the essence of your qualifications in 3-5 bulleted items. It attempts to draw the reader’s attention to your key qualifications, so please remember to put the most important points first.
Education
Put the most recent first. Be clear about whether a degree (or other qualification) is complete or incomplete. If incomplete, state “Completed 1 year towards MBA in Business Administration”. If you are in the process of obtaining education you can state, “Grant MacEwan College - Currently enrolled in Human Resource Management Diploma Program”. You can then go on to list the courses that you have successfully completed.
Work History
Begin with your most recent work history. Use action verbs and action statements to describe your experience “Developed, maintained and distributed numerous tracking reports to various management levels within the organization”.
- Established…
- Designed…
- Maintained…
- Trained…
- Ensured…
- Coordinated…
- Prepared…
The key word should appear at the beginning of each line. You can rearrange statements to emphasise different skill sets.
For example –
Administrative Assistant
' Performed general office duties (filing, faxing, photocopying)
' Maintained access database
' Prepared letters and memos for senior management
' Ensured minutes were correctly recorded during board meetings
' Facilitated workshops
Help the reader organise their thoughts through the use of formatting tools such as bullets, spacing and:
' Boldfacing (to highlight skill areas)
' Underscoring (Job Title)
' CAPITALISING (Work Places)
Professional Memberships
- List all relevant professional memberships
- Volunteer Experience
- Including this experience may reveal other skills and experience you have.
Activities / Interests
This shows an employer how well rounded you are as a person. This information can also act as an icebreaker during the interview.
Covering Letters
Cover letters position your interest and qualifications in relation to the employer’s needs, as well as indicate what action will be taken next.
Should be one page in length.
Always address your cover letter to a specific person instead of “To whom it may concern” or “Attention Human Resource Department”.
Finish off by stating what action you will be taking next: “I will be available for interviewing this week.”
Cover letter should mention your interest in the position and highlight your major strengths in relation to the position.
Should be polite, professional, personable, and to the point.
Can be more creative than a resume.
Allows you to communicate your personality, energy, style and enthusiasm.
CV Length
As long as it needs to be to capture you and your experience. Remember, a prospective employer is scanning your CV; the longer it is, the more likely that they will lose interest.
Key Points to Remember
Your CV is scanned and not read, so you only have about 30 seconds to make an impression on a potential employer.
The appearance of your CV is the first thing that the employer notices.
Don’t make your resume confusing; employers may get annoyed.
Make the information in your CV concise and easy to grasp.
Make sure that your career objective and summary of qualifications match the position that you are applying for.
Ask yourself “So What?” about the information you have provided to make certain that it is clear and relevant.
Make sure that large gaps in time are identified.
For example -
“Between May 1995 – June 1996 I traveled extensively through western Europe and Asia”.
Do:
+ Be prepared to explain gaps in your work experience.
+ Pay close attention to spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
+ Include month and year in your employment history.
+ Manage the length of your CV.
+ First impressions matter. Make you CV visually appealing and easy to read.
+ Have your CV critiqued by others.
+ Submit a clean and original copy, or high quality photocopy on white or ivory colored paper.
+ Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Is it easy to follow and understand?
+ Describe your experience with statements that begin with action verbs.
+ Submit your CV in the fashion that it is requested and not in what is more convenient to you.
+ This is also a first impression.
Don’t:
- Misrepresent yourself by over-inflating you education or experience.
- Leave out dates of employment.
- Submit a CV that contains only skill statements. Employers want to see work history.
- Send photographs.
- Submit a CV which contains a career objective that does not match the job that you are applying for.
- Submit a poorly photocopied, outdated CV.
- Bind your CV with special materials; a staple does the trick.
- Use colored paper or gimmicks.
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