A curriculum vitae or CV for short is a document used to apply for a job. It allows you to state your education, skill, previous job experience, which enables you to successfully represent yourself to potential employers. A standard CV should not be longer than two sides of an A4 paper. To make sure that it runs across the recommended two pages, your main points should be your education and experience. In this article, you will be able to learn what things should you include in your CV, as well as some tips on the format of it. Let’s take a look:
What to Include in a CV
- Contact Details – you should include your full name, address, mobile number, and your email address. You do not need to include a photograph or date of birth unless you are applying for a modeling or acting job.
- Profile – a profile should be at the beginning of the CV and it should concise a statement that will highlight your key skills and attributes or the reasons for deciding to work in the particular field you are applying to. You should choose a few skills and achievements while articulating them in your career goals.
- Education – state and date your previous education, including any professional qualifications that you might have, placing the most recent ones first. Where relevant, you should also include individual modules.
- Work Experience – the work experience should be listed in reverse chronological order. Also, you should ensure that anything you mention is relevant to the position you are applying for. If you have a lot of relevant work experience, this section should be listed before the education part.
- Achievements and Skills – this is where you write about the languages you speak, as well as your IT level. Whatever you choose to write, you should not over-exaggerate since you will need to back up your claims during the interview. According to the experts from GekonntBewerben, if you have a lot of skills that are relevant to the job, you should do a skills-based CV.
- Interests – simply writing “reading books” or “socializing” will not attract the attention of the employer. However, if relevant to the job, your interests should provide a picture of who you are since it will give you something to talk about during the interview. You can include things like writing your own blog, or being a part of a book club.
- References – you do not need to provide the names of references. You should also not write “references available if requested” since most recruiters will assume this is the case.
CV Format
You should avoid fonts like Comic Sans, instead choose something more professional, easy to read, and clear – such as Times New Roman or Arial. Also, the font size should be 10 to 12 in size, but nothing smaller than that. Also, section headings are perfect for breaking up your CV. List everything in reverse chronological order so that the employer can see you most recent achievements first.
How To Write a Good CV
You should use active verbs wherever it is possible. There should abstemiously be no grammar or spelling mistakes. You can use spell checkers to check if the CV is well-written. You should also avoid using over-used phrases like “hardworking” or “team player”, instead you should use real-life examples that will demonstrate your skills. Also, take a look at the company’s website in order to ensure that your CV is targeted to the role and employer. Keep in mind that your email address should look and sound professional.
Conclusion
The tips from this article will help you write the best CV and it might be just the thing you need to land the job you wanted.
