123oye.com

Home

This is the section where we feature some of the articles and views sent in to us by our visitors. So go ahead and find out what they have to say!! If you want to contribute an article (share your views, experiences and thoughts) write in to us at info@123oye.com send us your Resume writing / cover letters articles. We promise to give you a chance to put your thoughts across to our visitors. Article Guidelines

Latest News | Jobs & Vacancies| Employers - Free Job Posting

WRITING AN IMPRESSIVE CURRICULUM VITAE (CV)

What is a CV?

A CV or Curriculum Vitae is a marketing tool. With your CV you will be able to promote yourself. Imagine the CV as being a brochure that will list the benefits of a particular service. Here the service being your time and skills!

When writing a CV, look at it from your employers’ point of view and ask yourself these questions: Would your CV help you to stand out against the other candidates? Is your CV efficient and attractive enough to prompt your prospective employer to call you for a Personal Interview and give you an opportunity to better express yourself and your suitability for the job? Remember CV will be your first contact with potential employers and will open the door. Employers see a lot of CVs, so it is wise to avoid imitating Standard CV Samples. You can score bonus points instead if your CV is just that little bit different and has your own personal stamp.

Your job description should just relay your responsibilities to the recruiter. So provide as much information as possible as concisely as possible. You could follow some of the given tips:
 Always print your CV on a standard A4, plain white or pale coloured paper. Use matching envelopes.
 Always send a brief customised letter with any CV that you send out.
 Presentation is extremely important, so make sure your CV is typed or word-processed.
 It should be well laid out and printed on a good quality printer.
 Leave plenty of space between paragraphs and allow adequate margins.
 Use plain English. Avoid professional jargon.
 Keep paragraphs short; preferably no longer than five or six lines.
 Your entire CV should not exceed two pages in length .However, if your breadth of experience merits it, you can justify a CV that runs to four pages.
 Use bold lettering and/or underline print for headings.
 Do not use lots of different font types and sizes. You are not designing a magazine cover!
 Use plenty of white space. Remember to leave a decent margin on all four sides of the page.
 Consider using 'bullets' to start sub-sections or lists.
 Use positive language and adopt a confident tone.
 Be careful with dates. Make sure every year is accounted for. Employers will get suspicious if they see too many gaps.

What are the major CV Styles?
There are five major CV styles as given below:
 Targeted CV
 Inventory CV
 Chronological CV
 Functional CV
 Combination CV

Each CV style mentioned above is suitable for different situations. More important than your CV format is the actual content of your CV and how it is presented. You only have a limited time to show your skills and capture the recruiter’s attention. A CV must have focus. When a recruiter reads your CV he should understand your career path. Always keep your objective in mind while writing your CV.

Targeted CV: This kind of CV is a way to focus your career towards a particular objective, within a specific industry or a specific company. A targeted CV is written in a way that highlights skills, qualifications and experience that match the requirements of the advertised position. Writing a targeted CV is effective when:
 You know the requirements of a particular position
 You know which company you will be sending your CV to
 You are sending your CV in reply to a specific job advert
 You need to compose different CVs each corresponding to a different career objective

Inventory CV: This kind of CV is a more general overview of your skills, achievements and qualifications. The Inventory CV is used when sending your CV to:
 More than one recruiter
 When you do not have a specific job objective
A general objective or career strategy behind an inventory CV helps in being slightly more specific towards your career goals. General career goals can be:
 a secretary working with a local company
 a computer programmer
 a sales person

Having a general career objective in mind can help you focus on those particular skills, abilities and experience required for the job. Your CV should show that you are competent by demonstrating your relevant previous experience and qualifications. If you are unemployed or desperate to switch jobs, the inventory CV is a good time saver. You can write a custom cover letter for each job you apply for and you can send the same CV to all recruiters. If you are interested in several careers write several inventory CVs each for a particular career goal.

Chronological CV: The chronological CV shows your career's progression and growth. The information moves from the beginning of your career to the present situation. The CV is easy to read and enables one to easily go through the career history. The chronological CV is advised where:
 You have a solid career history with continuation within the same area and where there are no major gaps.
 Your responsibilities have increased in each career change.
 You had high profile job roles.
 Your most recent jobs are the most important in your career history.
 The job advert specifies this kind of CV.

Functional CV: The functional CV emphasises your accomplishments, skills and qualifications at the beginning of your CV. The timeline is not an issue. Your career history is positioned at the end of your CV where you could also list small details about your previous jobs. The functional CV focuses on your skills and accomplishments rather than your life history. What you have done rather than when and where you did it.

Employers are not happy with such CVs as they are often an indication that a candidate is trying to hide a gap or defect in his career history. The functional CV is used in the following situations
 You are looking for your first job
 You do not want to advertise your age
 Your major achievements happened a few years ago
 You have been unemployed for a period of time

Combination CV: A combination of the chronological and functional formats, this type of CV starts with a description of your achievements, skills and abilities (functional) and shows the employer what you are made of. Following is a chronological listing of your career in chronological format. This CV format is welcomed by recruiters. You should consider using it when:
 You have a good, sound employment history.
 A chronological CV is required for the position you are applying for.
 You have a strong career history but want to immediately show you have the right skills for the job.

What are the major CV Headings?
You can have several heading in your CV to give your general information such as:

I. Personal Details: Your Personal Details may include:
 Name
 Surname
 Date of Birth
 Nationality
 Marital Status
 Local address
 E-mail address
 Phone number
II. CV Skills Summary: The Skills Summary section of your CV includes your main skills. You should only include keywords in his section, do not go into lengthy descriptions of your skills. The skill summary is also called personal profile. Employers are often interested in specific skills you have acquired, such as

 Foreign languages
 Computing languages or packages
 Keyboard skills
 Driving ability

Here, try to give specific details, for example, about your level of proficiency in foreign languages, degree of familiarity with computer packages, and so on.

III. CV Objective: The CV Objective, sometimes also referred to as CV Personal Profile states What is my next step in my career? This should be a short, concise statement that informs the employer what kind of position you are looking for. The type of position, the role (managerial, supervisor, contractor) should be included as well.
If you are job hunting it is a good idea to have several CV's with different profiles or objectives. For example, you can have one CV for a sales supervisor and the other for a shop floor manager.

IV. Education on your CV: List all your qualifications in this section. Include all of your education including certifications from non-academic institutions, especially those that are related to this job vacancy. If you have more work experience than qualifications, put your work experience before your qualifications.

V. Honors, Awards or Accomplishments: Academic and related awards are listed here. Relevant Courses which are directly related to the job vacancy you are applying for should be listed in this section. If your degree is not related to this job, highlight aspects of the course that are. List any projects you have worked on that are related to this job.

VI. Professional or Work Experience description on your CV :This section includes any work experience that you have in the field you are applying for. Even if the post was unpaid, voluntary, summer job, internship, co-op experience or extracurricular activity, you should appropriately mention it. Each job detail should include such basic information as :
 Title of position
 Time period you held the post for
 Job Responsibilities
 Name of organization.

VII. The Activities and Interest Section (Hobbies) in your CV: Any activities that you do in your free time can be related to your job. If you worked in the school in-house journal it shows initiative and your willingness to make sacrifices in order to further your career. Participating in student activities, professional associations or enthusiast clubs shows leader ship qualities. However, you may leave out any activities related to politics religion or controversial topics.

VIII. References: For references, choose people who can comment on different aspects of your professional personality. Two references are usually enough. Only give three if there is another person whose opinion you feel your potential employer really needs to hear.

Some General tips:
 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 photograph of yourself. Make sure it is a good one!
 You may vary the style according to the type of job. A big company would normally expect a formal CV on white paper. But a CV applying for a television production or graphics designer job could be less formal
 Don't include the date the CV was prepared as this will shorten its usefulness.
 Never state specific objectives. These are more effective when you include them in your covering letter.
 Check that both your CV and covering letter are completely free of errors. Spelling mistakes will definitely detract from your application. Proof read both documents thoroughly. It’s a good ides to get it proof read by a friend .
 Keep an ongoing file of your achievements, no matter how insignificant they may appear .Definitely one day they'll make the basis for a good CV.
 Remember to give each of the people you've mentioned a reference copy of your CV.
 Keywords are a powerful tool in your CV and should be used! Use keywords to summarize your experience. These will also help ensure that your CV comes up when employers search in their CV databases.
 Avoid lengthy and boring job descriptions; whenever possible, write your job description in bullet point form.
 Make sure potential employers will understand how they will benefit from employing you. The employers need to see your achievements and understand how you are able to implement these achievements in your company.
 Re-read your CV before any interview

Written By : Dr. Shalini Verma

Jobnet's Placement Consultants Directory - India & International
	Buy this Job Directory NOW Call

Writers Profile

 Dr. Shalini Verma
 

Freelance Column Writer & Corporate Trainer

www.successmantra.in

shaliniverma@successmantra.in