Effective CV Writing Tips

A CV or curriculum vitae is essentially a marketing tool used by job
seekers to promote themselves in the job market. This is the first
thing that employers/ recruiters view and on the basis of how
compelling the CV document is, an interview is arranged. Even though
it is regarded as an important document, most employers do not spend
more than 30 seconds on one CV. This means that it must be prepared
with caution to grab the attention of the reader in that limited time.
Most CVs have, on average, ten major mistakes that makes the employer/
recruiter trash it. Find below, answers to commonly asked questions
and CV writing tips that will help make your CV stand out.

What is the difference between a CV and a resume?
A resume is a shorter document usually a page or two entailing a
summary of your skills, experience and education. A Curriculum Vitae
or CV is generally longer covering two or more pages and contain
details of your educational and work experience, publications, honors,
awards and other details.

How many pages should a CV be?
There is no hard and fast rule for the length of the CV. It depends on
the amount of work experience the applicant has had. For a graduate
level, it should not be more than a page or two. For an executive with
wider experience, the length can be much longer. A good CV should
ideally be of two to three pages.

Chronological or Functional?
Chronological format is more common, easy to read and gives a detailed
summary of your experiences chronologically. It is used to represent
your career growth. Functional CV, not as popular, may be used when
placing emphasis on your specific skills pertaining to a particular
industry.

The Career Objective Statement
A career objective statement is your five second marketing
advertisement. In about 2 to 3 clear and precise sentences explain
your skill set and qualifications along with what exactly you are
looking for in your next job. While writing a career objective
statement, avoid
• Using “I” and “my” too frequently
• Being vague about anything
• Making grammatical and spelling mistakes
• Promising more than you can deliver

Tips for effective CV writing

Keep it clear and precise
Provide all necessary details related to your skills and expertise.
Review the job description of the position applied for and include
relevant information that the employer will be interested in.
Present it attractively

If presenting a hard copy, make sure that it is printed on a clean,
crisp paper and the layout is well planned. The font and the bullet
points should not be too large or too small.
Highlight your achievements

The employer is not interested in knowing what your job
responsibilities were but rather would like to know about your
achievements on the job, e.g. “boosted the company’s sales by 15% in
the past year” will be a more valuable statement as compared to “was
responsible for the Sales team”.
Explain Gaps in your work history

If you have been traveling, or been suffering from a disease or have
been unemployed for a reason, include that explanation.

Avoid Grammatical and Spelling Mistakes
Run a spelling and grammar check and reread it several times to ensure
it has no mistakes.
Be truthful
Bragging or lying could get you in to trouble to be as accurate and
truthful as possible.

What should the CV include?
• Personal Details – name, nationality, marital status
• Contact Information – address, phone number, email address
• Educational Background – most recent should be included
• Work Experience – begin with the most recent
• Key skills/ areas of expertise
• Honors, awards and other achievements

What should NOT be included in the CV?
Unnecessary personal details
Information on age, nationality and marital status is usually required
by the employers. Other details such as health, weight or religion
should be avoided.
Detailed accounts of your educational background
Employers are generally not interested in extensive details of your
educational background. Include only the recent achievements with
details relevant to the job applied for.

Salary Details
Leave all discussions on salary for the interview stage where the
negotiations will take place.
Reasons for leaving the previous job
This might leave a negative impression on the employer.

Jargon
Avoid using industry-specific words and difficult terminology as the
person scanning your CV might not be familiar with such terms.

Hobbies
There is no need to include those hobbies that are not relevant to the
job applied for