How to write a CV

How to Write a Good CV - Introduction
The key thing to keep in mind is that a winning is not one that gets you the job:
it is the one that gets you the interview. It is rare that anyone gets recruited
just from the CV. You want to create a CV that gets a potential employer
interested enough to want to meet you in person. A personnel officer receives
an average of over 120 CVs for every job opening. You want your CV to stand
out from the crowd. And remember, you only have 10 seconds to capture the
person’s attention.
Here are some things to think about as you prepare your CV:

• Are you doing a targeted or general job search?
• What is your career objective?
• Do you know what your potential employer is looking for?
• Which makes your more marketable, your experience or your
  education?
• What kind of a visual image do you want your CV to portray?

How important is it to have a defined career objective?

If you don’t have a clear, defined, and specific career objective, you might as
well not even send in your CV. It’s not enough to say, ‘Seeking a middle
management position in a dynamic organisation’. Be more specific, and
describe your ideal job.

What is the key purpose of a CV?

Many people are under the mistaken impression that employers make
recruitment decisions based on the CV. They do not. Instead, thy go through
the pile and narrow it down to a manageable number that meet the basic job
criteria. They decide how many people they want to bring in for an interview.
Let’s say they want to interview five people, so they pick the top five CVs that
most closely match the job criteria. These people get invited in for the
interview and then have a chance to sell themselves face-to-face.

Is it true that my CV should be limited to one page?

This is the ‘One Page CV Myth’, and it is not true. It depends on the
organisation, on the industry, and the complexity of your qualifications. You
must grab the readers attention very quickly, but this can be done in a two-
page or three-page CV just as easily as in a one-page CV. The key is to have
an objective or a summary statement at the beginning of the CV that really
attracts the personnel officers’ interest.

Making It Happen

Even if you are not looking for a job, you should update your CV at least
annually, it not more often. It is usually a good idea to add any new
achievements or accomplishments to your CV as they occur. Otherwise they
are easy to forget. The steps that are described here are aimed at people who
are creating a CV for the first time, but they can also be useful in considering
how you might want to update and improve your current CV.

Decide on whether you are doing a targeted or a general career
search

Let’s say that you are currently working and that some one contacts you about
a specific job opening at another company. Or you learn about a promotional
opportunity within your current company. If that’s the case, you are doing a
targeted career search, and you will custom design your CV to fit that
particular job. On the other hand, if you have just graduated, or you are
unhappy in your current position, or recently laid off, then you are probably
planning to contact a large number of potential employers in many different
organisations, industries and locations. In this case, you are conducting a
general career search, and you will probably want between one and three CV
formats. For instance, if you have a background in both electronics and
photography, you might have one CV that highlights your photographic skills
for one set of employers and another CV that highlights your electronics skills
for another set of employers.

Select a CV type and length

Decide on the best type of CV for your particular background and career goals.
Also, decide on the length of your CV. Fast-moving industries such as
advertising and Internet/IT companies tend to respond more favorably to a
short and concise CV. More conservative and status-valuing organisations such
as financial companies and stable manufacturing industries tend to want to
know more details about your qualifications and won’t be as put off by a two or
three page CV. If you are unsure on the correct CV type and CV length you
require, we have provided several other CV documents and resources on this
site to help you.

Create your ‘Career Objective’ statement

Before you sit down to write your CV, you should have a very clear idea of the
kind of job you are looking for, and the kind of company you would like to work
for. Your name and contact information will go at the very top of your CV, and
your career objective is next major section. You can combine your career
objective as part of your cover letter if you wish, and concentrate your CV
towards general opportunities.  The career objective is the statement that may
make the difference between whether your CV goes into the ‘consider’ pile or
the ‘rejection’ pile. The amount of detail you provide in your objective will also
be based on whether you are doing a one, two or three page CV.

Your CV is not your life history and you only need to include the information
which is most relevant to the reader and positions you are using the CV for. If
you are looking for sales roles, the personnel officer is not going to care that
you worked in a supermarket 20 years ago or that you have 30 different
military related qualifications. You need to make your CV as relevant and
tailored to the specific role as possible.

The two major categories of information in the typical CV are (1) professional
experience and (2) education. Decide whether your work experience or your
education is the thing that make you most marketable. If you are just
graduating from university and have not had a lot of professional experience,
then you want to highlight your educational achievements first. If you have had
a reasonable amount of work experience, then that is what you want to
highlight first.
Other categories that might go in your CV can include a few of the following.
Only include a category if you feel it provided information that will give the
particular edge in the particular position you are seeking.

• Academic achievements
• Areas of study
• Professional achievements
• Continuing education
• Advanced training
• Professional affiliations
• Military experience
• Summary of skills and achievements
• Computer and IT skills  

Create specific action-orientated statements for each heading

Educational accomplishments are very straightforward and usually consist of
the degree you receive, the university and the date of completion. Reporting
on your professional experience is a much greater challenge. Statements on
your CV should begin with an action verb and, as much as possible, include
measurable results.

Put it all together

Use high quality paper and design the CV so that it easy to read and
professional looking. Make liberal use of white space; don’t make your CV
seem cluttered. Never try and be fancy trying to use elaborate fonts, colours
and pictures. The best CVs are the basics one. Remember that you are not
trying to win a design competition or impress an employer with your document
editing skills. The CV needs to flow, be simple to read and understand and
highlight all your relevant skills and accomplishments.

Common Mistakes

You send an old CV because it’s all you have
An opportunity comes up and you need to respond quickly, so you pull out an
old CV out of a file and send it. But it doesn’t really represent who you are now
and what you have achieved since. Update your CV on a regular basis so you
are never caught out by surprise. Always make sure your CV is perfect before
you start your job hunting.  

The CV is too ‘busy’ and hard to read
You think that the personnel officer wants as many details as possible, but they
are really looking to see if you have at least the basic qualifications, and they
want to find that information on your CV quickly. It’s hard to do that if you
include everything you have ever done, if you have long sentences, many
paragraphs, and a lack of white space. Its better to have a two page CV rather
than a crammed one page CV. Make your CV visually appealing with lots of
indentations, bullet points and double gaps (or lines) between sections.

You oversell
In an effort to get their attention, you make what might be interpreted as
boastful or arrogant claims of success in your CV. It is much better to let your
results and achievements speak for themselves.