10 Ways To Write A Winning Curriculum Vitae.
Many job advertisements ask for a CV to be attached to your application form. You can also take your CV with you to your job interview. Writing a winning CV can make all the difference between being put forward for an interview or not. Your CV will be one of many others and it should convince the employer that you are the right person for the job.
1. Sell Yourself.
If you want your CV to be a winning CV, ensure that it sells your skills. Blow your own trumpet throughout your CV in terms of your character, skills, experience and achievements. Showcase your skills in apt keywords.
2. Work Experience.
List your employment in reverse order, chronological order, starting with your most recent role first. Focus upon jobs held and experience gained during the past five/ten years and include the rest in a brief list form. For each of your detailed employment entries, you should begin the description by offering 10-20 words on what the company actually do.
3. Achievements.
These are evidences that you are the best person for the job – think about the achievements and experience that you have gained within each post and insert them in bullet-point form after the job description for each post.
Think carefully about these key points and write them in a punchy manner. If possible, use facts, figures and statistics to give a particular achievement more solid backbone.
4. Education.
On a winning CV, where you place information about your education depends on the amount of work experience that you have gained. A recent graduate’s CV, will go straight into education after the profile section, whereas a seasoned professional should list educational qualifications after their employment history, typically on the second page of their CV.
5. Contact Details And Address.
6. Spelling And Grammar.
Never overlook spelling and grammar. Just one mistake can put the reader off and consequently your otherwise dazzling CV could end up in the bin. No employer would be keen to employ someone who cannot be bothered to correct a few spelling and grammatical errors in a two or three-page document, because such lack of attention to detail does not speak well of the candidate.
7. Tailor Your CV To Suit The Job.
For all your CVs, be sure to adjust the profile, employment history and achievements to more relevantly reflect the specification of the job that you are applying for. If you want a winning CV, you must not use one CV for all.
8. References.
You can choose to list or not list any references on your CV. Your experience and suitability alone should decide whether you are called in for interview. However, if not listed, you must include a statement to let your potential employer know that references will be provided if required and take details of referees to your interviews.
9. Compact Resume’s Win Interviews.
When preparing a winning CV, remember the 3Ps, make your CV Professional, Punchy and Pertinent. Your CV must be informative and relevant. It must be punchy too to draw in the attention of the hiring manager. It is important that you highlight only relevant or important points. If your current CV is crammed with pages and pages of text, then edit it to a super succinct 2 page CV.
10. Hobbies And Interests.
You should insert this information near the end of your CV, as a small paragraph of text. Remember; keep it short, simple and positive. No one cares if you can drink five pints of beer within five minutes.
