My guidance to a good CV

Main Menu

Who's Online

Marketing brochure usually known as a Curriculum Vitae (The most valuable document of the job hunt) is a document that allows an individual to sell the available skills to a potential buyer. A potential buyer is usually the prospective employer.

CV is basically used is to obtain an interview call.

A CV should just not be a document that holds fancy language and pretty fonts.

While the rules listed are well-founded, they are not carved in stone. At times the rules need to be broken. If these things are needed to be added knowingly and purposefully to the CV, then it is advisable that it should be done.

A CV should flow as:

The CV should be formal, official document. Hence it be as simple as possible. Colorful or glossy paper and flashy fonts should be avoided.

A CV should not hold a heading such as CV, Curriculum Vitae and Resume at the top of the page.

Do not add a photograph to the CV until it is used for a specific position. Photographs are usually required for positions such as models, actors and so on.

Do not use words such as 'I', 'My', 'He', 'She'.

Instead of using sentences such as:

I worked as Project Manager for XYZ Company

He was awarded Best Manager for the year 2008

Use bullets to list the Qualifications and/or Experience such as:

Project Manager for XYZ Company from 2007 - 2008

Prevent spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. To prevent them, proofread the CV. Spelling mistakes are big put-offs for the recruiters and sometimes such mistakes lands one in an embarrassing situation.

Do not lie about the past jobs or qualifications. One may be able to secure a job with such deceit at the moment however such jobs will definitely not last long.

People screening the resume usually belong to the HR department. If they do not understand what the acronym and terminology mean, the CV is simply trashed.

A CV should not hold reasons for leaving the last job. Such statements do not add any value to the CV. Such things should be discussed during the interview.

Prevent mentioning reasons for gap if one exists between the previous jobs. Mentioning reasons instantaneously lowers chances of getting an interview call.

For instance, if there exists a gap in the employment because you had begun a business which was not successful. In such a situation, the CV might hold a statement such as Reason for gap in employment: Started my own business which unfortunately failed which is not right.

Statements such as Current or expected salary should be avoided and be dealt with in the interview possibly whilst negotiating the finance.

Leave irrelevant information such as Marital status, Sex, Passport number, Number of kids, Age of kids and so on. Such details are most of the times a basis for discrimination.

NEVER include references until asked for. Especially avoid statements such as Reference available on request.