How to Write a Professional and Job Oriented Good CV/Resume

Keep reading! Important Topics included in this article.

1.     What is a CV?

2.     How long should a CV be?

3.     What to include in a CV?

4.     CV format.

5.     How to write a good CV?

6.     How to fill the gap left by the COVID-19 pandemic?

7.     Get help with your CV.

Your CV is the tool that helps you get your foot in the door when applying for jobs. Find out how to write a good CV and get tips and advice on what to include in your own personal marketing document.

What is a CV?

A CV, which stands for Curriculum Vitae, is a document used when applying for jobs. It allows you to summarize your educational qualifications, skills and experiences and empowering you to effectively sell your capabilities to potential employers. Alongside your CV employers also typically ask for a cover letter.

In the USA and Canada CVs are known as Resumes. These documents tend to be briefer and follow no specific formatting rubrics.

How long should a CV be?

A standard CV should be no longer than two sides of A4. That said one size isn’t appropriate all. For example, a school departer or fresh graduate with negligible experience may only want to use one side of A4 size paper. Although not used as often, a three-page CV might be desirable for those in high-level characters or for people who have expanded a lot of skills or worked in numerous jobs over the last 5-10 years. For example, some medical or academic CVs may be longer dependent on your experience. While it's imperative to keep your CV concise you should also avoid selling your experience short.

To save space only contain the main points of your education and experience. Stick to related information and don't replicate what you've said in your cover letter already. If you're struggling to edit your CV, ask yourself if certain information. If it doesn't cut it out. If it's not relevant to the job you're applying for delete it and if it's old detail from ten years ago summarize it.

What to include in a CV?
Following are some important things to be included in your CV;

• Contact information:

Include your full name, current address, mobile number and email address. Your date of birth is irrelevant and unless you're applying for an acting or modelling job you don't need to include a photograph even.

• Profile or Personal statement:

A CV profile is a brief statement that highlights your key qualities and benefits you stand out from the mass of applicants. Usually placed at the start of a CV it picks out a few relevant achievements and skills, while expressing your career aims. A good CV profile focuses on the sector you're applying to, as your cover letter will be job-specific. Keep CV personal statements short and snappy, 100 words is the perfect length.

• Education:

List and date all your previous educational qualifications, including professional qualifications and certificates. Place the most recent degree at first. Include qualification type/grades, and the dates. Mention specific modules only where related.

• Work experience:

List your work experience in reverse date order such that your last experience appears first in the list, making sure that whatever you mention is relevant to the job you're applying for. Include your job title, the name of the company you have worked with, how long you were with the organization and your key responsibilities while working in that organization. If you have plenty of relevant work experience, this section should come before the education section.

• Skills, achievements and languages:

This is where you talk about the foreign languages you speak and the IT packages/software you can proficiently use. The key skills that you list should be relevant to the job. Don't overstate your skills, as you'll need to back up your claims at interview. If you've got lots of job-specific skills you should do a skills-based CV.

• Interests:

Interests like 'socializing', 'going to the cinema' and 'reading' aren't going to catch a recruiter’s attention. However, relevant interests can offer a more complete representation of who you are, as well as giving you something to talk about at interview. Examples include writing your own blog or community newsletters if you want to be a journalist, being part of a drama group if you're looking to get into sales and your participation in environment change activism if you'd like an environmental job. If you don't have any relevant hobbies or interests leave this section out.

• References:

You don't need to provide the names of referees at this stage. You can say 'references can be provided upon request' but most employers would assume this to be the case so if you're stuck for space, you can leave this out.

CV format:

The following points should be kept in mind while formatting your CV;

• Avoid giving a title to the document such as 'curriculum vitae' or 'CV'. It's a waste of space and time. Instead let your name serve as the title of the document.

• Section headings are a good method to break up your CV into parts. Ensure they stand out by making them larger (font size 14 or 16) and bold.

• Avoid fonts such as Comic Sans or other funny fonts. Choose something professional, clear and easy to read such Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman. Use a font size between 10 and 12 (12 recommended) to make sure that potential employers can read your CV. Ensure all font styles and font sizes are consistent throughout the whole CV.

• List everything in reverse chronological order. Then the recruiter sees your work history and most recent achievements first.

• Keep your CV concise by using clear spacing and bullet points. This type of CV layout lets potential employers to speed-read your CV and rapidly pick out important information first.

• Name the document when saving - Don't just save your CV as 'Document 1' as shown by default. Make sure the title of the document is professional and identifies you, such as 'Abdur Rehman’s CV'.

• Unless the job advertising company asks for a different file format such as word document, always save your CV with a .PDF file extension to make sure it can be opened and read on any computer or tablet.

• If you're posting your CV, print it on white A4 paper - Only print on one side and do not fold your CV, you don't want it to arrive wrinkled, instead, keep it in an envelope.

How to write a good CV?
Following are some guidelines for writing a good CV;

• Use active verbs and phrases while writing. For example, include words like 'created', 'analyzed' and 'devised' to present yourself as a person who shows inventiveness.

• A good CV doesn't have any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Use a spell checker and enlist a second pair of eyes to check over the document many times to minimize errors and mistakes.

• Avoid generic, over-used phrases such as 'team player', 'hardworking' and 'multitasker'. Instead of that, provide real-life examples that validate all of these skills.

• Tailor your CV. Search for the company's website and social media accounts, look to see if they've freshly been revealed in the local press and use the job advertisement to make sure your CV is targeted to the role and employer.

• Create the right type of CV for your situations. Decide whether the chronological, skills-based or academic CV is right for you in the situation you are applying for the job.

• Make sure your email address sounds professional. If your personal address is inappropriate create a new account for professional use. Do not include an unprofessional or unethical email address in your CV by all means.

• Don't lie or overstate on your CV or job request. Not only will you reveal your deceitfulness to a potential employer, but there can be serious consequences too for you to handle. For example, altering your degree grade from a B to A is classed as a “degree fraud” and can result in a prison sentence.

• If you are posting your CV online, don't include your home address, as you could be targeted by fraudsters.

• Always include a cover letter unless the employer states otherwise. It will enable you to personalize your job application. You can draw attention to a particular part of your CV, disclose a disability or clarify gaps in your work history.

How to fill the gap left by the COVID-19 pandemic?

The first thing to know is that COVID-19 has disrupted the career plans of thousands of students and you're not alone. As a result of the pandemic career-boosting activities such as work experience, internships and volunteering have been postponed or cancelled. If this has left you worrying about the corona-shaped gap on your CV let us put your mind at rest.

Employers know the challenges produced by lockdowns only too well and they won't suppose you to have accomplished a period of work experience in this time. That said you could still demonstrate to potential employers how you used this time wisely, showing yourself to be a practical, devoted and strong candidate.

You could mention:

• Details of online courses or Massive Open Online Courses you've undertaken or webinars or online events you've attended.

• The acquisition of new skills, such as learning a language or learning to code.

• Volunteering work such as checking in on and shopping for vulnerable neighbors or caring for young siblings or elderly relatives.

• Charity work, perhaps you got involved with fundraising or raising awareness of a particular organization.

• New hobbies such as starting to vlog, picking up a sport, learning to cook or setting up a community book club.

Remember, you'll need to relate these to the job you're applying for so focus on the skills, these activities taught you and how and why they'd be useful.

Where to put this information depends on the activities. Volunteering or charity work can be included under the 'Work experience' heading of your CV. The online courses and additional qualifications you've gained can go in the 'Education' section while any new skills you've learned need to be housed under 'Skills, achievements and languages'. If any new hobbies are relevant to the role, you're applying for place these in the 'Hobbies and interests' section.

Get help with your CV:

If you're a student or recent graduate and you'd like help creating a CV then you can get professional advice from your university careers service.

During COVID-19 many university careers services have moved their program of activities and events online to support students and graduates during the pandemic.