Writing a good CV is a very important part of job hunting. It is the first impression that you get to make with a potential employer. Your CV speaks for you and it must stand out among the pile of other CVs that employers and recruiters get. Over the next couple of posts we're going to have a look at some things that you can do that will help you create the best CV in English.
Today we're going to talk about some tips and pointers to help you get started...
Keep it short and to the point. It is important to remember that the person who is reading your CV is also going to be reading many other CVs. They won't be interested in reading pages and pages of information about you, that is what the interview is for. Instead, they want you to give a short overview of your experience. Include some of your work experience and focus more on your last few jobs. Mention your main duties, but don't give every little detail that it included. If you were a sales person in a clothing store for example you can say something like; -worked the cash register, -assisted buyers, -kept store clean, -arranged clothes, -stocktaking. These points give the employer a good idea of what you did.
2. Avoid contractions. Contractions (I'm), (don't), (isn't) are not used in professional and academic writing. When writing an email, blog post or speaking to a friend, contractions are perfectly fine. However, when writing a CV, business report or something for academic purposes it is always recommended that you do not use contractions (I am), (do not), (is not). You should also never use emojis :) for business or academic writing.
3. Use keywords. Keywords are words that are specific to your field and your experience. Words that will show that you know what you are talking about. Add a few to explain the duties that you did in your previous job.
For example: I worked as a Corporate English trainer in Oman, so my CV could say something like - taught IELTS preparation - Business English - General English - ESP - Soft Skills
These are keywords that show exactly what my experience has been and describes my duties clearly.
4. Format your CV. It may seem like a silly waste of time, but if your CV looks good and is easy to read, it will stand out more and make you look more professional. There are plenty of templates out there and they are all good. Generally CVs nowadays fit onto one page. Recruiters and employers like this because they can see everything they need to see on just one page. Below are two examples of CV templates that I found on google by typing "CV templates".
5. Proofread. This may seem like an obvious one, but I cannot begin to express just how important it is. So many people write their CVs and don't do a spellcheck or proofread their work. If you are not a native English speaking person, it is easy to make spelling and grammatical mistakes when you are writing and this will give the recruiter or employer the wrong idea. They will think that your English is not good enough for the job (even though all ESL teachers will agree that writing and speaking are not always at the same level), they will think that you made your CV in a hurry or that you are not a very neat person. All of these reasons may reflect negatively on you and you don't want that.
My advice is to proofread your CV more than once. One trick that is very effective in trying to find any grammatical mistakes is to read your CV out loud, if you do this a couple of times you should be able to find the mistakes if there are any. Have a dictionary with you while you type it out so that you can check your spelling. Typos (typing mistakes) are so easy to make when you are typing a lot and the spellcheck on your computer will not always pick it up. Lastly, make sure that you use capital letters for names and at the start of a sentence.
Some of these may seem obvious, but many people don't take the time to make a really good looking CV and that is a big mistake. You want your CV to show that you are professional, that you are neat, and that you would be an amazing employee.
Look out for our next blog post where we'll share some words that will help you to create a powerful CV. Sign up and become a subscriber and you'll get notified when the next blog post is out.
Comments