Career Tips

Making a great CV

Fri, 09 Oct 2009

There are some basic elements that every healthy resume or curriculum vitae (CV) should include if you want to make an impression. Here are some of the 'must haves' you should include...

How to get in touch

It should be obvious, but many people forget to include as much contact information as possible in their CVs.

To avoid this problem, make sure that yours contains: your full name, your current address (many people move and forget to update their CVs), all your phone numbers (cellphone included), a facsimile number (if applicable), your email address(es), and your website or blog (if you have one and it’s business-related.)

Where you have worked

An employment history is almost always part of a CV; one exception is if you’re right out of school and have never had any experience working.

You’ll need to list your employers, dates worked (though some choose to omit the years because of gaps in employment or possible 'ageism' concerns), and position(s) held. You’d also be wise to add some information on the types of responsibilities and/or duties you held during your time at each company.

One caveat — if you’ve worked for twelve different companies, you might want to choose just the last four or five employers. Otherwise, your CV could become too long-winded and, consequently, ineffectual.

Schooling

If you’re straight out of secondary school, trade school, university, or graduate school, you’ll want to make sure you list your degrees or credentials obtained near the top of your CV. However, if you’ve been out in the workforce for a substantial number of years, that data may be less important than your qualifications and employment history.

Regardless, any potential employer will look for your education qualifications, so be sure to include all pertinent information under that category, including certifications, honours or awards, and academic results(if they were particularly impressive.)

Reasons for seeking employment

It's become common for CVs to begin with a 'statement of purpose' or 'personal mission statement' as a way of summarising why the CV writer is seeking a new position. Usually no more than one sentence, the statement of purpose should give the reader immediate insights about the job seeker. For example:

Secondary school educator with over twenty years of classroom experience seeks an administration level position with a private education institution where she can guide, inform, and support other teaching professionals.

Why you’re right for the position

Like the statement of purpose, a growing number of CV writers are starting to include a record of their summary of qualifications. However, this isn’t a random list; instead it's 5-7 items that speak to your most important, measurable achievements. Wherever possible, you will want to include accurate statistics, numbers, percentages, or other qualifying items; that way, your summary of qualifications will be objective and quantifiable.

Your community service

It speaks volumes to the reader of your CV when he or she learns about your civic mindedness, so it's always a good idea for you to include any volunteer activities on your personal document.

Whether you just helped with your church's annual bake sale or you helped raise major funds for a neighborhood community center, you owe it to yourself to note your accomplishments in your CV. This will show that you are someone who believes in helping others, a sign of a go-getter and team member.

Final words of advice…

Of course, there are plenty of other items you can add to your CV, such as personal hobbies/interests, family information, special skills, publications, peer reviewed presentations, and headshots or portfolios (for performers).

No matter what you choose to include in your CV, make sure that everything is honest, grammatically correct, attractive, and easy to scan. This will give you the best chance at hearing your phone ring in the near future...

Published courtesy of greatcvs.co.uk

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