At a certain point in one’s professional career, a CV has to be written up. It is a relatively small document that can make or break your career. More often than not, a prospective employer skims through the document and makes an unconscious decision to hire or reject the job seeker based on his first impressions.
Knowing this, have it in your mind to grab the prospective employer’s attention and make a good first impression. In some cases this is more important than your academic qualifications and/or job experience. There are countless cases of extremely educated being turned down for a job. In these cases you find that the job went to someone less qualified than what they were asking for in the job adverts.
Instead of complaining about how unfair and unreasonable employers are in not employing you, the best uses of your time is to research on how the all-important CV is written; this document is the first step in securing you a good job so its preparation should be meticulous.
The following are the major points you should consider when writing up a CV.
Honest & Correct Writing
The first thing you must do is describe your academic and professional qualifications in a brutally honest way. They should also be the first things you write up so that the employer has the important figures at arm’s length. Do not over exaggerate your qualifications because most employers do background checks to substantiate the claims made. If the employer finds out even a single inaccurate detail, he will most probably reject your application. This is because he gets it in mind that you are intrinsically dishonest and therefore unreliable. Even if you feel that you are not well qualified, be honest; he might just give you a chance.
Something else that goes with honesty is making sure that you use correct grammar and spelling. Incorrect language in a CV tells a prospective employer that you are sloppy and that you do not take enough interest in your work to double check that it is satisfactorily written. You do not have to use vocabularies in your CV, just simple clear language stating your qualifications in a completely honest way.
Arrangement of Qualifications Skills
This is the other important aspect of a successful CV. You must arrange your qualifications in a chronological order, starting with your most recent job and slowly going back in time to jobs you held. Start at the most recent and work your way backwards. This is important because it assesses what level you are in your career and thus your job placement. While doing this, mention the periods that you worked in the various firms/ companies and your responsibilities in each job.
It is also good practice to explain gaps in between jobs. Assuming there was a point when you had to get out of the job market e.g. to go back to school or you were fired; include this unsavoury information in your CV.
From here list all your achievements gained over the years starting with the most recent and work your way backwards. Mentioning all the relevant skills gained is very important. Leave out skills that have no direct bearing to the job you are looking for so that your CV does not look cluttered and pointless.
Finally it is good practice not to give too much personal information that can cause potential employers to be biased against you. Things like race, health, speech impediments, hobbies or sometimes sexual orientation should not be included. Depending on the job, this information is sometimes needed but if it is not demanded do not include it.
These are the main points that you should consider when writing a CV to secure that dream job. Happy job hunting!