Home Guidelines How to write a Best CV (Curriculum Vitae)

How to write a Best CV (Curriculum Vitae)

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How to write a Best CV (Curriculum Vitae)
How to Write a Best CV

How to write a Best CV ? is the among the most asked questions and Students having a nightmare of not getting a job to make themselves successful and high earning is because of not having a perfect CV. Well, this will not be a nightmare anymore. The perfect CV will help you stand out in a long list of candidates. Read the article down below and write a perfect CV.

Curriculum Vitae:

A piece of marketed document that perfectly presents you in front of the employers. It is a document which shows the employee abilities, skills, working history and many achievements in performance history. The aspiring undergrads and graduates sell themselves and present themselves as the best candidate for the applied job. Learning about how to write a perfect CV for job application and internship comes with a basic structure and flexible content. The CV is different for each of the unique people, but having a similar structure does not make it interesting. Unless the content and specifications of the skills are the most appropriate for the job.

The job application as well as a cover letter is significant and helps the selection team to decide the candidate is suitable for the job.

CV VS. Resume:

This section is provided at the top because most of the students go not to know when to use a CV and when to use a resume. These are the documents which help you to present yourself wonderfully. The resume is a document or most precisely say summarizes the education details and professional history. However, CV is a document where you give every detail of the educational performance and employment history. The CV also known as “Curriculum Vitae” targets the academic capabilities and publication work of related research work.

The resume has a particular length limit of one or two pages. It focuses on the skills and qualifications of a candidate. CV, on the other hand, does not have any length limit. It demands the complete description of the coursework, academic specifications, presentation, publications, and other research work.

For the career types, the resume is considered as an important and applicable document in the private and public sectors where there is no academic work. It is important in the industry. In contrast, the CV is very important when young people want to research the organization, teaching in an academic school or apply to the graduated programs. 

Which Countries accept a CV and which resume?

The geographical location matters a lot when it comes to choosing a resume or CV for the vacant position. The countries like the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and European countries accept both CV and documents having the style of resume. In India and other Asian countries, South Africa and Australia, the CV and resume are used often interchangeably. But in America, the CV and resume are very different. These documents have a large number of differences used for different purposes. 

Length of CV:

The CV length is based on how length your academic background or professional work. It should not be too short that it cannot clear the selection committee about the role in a particular job or research. It should not be too long with tough words that it could not easily get scanned by the staff of candidate selection. Everything in the CV should be very comprehensive and give the full details of the particular experience. Most commonly, the CV length comprises one A4 page having two sides filled. 

Types of CV:

There are two types of CV depending on the nature of your work role:

  • Skill-focused CV
  • Work-focused CV

These types of CV have their importance. The skills-focused CV is best for undergrad students seeking an internship, candidates who are going to change their careers and the employees which have a long gap in their working history. 

The work-focused CV is best for people who have the same career and educational history but want to move one step forward in professional work. This will help them out to showcase their experience and publications in the research area.

The types of CV most likely depend upon the nature of the job.

The Content of CV:

The CV should have the following basic things:

  • Name with contact details
  • Personal statement
  • Working Experience
  • Educational history
  • Qualifications
  • Relevant skills
  • Achievements
  • Publications
  • Affiliations

CV Format:

A unique CV must have a flexible structure focusing more on the candidate’s outstanding qualities and skillset.

If we start with different sections 0f CV, the first and foremost section is the title and personal contact details.

Title:

Never write a CV on the top to show the selection committee that this is a required document. The members of selection are not dumb enough to that they cannot differentiate between CV and other documents.

Write with your name as a title; it is very important to write your complete name that is forename and surname at the topmost center of an A4 page. 

Personal Information:

When it comes to personal information, start with your address. In the old CV formats, you have to mention the complete detailed address. Now, only your city and country name is enough. The personal contact information concludes the phone number and email id. The email id should be made of the real name. It depicts the professionalism in your work.

Personal Profile/ statement:

It is a kind of quick introduction which gives your employers the information about who you are and what are your career objectives. It is a short, comprehensive paragraph which is very important. It creates a first impression on the job employers whether or not you are a suitable person.

You should not submit the same CV to each of the company for the same job position. The multi-national companies seek candidates with extra-ordinary capabilities. Therefore, must tailor out your profile according to the qualities mentioned in the job vacancy.

This personal statement comprises a bunch of brief sentences with very few long sentences which eventually determine your introduction, your services are given to the company and your career aim.

Previous Employment services:

If you have done any job, internship, or get any work experience, mention it here in the employment history section. Start with the most recent and relevant ones at the top. All the experiences in the employment section must be in reverse chronological order, starting the recent one at the top and oldest one at the bottom. This section has a significant role, so write it ineffective language. Divide it into the sub-headings like Job title, employer/company name and the duration in which you had done with proper date format. Describe your role in one line which briefly tells your job in one line. The sub-headings should be the key to the responsibilities, skills and achievements during the job.

You can ignore the old or irrelevant jobs if you have a long list of experiences. Entails your employment history list in a way that is more specific and relevant to the applied job.

Educational Qualifications:

The education history should be written in the same way as that of employment history i.e., in the reverse chronological order. The name of the institution should be written first and then time duration in a year. Write the subject or qualification and grade afterwards.

If you are professional, write the certificates and other qualification in the format as Qualification, grade, Institution, and year. 

For internship CV, if you are an undergraduate student, list a few of the modules along with the assignments and some statement of accomplishments.

Other Sections:

This section is all about your soft skills if you have done limited work in employment. Try to make a functional-based CV. Write 4-6 skills relevant to the job, which brings the selection committee members’ attention immediately and increase your chances of consideration.

If you think you have hobbies and interests related to the job, make sure to mention them with proper format. For example, if you want employment in the HR department, you should have an interest in the marketing area or campaign.

Be aware. Do not mention the hobbies or interests such as photography or reading, which do not have any relation to your job and do not consider important. Write those only which help them to increase your chances of selection.

The following additional sections highlight your CV and strengthen your CV with additional points:

Awards and Achievements:

Do not take the credit for awards that you have won in the team-work. Mention the individual awards first and then teamwork awards. The team awards provide a sort of validation that you are playing a key role in the teamwork and have a good spirit. 

The format of the awards would be its name, year in which it is received and the name of the company or organization who awarded it.

Publications:

If you have any publication you have done during your academic process, make sure to add it in the separate section in reverse chronological order. You can provide a full list of publication on demand if it is extensive

IT Skills:

Most of the jobs require some IT skills. It is a misconception that the IT skills are required for IT jobs only. If you are applying for a job in the industry or office work, mentioning the software relevant to industry setup you mastered will help you in your selection.

Online Courses:

The online course not only tells the selection committee that you have additional knowledge but also shows that you are passionate about learning. The courses such as Microsoft certifications or courses related to the job add up here.

References:

You can provide the contact details of a person who knows you very well professionally. Otherwise, you can write the line at the very end of the document under this heading: ” the referral contact will be provided on demand.

The Layout for CV:

Font Size:

The font size should between 10 to 12 and different from the larger headings so CV should look organize and readable. The heading size should in between 14 to 16.

Font Style:

The font style must be legible and up to standard. Discard the fonts which are italics and hard to read. Use the official font styles such as Calibri, Open Sans, Times New Roman etc. the font style should be uniform throughout the CV. However, the headings should be made bold in the CV

Format:

The margin space should be 0.5 from all the sides on the A4 page to make the CV organized and readable. 

Structure:

All the content of CV should be in reverse chronological order starting from the most recent one at the top.

Content:

Use a compelling writing tone with the use of powerful verbs. The writing should be straight, clear and concise.

Consistency:

For consistency, make sure to edit, revise and proofread the CV. Use the present tense for the present job and past tense for the previous job.

What should not include in the CV?

Picture:

The picture in a CV depends upon the country. Most of the country appreciates the picture in the CV. Bit it is not the case in countries like the UK and Pakistan unless stated otherwise.

Age and Birthdate:

Your age and marital status do not affect your ability at all. So, dates you mentioned there will be the dates of your qualifications and achievements.

Sample of Internship CV:

If you are undergraduate or freshly graduate student, and you do not have any employment history 

                                                  Name XYZ

                                                   Intern

                                                 City, Country

                                                 Phone no.

                                              [email protected]

Write a personal statement in 2-3 lines with things mentioned above

Education:

Write education and qualifications in the reverse chronological order, since you do not have the work experience.

Experience:

Replace the work experience with internships relevant to the applied job, extra-curricular activities, volunteer experience and project details.

Remember to mention the relevant experience and responsibilities under the same heading of experience

Mention your Skills:

Focus on hard skills as well as soft skills. Since you do not have any experience prefer to improve hard skills by learning some new tool or software relevant to the job. The soft skills help you in adapting your work environment. But the hard skills help you in standing out.

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