How to Write a CV

A good curriculum vitae can be the difference between securing a job and losing it to someone more prepared. In the middle of a financial crisis most people are losing their jobs and quickly adding to the unemployment list. As such it is vitally important that you stand out from the crowd, so as not to risk being cut out of the picture for a simple mistake.

Here are a few tips to help you make sure that your CV will be the best that your prospective employer has seen for a long time.

Never punch above your weight

There is nothing more annoying than having a pile of CV’s in front of you when not one of them is qualified to do the job. It demonstrates a lack of ability to follow clear instructions when you ignore the requirements set out in the job description. It also makes you seem extremely desperate, not a very appealing quality in a prospective employee.

Remember your ABC’s

I have lost count of how many times I have seen poorly written CV’s made considerably worse by spelling mistakes. It takes less than two minutes to hit the spell check button yet no one seems to make the effort. It looks very lazy and does not give a very good impression of your reliability as an employee.

Relevancy is Key

Always ensure that you have specified your skills as relevant to the posting. For instance if you are applying for a job as a chef, don’t fill the CV with details of how fantastic your computer skills are because you probably won’t be required to use a computer. By all means specify that you are resilient and can adapt to many situations but don’t drag out credentials that bear no relevance.

Structural engineering

You need to engineer the structure of your CV. An acceptable layout for your CV is as follows:

Name, Address, Telephone & Email address

Objective- This outlines what you want to achieve

Education- Include all qualifications relevant to the posting and details of where you qualified

Work experience- Again; only give detailed information about relevant jobs.

Interests- Employers like to have a clear image of what you like to do in your spare time; I have known a few employers to search Facebook and other social networking sites to get a clear picture of whom they are employing so this is worth bearing in mind!

References- Some people choose to simply specify that references are available upon request, others will put down references at the point of application. Personally I have no preference as to whether an applicant chooses to put them down then or afterwards, it does not have any impact on my selection. Most employers will understand that references are a personal matter and should only be requested if a job offer is available.

Nobody likes a clown…

Try to leave humor out of the equation as there is a time and a place for joking around, a job application is not it. Most employers will not appreciate humor unless the job you are applying for is for a clown.

It’s all me, me, me

It is true that you should sell yourself in you CV as you are required to show that you’re capable of doing the job. Don’t overdo it though, some employers may find you a little overbearing if your CV screams arrogance.