“First impression is the last impression.” This statement may not sound appropriate for all the things or activities but it definitely matches your CV or Resume. But why?
Before going to the WHY section, let’s take a sneak preview of CV or Resume. In layman's definition, CV a.k.a. Curriculum Vitae or Resume is the quick summary of your educational background, qualifications, skills, and experiences. CV is a Latin word for “course of action” whereas Resume is a French word for “summary” which depicts almost the same meaning. The most important step for job search is an award-winning CV i.e. the CV should influence the employers to take a step ahead for hiring you. In fact, CV is the primary source of the interview and your CV is undeniably responsible to get you into the desk for an interview.
In fact:
CV is a marketing document for yourself.
CV is a conspectus of your past employment history and relevant skills.
CV is overall documentation of your professional history including some personal details too.
CV is not just a documentation of your summarized information but it is also your identity card written in the pages of one or two revealing your prior work experiences, qualifications, and knowledge of skills that you fitted in yourself, and other pertinent information. It is used as a first impression of your personal and professional presentation among the prospective employer. To be a good fit for the advertised job, you should draft your CV to highlight why you are the best choice for the job. Your CV is dominant in job hunting plus snatching process. Your physical presence doesn’t matter much until your information on a piece of paper doesn’t impact on your employers.
In nutshell:
CV is a visiting card of yours for the employers and it’s a knocking call for an interview. If you get it right, you can grab the job but if it is wrong then you get ready for rejection.
Right and appropriate CV gives you the confidence to present yourself amongst your employers.
CV is the first step towards grabbing the job opportunity followed by an interview and other recruitment processes.
The main purpose of writing a blue-chip CV is to impact positively on recruiters so that they can jump over the next step ahead to hire for the relevant position. Employers prefer those minds who match their criteria and can be a responsible member of a company’s success. Here are some of the resumes or CVs that you can write to impress the employers.
If you are going to make a chronological resume, you have to mention your recent work experiences at the top of your CV after writing your personal details and profile. Listing your work history with recent work positions that you have recently worked on will provide a quick and orderly review of your recent experiences for the employers. This type of resume will be eye-catching to the recruiters but you have to mention the recent experiences that may seem relevant to the advertised posts. A long explanation of your past experiences may bore your employers. You can make it short with relevant experiences only.
If you have got gaps in your employment history and you are frequently switching to different careers, you can draft a functional resume showcasing your top skill set in the first and foremost part of your CV after writing your profile details. You can insert your top professional skills and experiences. This will help your employers to get interactive with your relevant skills.
This type of resume constitutes both the nature of chronological and functional resumes. In this type of resume, you have to mention your top skills at first and past employment history at second. This will give an overall review of your skillset and relevant work history to the employers at a quick shot.
This type of resume gives a quick snapshot to the employers about your professional history. Applicants fill up the relevant information that seems quite fitted to the advertised posts. For instance, if there is a vacancy post for ‘Chinese Teacher’, the applicant mentions his language skill at first followed up by other skills and experiences.
Your CV is your first marketing document which should bring a positive impression on your employers. So, here’s a guide to writing a winning CV that increases a high probability for your hiring process.
Don’t jump over the conclusion to snatch any kind of available advertised job posts. Make sure that the criteria of the advertised post fit your actual qualifications and experiences. If not, you may get rejections and do not let rejections weaken your will-power for job-hunting. This is just a BASIC one.
If you are good at something and that talent matches the job criteria, do not hesitate to include that skill set at the top. It will create a good impression among the employers to step up into the further process. It will impact the readability of the employers.
Learn to update your CV timely. Customize the changes. If you have learned new skills, including that in the CV will impress the employer. Do not stick to the old one only. Updating can be beneficial for you to meet the job criteria.
Your CV is the synopsis of your professional work and educational history followed by skills and experiences. Ignore the personal interests and hobbies in your CV. You are getting hired for your professional work, not for your personal hobbies.
You should introduce yourself first to begin the summarized explanation of your past history. Your name, professional title, and contact details should be positioned at the top of the page of your CV. Do not make a serious mistake by giving the title page name as ‘CV’ or ‘Resume’. Do not forget to mention your email address and phone number. These are two of the quintessential parts of the CV. The LinkedIn profile can also add value to your CV.
A short and sweet professional profile can give your employers an overall review of your identity. This section remains in second after the personal details. You must be able to explain shortly why you applied for this job mentioning your specific qualities matching the advertised post criteria.
Experiences are required to get experiences. Your past experiences can help you to get experience in this job. You have to mention previous jobs, internships, and prior work experiences. You can make a specific table for clear-cut information. You can use bullets to point out your key responsibilities, skills, and past achievements. Do not use weak verbs to buttress those points. You can remove your irrelevant roles or work history that can lengthen CV with weak points.
You should list your educational background in reverse chronological order. This applies the same to the experience section as well. Do not forget to mention the institutions and grades. You can also fill your CV with the certifications. You can also use the table here to demonstrate your educational background history.
Do not forget to mention your key skills. If you are profound in many skills, divide them. For example, if you have different types of skills, mention language skills, communication skills, etc, and add a short explanation to each skill about it and the institutions you learned from.
Writing references can add more value to your CV. You can insert ‘References available upon request’ and update the contact details and professional background of those whom you are writing as references.
Always make your professional heading bold or Italics and remember each section must be introduced with a heading for the quick and eye-catching read.
Your CV shouldn’t look like a wedding card or invitation card. You can use Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri with font size 10 to 12 and headings of 14 to 18. A page margin with 2.5cm seems good for a CV.
Pages exceeding two can be very lengthy. The CV should fit on a page of one or two. You should be able to include all the relevant information here.
White space also known as Negative Space is a section of your resume which stays empty to create space between paragraphs. You should leave white space between the sections which features the main focused points of your CV. Research shows that leaving white space can increase the reader’s comprehension by as much as 20%.
You should add a cover letter with your resume. It will be an additional benefit for you as writing a cover letter means exhibiting how your skills match the key requirements of the job description. If you attach a cover letter with your CV, the chances of hiring may increase as it demonstrates a link between your capabilities and the needs of an employer.
After drafting your CV with all the relevant information, do not forget to check and proofread the CV like a pro. Even mini grammatical errors and typos can be a barrier to your recruitment process. Check your CV twice before submitting it to the employers. If you are applying through the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), you have to keep the CV to standard formatting so that computers can read it properly. Nowadays, companies use this system for checking many CVs and one mini error can also get your job undone.
Your CV is your visiting card. Even one misinformation can create a big issue. Keep these things while writing or drafting a CV. Have a blast!
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Head/Editor : Pravash Rai
Team Leader : Roshan Kalauni
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