What is a CV?
A CV is a short document that highlights all your skills and the knowledge you have and is a way to showcase your talents to a company.
Why is CV important?
- Your CV is the initial impression that a possible placement leader can get of you. Employers pay around 20-30 seconds to decide whether you are good for the role.
- A good quality CV can boost your possibilities for getting shortlisted for an interview so, pay some quality time on making your CV.
What should you include in your CV?
Personal information
In the CV, you should write your full name and contact information such as phone number, email address etc.
Additional information may include gender, date of birth, government-issued identification number, marital status, and nationality.
Education
Education information includes your education you pursued and the years and name of the institution you attended.
Employers use this information to see if your professional qualifications match the job requirements of the position you are applying for.
Work experience
This section requires you to list your recent work experience that is relevant to the position you are applying for.
For each position you’ve previously worked, mention the name of the company, your roles, and the duration of the employment.
Include only relevant Skills
These skills may include language skills, computer skills, driving skills, advanced software skills, etc. They should be relevant to the job you are applying for.
What to keep in mind when making your CV?
Focus on length
Your CV should not be too long nor too short. The length of the CV should depend on the education and working experience you have gained over the years.
The length of the CV should be around one to two pages.
Proper grammar
Before sending the CV to your prospective employer, make sure to check it several times to correct any errors.
Grammatical errors would spoil your chances of getting shortlisted for an interview.
How can you make your CV stand out in 2022?
Pick the right format and font
Choose a clean layout. Sans serif fonts like Arial or Calibri are usually good fonts for your CV.
Picking a good format increases your chances to get noticed by a recruitment team.
Include soft skills
Soft skills like communication, fast learning, emotional intelligence, resilience, and additional are the things that most companies are looking for.
Explain your employment gaps
Do not be afraid to explain your gap year or any other employment gap on your CV. You should be prepared well enough to speak about what you have been doing in-between these gap years.
Remove any outdated information
Before you start sending your CV out to potential new employers, ensure you remove old jobs that hold no relevance to your target position.
This will help free up space on CV for more relevant information that’s more in line to your 2022 career aspirations.
Summing up
- Studies have shown that on average recruiters spend just 7 seconds looking at a CV before deciding whether a candidate is suitable for the role. Therefore, you should really focus on the look of your CV.
- 59% of recruiters will reject an applicant because of typos, bad grammar, and other spelling errors.
- In your CV you should focus on your personal development. Show how you have gained knowledge, and the accomplishments you have achieved. This will show the recruiter that you have learnt a lot from your past experience, and that you are focused to learn and expand your skill set.
- You will be a lot more attractive to employers if you are able to demonstrate knowledge of the industry, so make sure you are up to date with any news and industry changes.
Additionally having a professionally written CV can help you reach your true potential, hire a professional cv writer