Getting a professional career takes an effort, but you have the choice to take an easy way. One of the ways to do it is by having a good CV or Curriculum Vitae. This blog post will cover a deeper insight into writing a good CV and how it will take you to great places.
As we all know, pursuing a professional career can take some extra effort and a few supporting documents to help you reach the job on your bucket list. One of those supporting documents is Curriculum Vitae or usually known as a CV. In a Latin term, Curriculum Vitae actually means the “course of life,” in which we add the courses of our lives in one single document. This document shares the relevant overview of your experiences and accomplishments, whether from your career, education, or even both. But CVs are mostly used in applying for academic-related positions. So, to get started, here are some of the basic yet important categories to add to a CV.
Contact information
Academic history
Professional experience
Qualifications and skills
Awards and honors
Publications and presentations
Professional associations
Grants and scholarships
Licenses and certifications
According to Indeed, there are three kinds of CV format types (Chronological, Functional, and Combination) that you can use to order the categories in your CV. However, it is at your own convenience to choose which kind because there’s no single correct format in a CV. Craft the CV that best reflects you and your unique accomplishments. Do organize the categories in order of importance and highlight your strengths, such as your strongest qualities that would stand out and relevant to the position. Why? Well, research shows that the average time employers spent reading a CV was just 6.25 seconds! Thus, it is important to keep a clear message while enough to support the details to stand up to scrutiny. We also suggest you do a 30-second test on your CV, just to check whether you’ll be able to catch your potential employer’s eye in under a minute.
Crafting your CV may have its own style. Firstly, begin placing your most important information on the first page, on the left side, and in columns. Be strategic in how you order and entitle your categories seeing that category headings can influence how readers or employers perceive you. Most people don’t realize this, but using active verbs and sentence fragments is a plus value to your CV. Avoid pronouns like “I” and “Me,” and use a jargon level most appropriate for your readers. Because think about the audience— how they want to perceive you as a potential workforce. Also, consider the position that you’re applying to, your relevant set of skills, and how much detail that you want to input. Follow the conventions of your field! Consult for a job posting if you’re having any dilemmas, so you'll include some relevant keywords as well.
There are other important factors you’ll need to consider in terms of making a CV.
Stick to a common font, such as Time New Roman or a sans-serif font that’s easier to read.
Use highlighting judiciously, favoring bold, ALL CAPS, and white space to create a crisp professional style.
Avoid text boxes, underlining, and shading to keep your CV clean.
Margins should be equal on all four sides of the page, and there’s a good rule saying to keep your margins between 1–1.5 inches.
There’s no minimal page on a CV, but do make it as efficient as possible to read.
Proof, proof, proof! Ask a friend or a professional to help you proofread your CV. It is wise to make sure your CV is comprehensive, correctly formatted, and easy to read.
To get a better idea, here’s an example of what a good CV looks like.
Still, you might want to keep this question, “Why should we select YOU?” — Considering it’s the question on the top of your reader’s mind that you need to convince. Tailor your CV also to convince yourself that you’d fit the position well. CV is about writing down all the lists of everything you’ve done and good at, then you’re all set. The fact that Verrion Wright got his creative job through a good CV inspired us. Having the right kind of supporting document, such as CVs, will surely take you to places. If you’re interested in consulting your CVs, we definitely can provide you. Follow our Instagram pages @baikgp @ayureadypodcast and subscribe to our blog to get the latest news on our webinar and CV consulting sessions. Now, good luck on getting one step closer to landing the job you want!