CV Writing Tips

CV Writing Tips

Your CV is an employer's first impression of you and it must leave a favorable and lasting impact. A successful CV is one that will appear in the most searches and generate the most interviews.

The curriculum vitae, commonly referred to as a CV, Vita, or Vitae, is a detailed biographical description of one's educational and work background. It differs from a resume, a one-page description of one's work experience and educational background not only in length but also in detail. The origin of the term curriculum vitae is Latin and means the course of one's life or career. As such, a CV includes detailed information regarding one's academic coursework, professional experience, publications, and so on.

This article will guide you through the CV building process step-by-step providing you with tips and examples along the way. We have also provided you with a list of action verbs that we recommend you refer to and use to ensure the strongest, most concise delivery.

Position Sought

Here is where you define who you are in relation to skills and experience. This is a critical part of your CV as it is the first section a potential employer reads and it should portray you in the most relevant and professional light.

Examples:

Marketing Manager
Senior Corporate Tax Accountant
Advertising Executive
Financial Analyst
Pediatric Nurse
Sales Representative
Concierge

Tips:

Include words that highlight your skills and area of expertise
Include keywords of the actual position you are seeking

Objective

This should be a brief and focused statement of what you can do and what you are looking for. Employers will look here first before proceeding onto your resume.

Examples:

Seeking new challenges in (occupation) which effectively utilizes (professional experience).
Looking to join a progressive organization that has the need for (a type of occupation) and offers opportunities for advancement.
To gain first hand (type of experience), using my analytical skills and commitment to perform quality work.
To obtain a position in a (type of target company) using my administrative and programming skills.
To secure an internship with a (type of organization) specializing in (area of expertise)
(Title) with (background) and a passion for (type) pursuing a career with (target company). Skilled at building strong team environments and developing open communications.

Tips:

Describe the job you are seeking. You can include your experience and skill level.
Be focused - vague objectives are less likely to attract an employer.
Emphasize what you can bring to your prospective employer.
The Objective should be one sentence - two sentences if needed, but not longer.

Work Experience

Unless you are a fresh graduate, your Work Experience is the most important part of the CV. Highlight your skills and assigned responsibilities in each previous job.

Examples:

Managed a team of (number) that established (name of project goal or result).
Successfully launched and marketed (name of project).
Participated in the creation of a (name of product or production) that resulted in (a positive outcome).
Extensive involvement managing client relationships at all levels.
Wrote feature stories and conducted interviews for (type of press); edited copy of other writers.
Trained new interns in (type of department).
(Number of years) of (system) integration experience and implementing solutions to help clients succeed.
Successfully managed and staffed not only business start-ups,but also periods of rapid, sustained corporate growth.
(Number of years) of management experience on industrial projects.
Installed different operating systems, software and hardware.
Compiled and edited comprehensive quality control reports.

Tips:

For each position describe your responsibilities, duties, the challenges faced and accomplishments achieved. Use specific examples e.g.. Increased car sales turnover by 200%or saved department $100,000 by redesigning performance measurement system.
If you had multiple positions with the same company, remember to list dates of positions to show the prospective employer of your rapid progress and quick learning abilities.
If you have not had much work experience, try including temporary, holiday or voluntary jobs.
Remember to keep it short, positive and use action verbs.

Education

List your academic background; degrees, certifications and training received.

Examples:

Continuing education classes in (Name of courses).
Licensed (name of certification), (City/Year).
Thesis: (Title of Thesis).
Additional course work in Computational Mathematics, Kuwait University.
Work towards CPA qualification.
Series 7 and series 63 registered.

Tips:

Include your Grade Point Average or General Ranking if it is impressive (Excellent, Very Good).
Mention any Honors, Awards, Scholarships, Internships, and Dissertations received.
Include any information that might be appropriate to your job search. Fresh graduates should include relevant courses,extracurricular activities, scholarships, honors, and GPA (if it is good).
Allow your educational credentials to emphasize your strengths and qualifications. Do not be misleading, as employers will check. It could be awkward and quite difficult to verify a false educational statement made on your CV.

Memberships

List any professional affiliations, associations or memberships of interest to employers.

Examples:

Active member (name of association).
Speaker/Treasurer (name of association).
Appointed to serve as (position).
Past Chairman/President.
Elected to serve as (position).

Tips:

Being part of any association shows a potential employer your interest and involvement in a related professional field.
Adding this information is completely optional, but it may help show a potential employer things about you that may not be clear from the rest of your CV such as your hobbies and your eagerness to participate in contributing to and developing your society.
This is particularly relevant and important for fresh graduates or candidates seeking to make a career switch.
Use action verbs.

Skills

Use this section to show a potential employer your overall work-related skills and abilities including languages and technical skills. Please note that your skills are one of the KEY search criteria in Employer searches so make sure you include all technical, analytical, professional and other skills.

Examples:

German- Intermediate.
Microsoft Office software & the Internet- Expert.
MS Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, MS Project, Project Workbench and Lotus Notes- Expert.
C, Cobol, Fortran and SQL - Expert.
Quantitative Analysis- Expert.
Creative Skills- Expert.

Tips:

Focus on skills that match your target job and target company.
Use this section to include industry keywords that match an employer's keyword search. For example: Knowledge of encryption theory
Describe your interpersonal skills, (an experienced presenter/ public speaker / sales person, organizer or teacher).
Use action verbs

References

Listing references is optional but it is always a good idea to include them. List the name and contact information of references.

Tips:

Include the details of your professional acquaintances. It may be your ex-supervisor, manager or a co-worker. It is best to include contacts from an industry related to the one you are in.
If you are a fresher with limited or no experience you may include the name of your professor, or a family friend.

Action Verbs

abstracted, achieved, acquired, acted, adapted, addressed, administered, advised, aided, allocated, analyzed, anticipated, approved, arbitrated, arranged, assembled, assessed, assigned, assisted, attained, attended, audited, authored

balanced, budgeted, built

calculated, centralized, chaired, changed, checked, clarified, classified, coached, collaborated, collated, collected, communicated, compared, compiled, composed, computed, conceived, conceptualized, condensed, conducted, consolidated, constructed, consulted, contracted, contributed, controlled, converted, convinced, cooperated, coordinated, correlated, corresponded, counseled, created, critiqued, cultivated, customized

debated, decided, defined, delegated, delivered, demonstrated, designed, detailed, determined, developed, devised, diagnosed, directed, discovered, documented, doubled, drafted, drove

earned, edited, educated, effected, eliminated, enabled, enforced, engineered, established, evaluated, examined, executed, expanded, expedited, experienced, experimented, explained, extrapolated

facilitated, figured, financed, followed through, forecasted, formed, formulated, founded

gathered, generated, guided

handled, headed, helped, hired

identified, illustrated, imagined, implemented, improved, improvised, increased, influenced, informed, initiated, innovated, inspected, inspired, installed, instituted, instructed, insured, integrated, interpreted, interviewed, introduced, invented, investigated, issued

justified

keynoted

launched, lectured, led, licensed

maintained, managed, marketed, mastered, mediated, mentored, merged, met deadlines, minimized, moderated, monitored, motivated

negotiated, nominated

observed, obtained, operated, organized, originated, overhauled, oversaw

participated, performed, persuaded, pioneered, planned, prepared, prevented, prioritized, problem solved, processed, produced, programmed, projected, promoted, proved, provided, publicized

recommended, reconciled, recruited, reduced, referred, reorganized, repaired, reported, represented, researched, resolved, retrieved, reviewed, revitalized

scheduled, selected, separated, served, set goals, setup, shaped, simplified, solved, sparked, specified, spoke, staffed, strengthened, submitted, succeeded, summarized, supervised, surveyed, systemized

tabulated, tailored, taught, tested, tracked, trained

upgraded, utilized

validated

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