Your CV is a representation of you. Your CV tells the employer about you without having met you. Some CVs are so good an employer doesn’t meet you and employs you straight on. Those are rare occasions. Do not get excited yet! Employers see hundreds of CVs, some unsolicited thus your CV MUST stand out from the rest. A good CV is:
- Concise
- Has your contact details
- Summary
- Key expertise
- Work Experience
- Education
- Other skills and training
- Reference
Take advantage of the CV services offered by the YEA Job Centre to improve your CV. As many CVs as you need, we are here to support you to customize them. The aim is that you become a pro and do it yourself.
- Brief and Concise
If an employer has a thousand applications for 10 jobs to fill, image reading bulky CVs. There is no chance of winning. Interviews give you further opportunities to sell yourself. No two CVs should look the same. Always customize your CV for every job. Make sure it responds to what the employer is looking for. Keep it to two pages if you can unless it is for a management and senior management jobs then they require a bit more information.
- Contact details
This should be your email and telephone number which you can easily be reached on. For a professional CV do well to have a professional email address. Sexydevil@yahoo.com, ninja123@yahoo.com, sexysam@yahoo.com, seriousjoe@gmail.com are not professional email addresses. Change it. Your email should have a combination of your names, firstnamelastname@gmail.com, lastnamefirstname@yahoo.com, firstname.lastname@gmail.com, lastname.firstname@yahoo.com
Your telephone number should also have the country code.
- Your summary
Not more than 1 paragraph. Summarize who you are. If you can’t sell yourself no one can. Focus on information the rest of the CV will not provide. It should be like writing ‘Myself’ all over again. Your values and passions, exceptional skills and/or educational qualification goes here.
- Key expertise
Keep these in bullet points. No more than 5 points. Highlight your key expertise that aligns with the role advertised. Do not write long sentences. Most employers know the skills they are looking for thus keep it short
- Work experience
Focus on your most recent employment first. If you have never been employed write in your most recent internship and/or any paid engagement first. Be sure to add the role you played in those jobs. Remember the potential employer was not there thus you need to sell it. Keep the job roles under headings. Makes for easy reading. Align the headings to the core skills the potential employer is looking for. Do same for previous jobs.
Remember to add career highlights or key achievements within those roles. Is it an award you won, an exceptional target you met, recognition by a prominent institution or individual etc? these are all relevant for selling yourself to the potential employer. Everyone is excited about an applicant who spoke on the same panel with Kofi Annan or received recognition from the CEO of their company for meeting a particular target.
- Education
Focus on your tertiary education stating the year of completion, the institution and certificate acquired. Unless it is important, end at your first degree or diploma level. In these days of networks, your secondary school can be a good sell if the employer is also from same school. You decide whether to include these or not.
- Other skills and training
State other trainings you have benefited from. These are skills outside of a formal education setting. Could be a workshop, or soft skills trainings you have taken including the ones you have taken on the YEA Job Centre portals. Use bullet points to list these. Do not write too much. State the training tittle, who organised it and year of taking it if you remember. If you get called for an interview, take along all the certificates for these trainings. If you don’t have it do not worry. Your certificates from the jobs portal are always there in your profile to download and print. Employers you are connected to through the Job Centre will already have seen your CV via the portal.
- Reference
Your referees are as important as your CV itself. A simple statement from them can make or unmake you. It is cool to have someone who is senior and famous but also remember your referee should be ready to speak highly of you and available to answer their phone when the call is placed. Always inform your referee anytime you are sending an application with their name on it. A simple SMS to them will do. This is to ensure that they know and are on standby to answer a call. As much as possible, change your references; pick people from the sector your potential job is in.
You are not alone. The YEA Job Centre Careers team will support in shaping your CV and improve your skills in developing your CV.