8 Tips To Drafting A Good Curriculum Vitae

There is no need to write Curriculum Vitae on top of the first pages of your CV; the appearance alone tells an employer it is a CV.

1. Name and Address.     

 Name Surname/Family Name in Capital Letters. (Some people underline but bold type is enough)
 

Address: Postal Address/Physical address

   Email Address

   Mobile Phone (should be in bold type and lower case)

2. Personal Details.

Your Sex: If not easily identified from your name.

Date of Birth (D.O.B.) in full form

Nationality (passport/ID, if appropriate)

Marital Status .

3. Education background/qualification, Schools, Colleges and University attended.

Put qualifications achieved in chronological order.  

  Don’t forget colleges attended as a mature student or qualifications obtained at part time studies, correspondent studies, or evening classes. 

4. Work experience/employment.

If you are straight from school or college, provide the responsibilities you held at the community level or clubs in school or college.   

For example, if you are applying for a sales job and you have been assisting in patent selling, that is an experience employers will want to know about.  

 It is also importance to emphasize your social skills and how you can deal with people and whether you understand the type of job you have applied for.

For appointments held, start with the job title, name of employer, date of employment, and a brief summary of duties involved.  Remember to be brief and not too detailed.

Emphasizing responsibilities completed is very significant as are highlights of personal achievements and promotions.   

These should be arranged in a chronological order starting from the most recent. This gives the employer a view of your capability in case he or she is in a hurry.  

 At the least, the employer will read the recent information or about the present job you are doing, and leave the rest. 

5. Memberships / Professional Associations.

It is important to belong to professional associations or clubs.   

This could include: journalist associations, lawyers associations, doctors associations or a surveyor association. 

 Listing these will give the employer a reason to trust you as being a qualified person.  

 Identifications or recommendations from these bodies prove that you are licensed to practice, or sufficiently qualified.

(Note) Do not lie. You can omit this part if it is not appropriate to you.

6. Interests

Do not list all interests. Provide one or two.  Listing interests invites questions demanding answers.  If you list too many, the employer may wonder when you have time to attend all your listed hobbies.  

 However, listing your main hobbies and interests will give an indication of some of  your ideas, ability, and character.

7. Summary of Skills

Apart from academic qualifications there are important skills that boost your curriculum vitae. 

 List them.  You should not compile more than five. 

These are especially important if required in the field you’re seeking employment from.

For example:

• computing skills
• photography skills
• communications
• typing ability

8. References

Not every employer requires this part but if you’re asked to, do so. This is why it is important to update your Curriculum Vitae for every job you are applying.  

 Read the requirement of the job and give exactly what is asked for in your CV.

Provide three educational, professional and personal references, if needed. 

Usually two or three are requested by the employer.   

Please give the employer what he or she wants, not what you think they want.

Have a wonderful time.