A Curriculum
Vitae (CV) is an important document.
It should be prepared properly with an expert knowledge and every job seeker and applicant must learn to prepare one professionally, because it tells prospective employers about your ability, education, experience, interests and attitudes etc. Employers want to know you better.
They want to
know what you can do and how they can help you in case of inefficiencies in
some skills, so that they can offer you a job.
It is therefore advisable to keep employers in mind when preparing your documents.
Your CV is
your weapon to use to win yourself a job and face the challenges of employers.
Prospective employers may ask you detailed questions about things you have listed on your CV.
Presenting your
CV in a good format makes a difference.
This often determines whether you will get a job or not. It also tells the employer areas you will need
training in before you are allowed to touch their tools.
Writing a CV
well, writing a winning cover letter, and good interview techniques are the
main weapons every job seeker should be equipped with before leaving an institution
of learning.
With these three things one
has an excellent chance to get a job.
We can summarize the
qualities of a good C.V in three words:
Brevity Simplicity Clarity
The quality
of your CV wins you a job. It is therefore important to make it brief, easy and
readable, well written and arranged in a comprehensive manner.
Some
curriculum vitae have a paragraph at the beginning. It summarizes how one views himself or herself.
For example: “I am a dedicated lawyer who works equally well
as part of a team or by using my independent initiative.
My
strengths include: attention to detail,
results driven, creative thinking, and effective organization skills.”
The above
summarizing paragraph should be written with lots of care.
This is because you
want your prospective employer to appreciate your skills and yet not think you
are a proud and boastful, or someone who exaggerates their abilities.
The CV
should contain a lot of information relevant to a job application.
It should
give a prospective employer a comprehensive look at the skills of the
applicant.
Update your
CV every time you apply for a job, keeping in mind the required skills stated
in the job advertised.
The
prospective employer should see what he wants in your CV. It should not be an overly colorful presentation
that you are not able to substantiate and defend if you are offered a job.
There is no
permanently prepared CV.
Your document should be updated according to the requirement of each new job applied for, newly achieved status, title and certification or roles you have gained so far.
I personally recommend job seekers
to learn how to prepare their own CV.
Hire a professional to teach you how to
prepare one so that you are able to update it every time you apply for a job.
If it is too expensive to hire a professional
to update your CV every time you apply for a new job, learn to prepare your own.
A CV is your personal selling document
for a job and therefore you must to learn how to produce one.
Applying for
a job means you prepare and submit a standard CV and a letter of
application.
Never send a CV alone.
Never send a CV alone.
The
letter of application, or cover letter, should be extracted from the content of
the curriculum vitae.
The CV
should be comprehensive and should not be too short.
The maximum length would be less than three pages.
Remember readers of your CV are very busy people.
They need to grasp the content of your CV as quickly as possible.
Bear in mind that you are not the only job seeker; you need to make your CV outstanding.
Every Job
seeker should remember the following creed: “When others are seated, remain standing. When
others are standing, become outstanding.
When all are outstanding, become the measure of standards.”
This is the only way one can survive the
competitive world we live in.
Your CV
should keep the reader involved with you in order to qualify you for the next
stage, which is the Interview.
I
give details on how to go about an interview here.
