ADVICE FOR PREPARING YOUR CV
It is you first selling tool, so get it right !

Finding a job can be difficult, and your CV (which is an abbreviation of the Latin curriculum vitae, meaning story of your life) also referred to as Resume (in American English) could make or break that essential next step: an interview invitation. Since you only get one chance to make a first impression, make sure your CV inspires a potential employer to read it and remember it.

Remember, a CV is like a personal brochure. It must promote your strengths and aptitudes and demonstrate the benefits you can bring to the employer's organization. That means tailoring your CV to a specific position wherever possible (in other words, you may find that you need to modify your CV and stress certain aspects, based on the type of role you are applying for). It therefore requires finding out as much as you can about the company and the requirements of the role. Above all, it means thinking like an employer - What are they looking for? What key elements did they ask for in the job description? How specifically are you suited for this particular role and organization?

Always bear in mind that the person who receives your CV, is usually a senior or middle manager, with numerous responsibilities; he/she would spend only a few seconds deciding whether to read it or not. If they find it interesting and attractive to look at, they might give it 1 or 2 minutes before deciding if it is interesting enough and whether to proceed further.

What an employer really wants to know in the shortest possible time and without effort:

• What does the CV owner do/know and does he fit ?
• Are they interesting enough for the employer to be invited for an interview ?

Your CV is not only to get you to that first interview, it can continue to work in your favor even after it has obtained an interview for you. It can help you at an interview by carefully focusing the interviewer's mind on your good points and on your achievements. Once you have left the interview, the interviewer will probably reread it before making a decision, either on who should be invited to the second interview stage or who the job should be offered to.

Hence to maximize your chances, there are guidelines you should be aware of for both the presentation (the Look) of the CV and the content (information). In all cases, the golden rule is: "Keep your CV short and simple. Try to focus on what you have to offer in the future - this can be demonstrated by what you achieved in the past". Our key advice is presented below:

A. CV Presentation (layout / look):
While content is of course more important, it is the presentation that encourages a potential employer to read further as previously stated. Therefore you should observe the following:

1. The presentation of your CV is important and should promote and present you in a professional way - at the same time it must be attractive enough for the reader to want to meet you. Therefore Forget about the word-processed CV template with its fancy typestyles, ornate boxes, highlighted frames and colored paper. Such things may get your CV noticed, but not in the right way.

2. Your CV should be produced using a modern word-processing package, namely Microsoft Word and printed on a high quality laser printer. We had to mention this, since we occasionally see CVs produced on Excel or Power Point !!!! (a big NO). Also avoid making hand written corrections on your printed CV… sadly enough it happens, it looks cheap and uninterested. If you need to add a number or change one single word, print it again.

3. Use the tab key of your key board (rather than the space bar) to indent information to create a neat effect.

4. Only use white colored paper.

5. Only use black font and avoid too many italics. Do not use shadows, reversed types of condensed type. Also do not insert clip arts or frames to decorate it. This is not a magazine cover or a poster you are designing !

6. Limited use of bold type and underlining is advisable (restricted to section headings etc…)

7. Remember you are not sending your CV to test someone's eye sight, also the potential employer has not been waiting for it for the last 3 years. So make it easy for him by using a friendly font and style: 12 to 14 is the best to go with Times New Roman. Of course needless to say, an all Capital CV is a big no no.

8. Keep your CV no longer than two pages (one if you are a recent graduate). In very special cases it could grow to three pages and that is when you have lots of experience and educational/training achievements (unlikely for someone with less than 15 years of working experience). So limit yourself and make sure every word carries weight - an ability to summarize information in a relevant and interesting way is a skill in itself.

9. There is no need to attach certificates and identification documents to your CV unless it is explicitly requested by a potential employer. Their time will come, at this stage, they could be a nuisance.

B. CV Content:
OK, now you have convinced the targeted manager to read your CV, what should it say ?

1. The content of your CV should be organized in a number of sections, each with the objective of present a certain aspect of you. These are normally:

(I) personal information: name, gender, age, nationality, marital status, address and contacts;
(II) your work experience: both full time and part time jobs, including summer internships,
(III) Education and training: your formal education degrees (BSc, Masters, Diploma etc…) in addition to training courses in various fields, in addition to professional certifications such as CPA, Microsoft Certified, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing etc…
(IV) other relevant information about you: PC/Information Technology competence, languages, membership of professional organizations, extra curricular activities (Active in a non for profit organization, editor of the university newspaper, player in the basket ball league etc…)

2. Throughout your CV, avoid words such as "expert", "outstanding", "top" etc… (unless you really mean what you are saying), also avoid old fashioned words that do not mean anything, such as "esteemed", "honored" etc..

3. Start with your employment history first, starting with your most recent work experience and work backwards chronologically from there. Some recruiters find other CV formats hard to follow and suspect you may be covering up flaws or gaps. In this regard, you do not need to include the day, e.g. put September 1993 - December 1995 instead of 13/9/1993 - 31/12/1995.

4. In the employment history, help the reader know about the various entities you worked for. Thus include a line about what the company does. For example: do not just say you worked for Mentor Graphics assuming all readers know exactly what it is, but add a line under the name describing it "a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and support for electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company employs approximately 3,700 people worldwide."

5. In the employment history, for each job include a brief statement about what you did and if you had special achievements. Hence, do not just say you were an "accountant" or "technical support" but clarify what you worked on and if there is anything special you accomplished. This will help the reader better assess your CV and differentiate you from others.

6. Employment history should be followed by Education and training courses.

7. Do not leave time gaps of more than a year, it will keep the reader wondering about what you were doing, and he/she will only assume you were unemployed. Therefore, if you were on maternity leave, military service etc… you must include it.

8. Avoid using abbreviations (eg. OCI, CRM …) unless is it unavoidable. It you have to use them always explain what they stand for between brackets. Remember you do not know who will be reading your CV and your objective is to facilitate the task not to test the reader.

9. Avoid phrases using I, me and my.

10. Avoid complicated phrases. Simple phrases are always the best.

11. Including a passport size photo is not obligatory (unless explicitly requested by a potential employer in an advertisement). If you include a photo, it should be relatively recent (not since high school) and should look professional: not too much make up and fancy hair for ladies; men should be in a suit (preferable) or at least in a shirt and matching neck tie.

And finally:

• Check and re-check - spelling and grammatical errors are a big turn-off to potential employers. Misspellings, misused words and grammatical mistakes are avoidable yet reflect poorly on you.
• Check your draft CV thoroughly when you have finished it and get a second opinion. Potential employers know (and expect) that you have been at your best when preparing your CV (ie. above your normal quality and attention), therefore poor presentation, repetitions or spelling mistakes would lead to negative conclusions about you.
• Remember, that a CV should never ever be sent without a cover letter. The CV is half the story, it is only complete with the Cover Letter. Check the skill-link.com's Interest Zone "Career Resources" section for advice regarding the cover letter and its importance.