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TITLE AND SUBJECT OF ARTICLE
How To Write A
Graduate CV
The old saying "You never get a second chance to make a
first impression" is absolutely true when it comes to
applying for a job and your CV is the first opportunity
you will get to impress a potential employer. If your CV
is not carefully written you may never get a second
chance.
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The old saying "You never get a second
chance to make a first impression" is absolutely true
when it comes to applying for a job and your CV is the
first opportunity you will get to impress a potential
employer. If your CV is not carefully written you may
never get a second chance.
What Format Do You
Use?
The difference between a Graduate CV and the
CV of a person established in the workplace (sometimes
called a Performance CV) is predominately one of
emphasis.
A Performance CV is written in reverse
chronological order, beginning with Profile, then a list
of Achievements, Career History, Skills, Education,
Personal Information and Interests. It is designed to
highlight achievements and responsibilities in a
person’s career. The main emphasis is on job titles and
the companies they have worked for.
As a graduate
this can seem intimidating as you suddenly realise that
three years hard academic study doesn’t seem to provide
enough experience to complete a CV.
Your
emphasis, therefore, should be on the ‘Profile’ and
‘Achievements’ sections of your CV, which are in the
focal point, i.e. one third down from the top of the
page, where it is thought that the human eye is
naturally drawn.
The format can be the same as
the Performance CV because:
1. It is the most
popular and therefore makes it easy for the reader to
scan your CV quickly and find the information they need.
2. The ‘Education’ section provides a concise
list of qualifications that, although valuable, may not
distinguish you enough from other applicants for you to
be invited for interview. Therefore this section can
remain further down the CV just as it is on the
Performance CV whilst a summary is written in the
‘Profile’ and ‘Achievements’ sections.
Profile
This is a statement in the focal point of your CV that
summarises what you have to offer. The key is to
emphasise the transferable skills gained while at Uni
that will be of benefit to a potential employer.
Examples could be drawn from your educational
achievements, foreign travel, work experience, and
involvement in clubs and voluntary work. You must be
specific and concise and a full description of your
skills with evidence should be written elsewhere in the
CV. The reader should be able to see that the skills
described in the ‘Profile’ are relevant to the vacancy
they are trying to fill otherwise they may not bother
reading any further.
Achievements
This section
should be used only to highlight specific achievements
that are relevant to the job for which you are applying.
It is a good idea to complete it after you have written
the rest of your CV. Pick out a maximum of six,
preferably write them in bullet points and if you cannot
think of any then leave this section out altogether.
Work Experience
Both employers and students know
that the University environment is unique and very
different to the full-time workplace. Employers need to
have re-assurance that you have had experience in the
‘real world’. Your work experience therefore is very
important on your CV, whether it was a summer job,
part-time work, voluntary, or an industrial placement.
Any job will have provided you with valuable skills
and experience that should be highlighted to an employer
and linked to the requirements of the job.
For
example: A part-time job in the local petrol station
provides cash-handling skills, customer service
experience, diplomacy, stock control, ability to accept
responsibility, able to work in a team and/or work on
your own initiative, willing to learn new skills,
trustworthiness, hardworking, able to cope with routine
tasks.
Skills
This section gives you an
opportunity to list your computer skills, languages, and
any extra-curricular courses you have taken outside your
degree. Make sure you include the level you have
achieved, for example: fluent German, conversational
Italian, regular use of all Microsoft Office
Applications.
Education
Start with your most
recent qualification, which may be your degree or a
post-graduate course. Do not list every course or module
that you have studied but include any that are relevant
to the job you are applying for including presentations,
projects and travel as part of your course. Only include
grades if they are impressive.
A levels, or other
qualifications achieved before university, should only
be included if relevant.
Interests
Many
professional CV writing companies advise not to include
any interests, as they are rarely relevant to the job
for which you are applying. However, it is a good idea
to add some information about how you spend your free
time for two reasons: firstly, it gives the reader a
rounded picture of you as an individual secondly, if
invited for interview your interests are often discussed
as a soft introduction to the interview before the more
searching questions are asked. If you include interests
in your CV try not to just write a list but include a
fuller description of your involvement.
E & O E -
Copyright 2005 <a href="http://cvwriting.net">
CVwriting.net</a>
How to Write an
English CV
The purpose of an English CV is to sell yourself: An
English CV is seen as an opportunity to sell yourself
and should emphasise your skills, experiences and
achievements. You should include successes and wherever
possible include facts and figures to support your
claims. Do NOT include information that is negative.
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Important Points When Writing an English
CV
The purpose of an English CV is to sell
yourself: An English CV is seen as an opportunity to
sell yourself and should emphasise your skills,
experiences and achievements. You should include
successes and wherever possible include facts and
figures to support your claims. Do NOT include
information that is negative.
Spelling and
Grammar Check: Correct spelling and grammar are of
absolute importance in an English CV. Employers will NOT
tolerate any mistakes. It is very important that a
native English speaker checks your CV before you send it
to an English-speaking employer.
CVwriting.net
can provide a full spelling and grammar check and
suggest any changes to the content of your CV in line
with what employers expect.
Do not include a
photo: Most English employers do NOT like to see a photo
on the CV and, in fact, including one could work against
you. Only include a photo if it has been specifically
requested for a particular job application.
English Language skills: This is a very important aspect
of your CV and your professional career. You must
explain your knowledge of the English language under the
‘Skills’ heading. Describe your level of knowledge as
one of the following:
• Bilingual – You can speak
English as well as your mother tongue
• Fluent – You
have a complete working knowledge of the English
language, both written and speaking.
• Working
knowledge- you have a good practical knowledge of
English for professional purposes.
• Conversational –
You can converse adequately in English with good
comprehension.
English CV Format:
Your
name, address, telephone number and email address should
appear at the top of your English CV. Always use a
capital letter at the beginning of a name including the
name of a street, town or country. Do NOT put CV or
Curriculum Vitae as a heading.
Your CV should be
produced on a word processor, not hand written, and be
available softcopy as a Word or PDF file. If you are
printing your CV you should use good quality paper.
An employer will scan your CV in thirty seconds
looking for keywords that are relevant to the vacancy he
is trying to fill. Keep your CV short and concise so
that your positive attributes stand out. Your CV should
be no more than two pages long.
Do NOT use
initials for company names or qualifications, as these
could be meaningless to an English employer. Always
write the words in full.
Headings:
1.
Profile: This is an opportunity to summarise the skills
and experience you have described elsewhere in your CV.
It is the first part of the CV that the employer will
read. It should be only one or two paragraphs long
otherwise the reader may not go on to read the rest of
your CV. You should also include your career
aspirations.
2. Achievements: list any special
achievements from your career history or education that
may make you stand out from other candidates. List no
more than six.
3. Career History: This is a very
important part of your CV. The most common CV format is
written in reverse-chronological order. Start with your
most recent employment and work backwards. List the
dates between which you worked for each employer the
name of the employer, your position and the location at
which you worked. Write a short description of the
company and then describe your responsibilities
including facts and figures as much as possible.
4. Skills: In an English CV it is necessary to list
particular technical, professional or other skills
separate from your career history. An English employer
will not necessarily be familiar with non-English
professional qualifications therefore you must explain
each one.
5. Education: You must enter your
highest qualification first, then where achieved, and
then dates. Make sure you explain any non-English
qualifications or try and put the English equivalent,
e.g. Baccalaureate, French equivalent to the Higher
Leaving Certificate and A levels. Do not include grades
unless they are particularly impressive.
6.
Personal details: It is not necessary to include all of
your personal details on an English CV as your skills
and experience are of paramount importance. However, you
need to include your nationality and it is normal to
include your Date of Birth such as: 11th November 1967.
Do not put your age.
7. Interests. You do not
have to include your interests on an English CV but they
will help to give the employer a rounded picture of you
as an individual.
Signature: It is not necessary
to personally sign your English CV.
E & O E -
Copyright 2005 <a href="http://cvwriting.net">
CVwriting.net</a>
How to Write
Checklists
Writing a checklist, to provide steps in a process or to
convey the impression of organized content, is best done
by following a few standard conventions, which we review
here.
checklist, strategic checklist, effective
communication
There are a number of strategic
reasons for using checklists, a writing format which
helps you make your point(s) by writing at least some of
your document in lists, rather than all in standard
paragraphs. For example, checklists may convey the idea
that you have carefully analyzed a situation, that a
sequence should be followed, or that you are a
well-organized person.
In this article, I have a
follow-up, in which we look at the creation of
checklists.
How you create your checklist will
depend on its type. In some cases, you will want readers
to follow a sequence of steps; this is a sequential
checklist. On the other hand, if it's just a list, like
a shopping list, then it would be a non-sequential list.
If you write non-sequential checklists, use
bullets or boxes to indicate a new line or new item, as
in:
* something
* something else
* another
thing again
One quick note about bullets: if
you're printing and distributing the message, then you
can use conventional bullet forms (usually a square or
round dot, whether solid or hollow). If you're sending
the message by email, use an asterisk because not all
email programs handle bullets properly (something to do
with ASCII characters).
If the steps must be
taken in sequence, then you'll use numbers or letters as
your bullets. And, if that sequence has several
sub-steps within each step, you would follow convention
by using these types of characters, in this order:
*
Roman numeral;
* Capital letter;
* Standard
(Arabic) number;
* Lower case letter.
For
example:
I The Beginning
A. The first part of the
Beginning
1. The first part of the first part
a)
and so on.
Indentations are helpful when working
with highly structured checklists, like these. They show
at a glance the importance of each component in the
list.
A couple of other types of checklist might
also be considered -- flowcharts and mind-maps. A
flow-chart means a series of boxes illustrating the
linear steps in a process. These are especially helpful
if the checklist includes decision points. For example,
"If the computer starts, do this" or "If the computer
DOES NOT start, do that."
A mind-map refers to a
number of boxes with interconnecting lines (not
necessarily in a sequence, but perhaps showing
interrelationships). In this case, the idea is to show
how different aspects of the same issue connect with
each other.
One final thought: outliners,
whether stand-alone or in word processors can provide
checklists, along with appropriate indentations. If the
content fits the checklist format, an outliner may help
you create one quickly and easily.