How to Write an Ideal CV
It’s crucial to spend some time to research how to write an ideal CV and prepare for your resume rewrite, whether you intend to utilise a professional resume-writing service or do it on your own.
The quality of your CV depends entirely on the information you include, and most professionals are self-conscious about their resumes and writing abilities.
Keep your CV action-oriented since it serves as a marketing tool. Avoid using words like “results-oriented,” “team player,” “great communication skills,” or “hard worker,” which are flowery and high-level. Here are some general principles:
- Maintain a consistent format and tone.
- Keep enough white space.
- Consistently use capitalisation, underlining, italics, and spacing to emphasise points.
- Arrange headings according to importance.
- List information under headings in reverse chronological order (most recent first)
- If you are converting to a PDF, ensure that your formatting will transfer correctly.
- Limit it to one page (two pages are OK if you're a professional in your mid- or late-career).
- What to leave out:
- A list of references: If you move further in the employment process, hiring managers will ask for this, so you don't even need to say "references available upon request."
- A photo: Including a photograph of oneself makes you appear unprofessional and may create unconscious prejudice, regardless of how good your selfie game is.
- Age or sex: Be professional at all times. It's not a Tinder profile; it's a CV.
- Employ personal pronouns, like "I."
- Each line should not begin with a date.
Specific Resumes for each Application
A strong CV should be customised for the position and industry you’re looking for. Although you don’t have to alter every single element, your resume should highlight the knowledge and expertise that a hiring manager would find valuable.
Resume Format
Contact information, a summary, professional experience, skills, education, volunteer activities, professional connections, and language proficiency make up the fundamental structure of a resume.
Contact Details
On your CV pick just one phone number and one email address. We advise utilising your mobile phone number on your CV and creating an email address just for job-search purposes. Add a hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile as well.
Any links to websites, portfolios, blogs, or social media accounts that are pertinent to your job should also be included on your resume.
Summary
A concise one-paragraph overview of your abilities, education, and experience should serve as the summary.
Your Professional History
Work backward from your most recent position. Your most recent roles should be listed in full on your ideal resume, along with a summary of any positions you held more than 15 years ago. Include your internships and any employment experience you have had since beginning college, especially if you just finished.
- List the following details for each role:
- Business name and website.
- Position.
- Start and End Dates with month and year.
- Job Description: Your duties and obligations in relation to your desired position.
- Accomplishments: Whenever you can, quantify your achievements. For example, describe how you helped the business earn income, save money, increase productivity, or improve customer happiness.
Early Career Background
Make a list of the positions you’ve held, the names of each employer, the places you’ve worked, and the dates you were employed in each.
Technical Knowledge and Competencies
List anything that applies to your line of work, being as thorough and precise as you can. The items on this list can range from project management tools and computer languages to social media platforms.
Education and Career Advancement
Record all your education, starting with the most recent. Include the name of the school, its location, your major and minor subjects, your graduation year, and any honours that came with the degree.
Volunteer Work
In chronological sequence, starting with your most recent volunteer activity, include all your past volunteer work that is related to your current career objectives.
Organisational Memberships
List any memberships in professional groups or affiliations that are relevant. Describe your tasks and any noteworthy accomplishments if you participated actively in the organisation.
If you are multilingual, indicate your level of proficiency in each language you speak.
