Writing perfect curriculum Vitae is highly important to impress a prospective employer. This is will be the first impression, so it needs to stand out from the rest. Generally candidates pen exhaustive details which at times add no values. For getting shortlisted to an interview it needs to say a lot, but in less words. Ultimately it needs to shine out.
The Latin phrase Curriculum Vitae (CV) translates into English as something like "the race of life". In a competitive job market in which people are defined by what they do, this translation makes perfect sense: a good CV can give you an immensely valuable head start in the race that is your working life.
Start with contact details:
When writing a CV, keep it simple, clear and in order. The employer needs to be able to see who you are and clearly see your education and work history. It needs to be typed in a readable font which is consistent throughout. The layout needs to show clear headings, dates and grades. If it looks messy, it will end up in the bin.
Keep it neat and small:
A dirty or rather an unorganized CV will land either in a trash can or a recycle-bin. Like a user-friendly product, the CV also needs to be reader-friendly. If you think creating confusion can increase your chances of getting shortlisted, better think twice.
Along with you there are too many others who would have also applied for the same job. The employer would prefer to go through all the CVs, so as to not miss out on the ideal candidate. If you are writing a novella then they have other reading options.
Write short and crisp sentences
Long sentences are difficult to read and understand. Use punctuation marks properly to keep your sentences short and crisp.
English and Grammar
While you are preparing / formatting your CV in a word processing software like MS Word / Open Office don’t forget to use the built in Spell Check and Grammar Checking tools
Provide a career summary:
Your career summary appears on the first screen of recruiter’s computer. It should say all about you and the recruiter should be able to decide by looking at these 7-8 lines if they want to call you for an interview or not.
Work experience is more important than qualification:
If you have a work experience, qualification takes a back seat. Provide information about your work experience focussing on your achievements which display your skills. If you add some numbers to the achievements, it helps you in increasing the level of interest in a recruiter.
Educational qualifications:
Provide your educational qualifications in chronologically descending order. People are more interested in finding out about your recent past. If you have not scored good marks, avoid providing the percentage of marks you scored.
Include the relevant information. Your CV may require a little bit of modification according to the type of opening you are applying for. You may need to expose different facets of your personality and work experience for different openings.
Most Important: Honesty
Integrity carries more weight age than work experience or academic qualification.
With mandatory pre-employment screening, catching lies is easier. These verifications are usually carried out by professional third party pre-employment verification firms. Candidates who feel that they can bluff and go out easily should need to think otherwise. An employer would prefer to employ a honest person with acceptable records, rather than one who has lied and still boast of exemplary accomplishments.
