You are the product, and your CV is an advertisement. Your goal is to persuade potential employers to believe in what you're selling, thus refining your CV should be your first priority when looking for work.
Employers are drawn to well-formatted CVs that include eye-catching details. It's critical to know what to include in your CV to swiftly demonstrate your abilities if you want to stand out. Otherwise, it may be tossed into the "no" pile before the hiring manager has a chance to see your entire skillset.
When you've finished your CV, don't forget to write a cover letter to go with it, tailoring each one to the job description's needs. We've put together a collection of pointers to assist you:
What exactly is a CV?
Curriculum Vitae stands for Curriculum Vitae. It's your resume, and it demonstrates to an employer that you have the necessary abilities and experience for the position you've applied for. Your CV's goal is to obtain you an interview for that position by demonstrating relevant facts that they would find interesting.
What exactly is a CV?
Include the following in your CV:
What font should I use?
Use a clean typeface with a size of 11 or 12 points. Although being unique is desirable, if a recruiter has 80 CVs to review, they may only spend 20 seconds on each one, so make sure the font is legible!
My tourism position has been eliminated. On my CV, how can I demonstrate that I have transferable skills?
Consider all of your professional abilities (reading your previous job descriptions may help). What abilities could you transfer to a new career or industry? Communication, leadership, problem-solving, interpersonal skills, and so on are examples. Now go to sites like Seek or Indeed to check if your transferrable abilities can be applied to a job that interests you. You might wish to talk to a career counselor about it.
Should my CV be long or short? I want to make an impression on a potential employer.
Two pages is a good length. Any more is simply too much to read, and any less is rarely sufficient to completely explain your abilities. You can incorporate personal experience from hobbies, sports, or volunteering if you don't have enough professional experience to cover two pages.
I have no idea what to include in my personal statement! It's difficult for me to talk about myself.
Make an effort to be authentic in your personal statement. If you're having trouble writing it down, read it out loud to yourself. It should be a brief description of yourself that will'sell' you to the employer. Don't use abbreviations or popular CV lingo like loyal, energetic, hardworking, self-starter, team player, etc. Just talk about the talents and expertise you have that are relevant to the position you want and the objectives you want to attain. It's enough to write about 50 words or four lines.
Should I prioritize my employment history or my schooling on my CV?
Unless you have never worked before, your work history is usually listed first because it is the most useful information for an employer to read. Make careful to include items in order of importance, starting with the most recent experience.
Is the most crucial aspect of my CV my prior jobs?
The Skills and Attributes section, which should always be on the first page directly beneath the Summary or Personal Objective section, is the most significant element. This is where you list your abilities and qualities that are relevant to the job you're applying for.
The recruiter or employer looks at the skills section to evaluate how well they match the job description.
Merrie McDougall, Career Consultant, can be reached at [email protected] for additional information.
Your most significant marketing weapon is your CV, which can make the difference between receiving an interview and not. You'll need to develop an accurate, easy-to-read CV that portrays your individuality, strengths, and accomplishments while also encouraging the reader to keep flipping the pages. Make sure your CV doesn't look exactly like everyone else's!
A CV is a historically based chronological record of your career experience, achievements, talents, and education. It could be one of 50 to 100 in a stack for a manager, recruiter, or HR department to read. The reader may not read every word and may just scan it for 15 to 20 seconds before deciding whether it is worth considering further.
Remove the cover sheet, avoid using photos, and avoid using bindings and plastic covers for paper-based reproductions. Your contact information should be prominently displayed on the home page and easily accessible. In New Zealand job applications, you are not required to submit information such as your age, marital status, or dependents. A skill or professional profile should be included at the top of every CV. A overview of your main experience, abilities, and accomplishments that are most relevant to the job you are applying for should be included.
If this is included, it should be beneath your personal contact information in the first portion of the front page. It is not required to include on a CV, and you may choose to do so. Only include one if you have a powerful and distinctive message, such as having recently returned to New Zealand, leaving a prestigious position or organization, or having recently graduated.
If applicable, provide a one-paragraph statement summarizing the most important information about yourself to entice the reader to continue reading. It might be major accomplishments, what you believe you can give a prospective employer, or determining your primary professional goal.
Examples:
A professionally qualified engineer with ten years of local body experience and a track record of management success. Motivates others, coaches others, and builds great teams. Looking for a challenging professional path that allows me to fully utilize my technical and leadership abilities.
An accomplished administrator with a track record of planning and organizing systems, procedures, and people in high-volume local government settings. Builds extremely productive relationships, is accurate, pays attention to detail, and thrives under pressure.
I am a well-organized and committed individual who pays close attention to detail and manages my time well. Work that is hard, engaging, and allows me to take responsibility appeals to me. Working for ABC Firm, a small energy company in Hawke's Bay, my present position is as a Team Leader in a busy Call Centre.
A skill or professional profile should be included at the start of a CV. This should be a description of your most relevant experience, talents, and accomplishments for the employment you're applying for. Some of them may vary based on the position you're going for; for example, you might have a statement about a specific industry. Each bullet point should be no more than three lines long.
Examples include:
Extensive expertise preparing and delivering technical product information seminars, as well as participation in local and international trade shows. Expert at providing technical help to consumers and employees.
Retail management: For ABC Store, I have 4 years of experience in all aspects of large-scale retail management, including hiring and supervising employees, team building, performance management, operational management, merchandising, and customer service management.
Statements from experts could include:
Skills in sales support:
Budgeting, pricing, preparing quotes, maintaining client records, correspondence, and developing promotional materials are all tasks that must be completed.
Marketing administration:
Successful track record in marketing management jobs, including category management and promotion, visual merchandising, space management, and brand management. Demonstrated expertise in the planning and implementation of new retail shop openings in core product areas.
Focus on customer service:
A strong dedication to creating a retail culture and procedures that actually focus on exceeding consumer expectations. Comprehensive knowledge of the New Zealand retail market.
Team leadership abilities:
Supervisory and team management experience with up to 40 personnel. Excellent operational management skills, including scheduling, rosters, meeting goals, and dealing with customer service issues. All areas of people management, including recruitment, training, and coaching, are mastered.
Facilitation and training:
Exceptional abilities, knowledge, and expertise in training need analysis, training program planning, methodology selection, and learning resource and manual preparation. Basic operating skills, induction, supervisory skills, competence assessment, mentoring, and other programs are available.
Examples of generic assertions are:
Interpersonal communication:
Excellent verbal and interpersonal communication skills, with extensive experience presenting to big and small groups, as well as working one-on-one with individuals. Quick to establish connections and ties with others.
Personal characteristics:
Worker who is highly autonomous and self-sufficient. Flexible and adaptive, she works well within tams and is a good time manager with a keen eye for detail.
Literacy with computers:
Outstanding keyboarding and database management abilities. MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SPSS are all familiar programs.
A job-related activity, project outcome, or objective that you have exceeded the targets and expectations specified in your job description is referred to as an achievement. It is not an accomplishment to have met all of my KPIs; it is what you are hired to do. To wow the reader, you'll need to quantify a success in some way, such as by exceeding expectations, working under pressure, or dealing with challenging or complex situations.
Training and Education:
This information should be presented in chronological order, with the most current information appearing first. Include the education or training provider's name, dates, and the title of the course or qualification. For tertiary qualifications, include major and minor subject specializations. If you need to provide a university transcript, put it in an appendix. If you have a lot of knowledge, you can divide it into two categories: tertiary education first, secondary education second, and professional training third.
Awards, volunteer work, and memberships in professional organizations:
Include those that are relevant to your present or former career, as well as some key talents and experience.
Personal passions:
This area should include any hobbies or volunteer activities that you do outside of work.
Referees:
You do not need to list the names of your recommendations in your CV; instead, you can mention that they will be provided upon request. This allows you to provide those that are most relevant to the role. Before including referees on your CV, make sure to ask if they are willing to give you a reference. This allows them to anticipate being approached once you begin looking for jobs. Choose professional referees, not friends or family members, who will deliver a good assessment. They should be an employer, coach, or mentor (if you have no employment experience).