Let’s be honest, writing a good CV can have you feeling this way ?
From trying to figure out what to actually add under experience to wondering whether five pages is enough to make a good impression on the potential employer. Trust us, we have been there as well. So from our experience and research, here are some CV writing tips to help you with your next job application.
If you want to access a bunch of resources we have collected for you, click on this link to check them out.
Keep in mind what the objective is of a CV
You need to provide a concise, factual overview of your past professional and
personal experiences which might be relevant to a future employer. Ask yourself, “is my CV properly conveying the hard facts that I would like my future employer to know about me?”
”Ask yourself: Is my CV properly conveying the hard facts that I would like my future employer to know about me?
Structure like your life depends on it
It is useful to structure the facts and use formatting for emphasis
Typically CVs are structured by topic:
- Education
- Work Experience
- Personal Interests
- General Skills (e.g. languages, computer/software etc)
Within each topic, the most straightforward way to list your experiences is
chronologically. Other structures can of course be used if they are logical. A lot of people make the mistake of not doing this, don’t be that guy. As long as there is a (good) consistent structure, you’ve won half the battle.
Format like a boss
Don’t be afriad to use underlines, bold or italic fonts, and font sizes to emphasize the structure of your CV. This makes it miles easier to read and gives, wait for it, more structure. Again, make sure that the use of formatting is consistent throughout! Equally important in this regard is to keep the CV to 1-2 pages maximum. This is even more important when you’re a student who is applying for one of their first jobs.
”Ask yourself: Is it easy for someone to differentiate between the headings and the body?
Focus on relevance rather than exhaustiveness
It is better to allocate more attention (and space on the page) to your most
relevant accomplishments. For example, there is no need to mention all phone numbers you have and more often than not, you don’t need to mention where you went in primary school ?
Instead: mention the one phone number an employer can actually reach you at; allocate a bit more space to the highlights of your time at university; put in the spotlight that you like sports generally but that you are exceptionally good at the one.
”Ask yourself: What are the top 3 things I definitely want my future employer to remember from looking at my CV, and are they not ‘drowning’ in a sea of other information?
Show, don’t tell
Don’t list that one of your skills is teamwork but your CV doesn’t make a single mention of a time when you were successful in a team. In general, stay away from listing soft skills as skill.
Also, enrich the list of facts by mentioning the highlights and impact of your experiences.
These highlights could be: an activity you excelled at or that you took the lead on; a life lesson you learnt from the experience; the impact of your project on the community; skills you have learnt, etc. If you can quantify the impact, it is even better. This is a great way to make the CV both:
- more personal (what is making you different from the other students doing the same major?)
- more relevant to your employer (why are some of these experiences relevant to the employer?).
A good practice is to have a ‘base’ version of your CV and tailor it a bit depending on the employer.
”Ask yourself: Am I fully conveying the richness of my experiences, and how
relevant are they to the employer I’m applying with?
Alright, that’s it from us, remember to check out the resources at the bottom for some extra information!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to shoot us an email at contact@jobox.co.za so we can help you
Also, if you want to apply for other jobs, head over to this page ? http://joinjobox.com/job-status-page/
Thank you for the updates, really mean a lot. Also a huge thanks to the helpful CV writing tips.