The word Curriculum
Vitae literally translated means the story of your life. The words Curriculum Vitae
are usually abbreviated to CV or C.V. and you will sometimes see it incorrectly
written in lower case as c.v. or cv. The possessive form of Curriculum Vitae / CV
should be written as Curriculum Vitae's or C.V.'s or CVs, but not as c.v.'s or cv's.
Your CV is a very important document; with it rest your hopes and dreams for the
future - that next step up the career ladder, a better position, more money, new
challenges, etc. Your CV therefore has to represent the best you have to offer if
you do not want to miss out on that job you saw which was 'perfect' for you.
General CV tips
- These days you can write your CV in the first person (i.e. I have) or the third
person (i.e. he/she has). However, you do not need to use 'I', 'he' or 'she' in
a CV because its use is implied.
- Do mention things you are good at, but do not go over the top. You can oversell
yourself.
- Don't mention things that you are bad at or say negative things about yourself in
your CV.
- Make sure that the CV you write conjures up the right image of you and your skills,
capabilities and achievements. If you do not match the picture you have painted
with your CV at the interview, then your application will not be taken further.
- Be careful when you use abbreviations - they can be misunderstood.
- If you are not happy with your CV or you only seem to get rejection letters then
please get a professional CV writing service to write it for you. Yes, you will
have to pay for it. But, it could save you a lot of time, lead to you getting less
rejection letters and hopefully you should get an interview that much quicker.
- Use bullets rather than paragraphs Another way to improve your CV is to get rid
of paragraphs. Paragraphs are great in your profile section, but should not be used
throughout your CV. Use bullets to create a more readable CV. Always keep in mind
that the recruiter normally scans through hundreds of CVs and should be able to
identify the main points within 30 seconds.
- CV length Even though the shorter CV is preferred, you shouldn’t cram the information
to fit on one or two pages. You need a lot of white space and if your experience
and qualifications necessitate more space then use an extra page. Many job hunters
have far too long CVs because they repeat tasks and accomplishments for every job.
You can shorten your CV by eliminating duplicate entries. Avoid having a full page,
followed by a quarter-page information. In this case you should try to condense
the content to fit on one page. You can do this by setting the margins and by using
a smaller font, but not smaller than 11. If you are using headings on the left side
with the information on right side, you can switch to headings on top with the information
below. You should thus get rid of two columns and use one instead.
