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What is a Curriculum Vitae (CV)?
Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a Latin word. It is a short written description of your education, qualifications, previous jobs, etc. that you send to employers when applying to get a job.
Closely related to the CV is the Resume which is a French word meaning – “Summarized” or “Summary”.
How Long Should a CV Be?
A good curriculum vitae should ideally cover no more than two pages and never more than three. Aim to ensure the content is clear, structured, concise and relevant.
How to write CV
There are tons of sample CV’s, formats and templates out there, but there are key areas you might not be paying attention to. Read this 4 tips on writing a CV that increases your job candidacy level.
What to Include
- Contact details – Include your full name, home address, mobile number and email address.
- Profile – Placed at the beginning of the CV, a profile is a concise statement that highlights your key attributes or reasons for deciding to work in a particular field.
- Education – List and date all previous education, including professional qualifications, placing the most recent first.
- Work experience – List your experience in reverse chronological order, making sure that anything you mention is relevant to the job you’re applying for.
- Skills and achievements – This is where you talk about the foreign languages you speak and the IT packages you can competently use. Whatever you list should be relevant to the job and not over-exaggerated, as you’ll need to back up your claims at interview.
- Interests – Simply writing ‘socializing, going to the cinema and reading’ isn’t going to catch the attention of the recruiter. However, when relevant to the job, your interests can provide a more rounded picture of you and give you something to talk about at interview. Examples include writing your own blog if you want to be a journalist, or being part of a drama group if you’re looking to get into sales.
- References
What Not to Include
There is no need to include your photo, your salary history, or the reason you left your previous position, or references in your CV. References should be listed separately and given to employers upon request. You don’t need to provide the names of references at this stage.
Download Free CV sample template below:
