CV writing is a must for any one who want’s an opportunity to be interviewed.
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”.
Your CV must be 2 pages and nothing more. Both pages must have your names, preferably at the bottom of each page.
4 CV Writing Tips to Note
There are tons of sample CV’s, formats and templates out there, but there are key areas you might not be paying attention to. These 4 tips increases your job candidacy level.
Does your grade in school matter in your CV?
Yes. Include your final grade in your CV IF and ONLY IF it is a First class, Second class upper, Distinction in HND or Upper Credit. Be silent on any other thing asides the ones mentioned here.
Don’t include your 2.2 because it is very close to 2.1. No matter how strong your 2.2 is, don’t give details about it. Employers and recruiters quickly get attracted to candidates in the categories mentioned above (First class, Second class division etc.).
All you need is an opportunity to be interviewed. There, you can talk about and defend your grade if asked because employers/recruiters want to separate the men from the boys.
Working Experience
When you see job adverts requesting for a 10 to 15 years working experience, don’t bother to apply for such a job if you’re just starting out.
A requirement of 2 to 3 years of job experience suits a fresh graduate. You may think the only working experience you have is the one you had at your place of primary assignment during NYSC, but working experience includes things you do constantly for free.
These are things you do at church, mosque, for your parents, for NGO’s etc. If you’re the C.L.O during service year, you have an experience in team leading. The most important thing when writing your CV is to write exactly what you can do. No lies.
Your addresses and residential details
You definitely will need an email address. Make sure it is a reasonable one. (Emails like adesolasexybabe@whatsoever.com sends a bad message to recruiters, it doesn’t represent you as someone responsible).
One telephone number is sufficient. Don’t think maybe if one number is down, the other will be available and you because of that gave 4 numbers in your CV!
Buddy, don’t make telecommunication networks problem your own palava or do you want to start a call centre? One number is sufficient. So drop your best phone number.
Writing “Contact Address” in your CV sends a message to recruiters that you don’t live there. Use “Address“, “Home address” or “Residential Address”. Copying the CV format of other countries is not good enough. Write your CV to suit the requirement of the Nigerian labour market.
Referees
In your CV, minimum of two refrees is the standard. Maximum should be three. Using a family member as your referee is not acceptable.
You may ask; “what if I have worked with my uncle for about 2 years, can’t I use him as my referee?” you know what? Out of over 185 million Nigerians, employers are asking that you provide just three persons that you know and can recommend you. Is that too much? No, I guess.
Leveraging the power of Referees
It is advisable to inform those you intend to use as referees before including their details in your CV.
What if a recruiter calls one of your referees (e.g the Pastor of your church) and says “hello, is this Pastor Ajayi Joseph, do you know Mr. Shola Badmus?
And your pastor said “hmm emm hmmm, calling your name like three times to catch up with his memory; shola, hmm shola, hah shola. I think I know him, hmm, he should be one of my church members I guess. Hope no problem?”.
Guess what? The caller dropped the call already.
It will be so fantastic if the recruiter hears statements like: “Shola Badmus? He is so hardworking, a responsible gentleman, easy going and friendly. He’s a man of integrity and competent enough when it comes to (a particular skill), I can recommend him to anyone, he’s such a wonderful person”.
Click to download Free CV sample here
Don’t you think this one referee will increase your chances of getting that job?
Your referees must know you, your abilities which you must have proven, and he/she should be able to vouch for your expertise. So, learn to leverage the power of referees in your CV.
If you can apply all tips mentioned all to this point, you’ll surely get the golden opportunity to be called for an interview and you’ll be able to do thorough justice to defend yourself based on what your documents have said about you.
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