Writing a Compelling Curriculum Vitae (CV) or Resume

Introduction - a résumé or curriculum vitae (CV) is an advert to sell yourself to your potential employer.  Coupled with a good quality covering letter, a CV is a door opener into the interview process. It is a document which summarises your professional employment history, educational background, professional skills, personal aspirations and contact details.  To stand out from other competing candidates, your CV must be compelling, concise, clear and presentable.  You are fighting and competing with other candidates CV's, so you must differentiate yourself!...  The following article provides a short overview of how to construct a compelling Résumé  or Curriculum Vitae (CV) and where to find additional sources of help and guidance...

Why Produce a CV?  - the main reasons to produce and maintain a CV or résumé are as follows:-

• To Obtain an Interview - even if you are not currently unemployed, it is a useful exercise to keep your current curriculum vitae (CV) or résumé up-to-date with the latest information.  A CV is a necessary first step towards obtaining an interview with a potential employer.  Some large employers prefer to use employment application forms, to narrow down the list of potential interviewees. Despite producing and attaching a CV to the application form, helps to promote all your skills and experience and personality - which a sterile job application form may not. 

• Prepare for the Unexpected - in an uncertain employment market, it is prudent to have the latest up-to-date information on your CV.  In particular, if your current employer merges with another company or you are made redundant unexpectedly, you will need your CV to reapply or apply for a position quickly.  It can take days, or even weeks to produce a compelling, first class and professional looking CV.  Time invested now in keeping your résumé up-to-date, while still gainfully employed, could save valuable time when you need it most. 

• Self Employed Credibility - for the self-employed contractor, consultants that deliver small business services, of qualified and regulatory professionals, a CV is critical in selling yourself to potential clients. When prospects assess your capabilities and skills, they will expect some form of written summary, before they choose to contract your business services. 

• A Step into the Workplace - for school leavers and graduates, producing a CV will be difficult but necessary first step towards competing for interview places.  Without producing your first CV, you may not be offered interviews.  Employers realise your youth and relative work inexperience, will mean that there is less to talk about on your CV.  However by producing a résumé, it gives you the opportunity to sell yourself and communicate your aspirations, work experience, interests and skills and achievements to date.  School, college and university achievements speak volumes about your personality, character and desire to succeed.

• Help Employers Find You - since the explosion of job websites on the Internet, the capability exists to post your CV online, in the hope that employers will search out your skills and experience and contact you for a possible interview. However, it should be noted that most employers prefer to read paper copies of a CV, and don't like investing their precious time scouring the Internet to find that perfect candidate.  Most employers will rely on local recruitment agencies, which they trust, and no to have a good stream of suitable candidates.

• Validate Your Career Plan - producing a CV can also be a great way to re-focus your mind on what you want out of your career, checking any skills gaps between where you are and where you want to be.  You may be surprised by the number of skills and achievements that you can put down on paper, when you spend some time thinking about your career history. 

Information to Include on Your CV - most CV's should be limited to two pages of concise, factual, unambiguous and well organised information.  Try and include as many facts about you as possible, while limiting the typically longer descriptive style of language, when describing more subjective information.  Most recent events, employment and activities are normally listed at the top of the document, followed by older work positions and so on.  As your individual circumstances change every six months or so, it is important to keep information up to date.  There is no right or wrong answer to what information should be placed on a résumé or curriculum vitae. However, employers will scan lots of CVs and will tend to expect it to be split up into familiar sections:-

• Opening Statement - this is an opening short sentence outlining who you are and what type of job and career you are seeking.  It is usually found at the very top of a CV and summarises the entire document.  It is designed so that the reader immediately understands how you perceive yourself, how you might add value to their business and what your career aspirations are. Avoid at all costs embellishing the truth or making outrageous for unbelievable statements, as most employers will simply bin the CV and move onto the next one.

• Key Contact & Personal Information - make sure if you include your full name (in bold), address, landline telephone and mobile phone number, e-mail address, employment status, nationality, visa status, languages spoken, fax and website address if appropriate.

• Employment History & Work Experience - this will form the largest section on your resume and will summarise where you have previously or currently work.  It should include the names of the employers, responsibilities of your position and key achievements in the role.  At the top of each job placement, it is preferable to summarise the month and year, to and from dates.  This provides a potential employer with an easy understanding of how long you held each of your previous employment positions, alongside the achievements obtained during each time scale.  It is important to use bullet points to summarise these achievements.  Where appropriate, try to quantify them in financial, numeric or other business terms (as opposed to subjective statements like 'I did really well in accounts'.  For instance, statements like; achieved 112% of sales target or successfully reduced annual outstanding invoices by 20%.  These will hopefully become positive points of discussion during the interview and you must therefore be to explain in detail why he wrote them on your CV.  Employers do not like to see gaps in your employment history, as it may indicate that you are a problem candidate or have something to hide.  Conversely, if you have had many jobs in the past or have been working for a long period of time, employers are only really interested in your most recent previous three or four employment positions.

• Educational and Academic Achievements - this section may differ depending upon your age and level of educational achievement.  For school leavers, employers will want to know the names of your schools and locations.  For mature candidates, employers will want to know your major academic qualifications.  In particular, any relevant background, related to the employment position advertised is key.  Arrange your list of educational and vocational qualifications, chronologically, by most recent first,  i.e. university before school.

• Personal Interests & Hobbies - this is a short section and chance to make your CV and a bit more human (and a bit less like all the other CV's) . Tell them about you as a person - mention family status, interests and hobbies, lifestyle and personal aspirations. Avoid extremely common hobbies like watching films, TV or reading, (as these solitary pursuits are almost universal and rarely form the basis of talking points amongst strangers). People like people to be like themselves, and so any shared hobbies (for instance golf, cooking or skiing) may resonate and create rapport with the person reading the resume.

• References - you may choose to simply put 'available on request' on the section. Be sure you have the permission of your referees from your previous and most recent employer, before you submit your CV. Most employers expect candidates to put forward two referees, to provide an impartial view and validate the information you have provided on your resume, or discussed in the interview. You should provide their names, role, current employer, and telephone numbers.

Companies Providing Resume Writing Services - there are a large number of businesses which provide CV or resume writing services. They can produce expertly tailored covering letters and CV's that help convince the reader to consider your resume.  This may also involve a telephone discussion to determine background essentials, professional strengths, job aspirations and appropriate resume format required.

The CV Resume Covering Letter - your resume or CV should be accompanied with a covering letter to your potential employer.  The purpose of a covering letter is to make sure your CV is viewed by the appropriate person, as well as confirming your interested in a specific advertised position (quoting any reference number as appropriate).  The letter should express why you are interested in the advertised job position, it should summarise your most recent and appropriate work experience, outline any special skills or experience you feel is appropriate. 

The Finishing Touches - there is no right or wrong way to finalise the anaesthetics look and feel of a CV.  Most business orientated CV's will be typed, using blank ink into good-quality white A4 paper, with Tahoma or Aerial 10pt font .  Do not try and squeeze in lots of additional information you, if it means that there is hardly any white space available left on the two pages available.  Less is more - instead, shorten your sentences and strip out less relevant and older facts, to pull back some more white space. This will showcase important facts. CV's should be posted in an A4 sized envelope, to avoid being folded in the post. Once you have finished producing your resume, is vital to get it checked by a colleague, professional resume service or trusted friend (who can play devils advocate).  Ask them to check for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, which you accidentally missed or your 'trusted' PC spellchecker, failed to pick up on. It's easy to become snow blind by reading your own work, over and over again, and assuming it is correct.  They will need to check how it reads, its first impression upon them, any re-phrasing of ambiguous or confusing language, facts and figures, and make suggestions on how to improve its impact.

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