How to Improve Your CV

Tips I have learned from experience and from professionals around me that can help you improve your CV making it more professional and appealing. As one of my best instructors and mentors once told me, "You have only few seconds to catch the attention of a recruiter" and it is true.

Layout, Formatting, and Design:

1. Unless you are a graphic designer, do not use colors and graphics; keep it simple
2. Use a clear font style and size and avoid italic styles
3. Be consistent throughout the design of your CV, e.g. do not use two different font styles
4. Do not use tables and dividers unless extremely necessary, and if so, minimize to the least possible
5. If your CV is more than one page, add at the footer the page number, e.g. Page 1 of 3
6. Avoid having your CV displayed on more than 3 pages
7. Avoid using chat language, acronyms, and emoticons
8. Do not write using uppercase letters as it is perceived as shouting

Experience:

1. List your experience in reverse chronological order from current or most recent to the oldest
2. List your most essential duties and use active verbs to describe the; use present tense for current job and past tense for the previous ones; put them in a list and avoid using long sentences or paragraphs
3. Ensure to mention your title clearly and avoid general titles, e.g. Manager
4. State the name of the Company your working for clearly, without adding Company logo, and the dates for your work there (Month/Year)

Education:

1. Keep the education part at the top of your CV first page before the experience and list them in reverse chronological order from most recent to the oldest
2. Make sure that you specify the institution name without using acronyms like AUB or AUC, degree, major, and year of graduation
3. Keep all training courses in a separate section from your education; education section is purely for academic and professional degrees only

Personal Details:

1. Make sure that your name and contact details are clearly visible and mentioned at the very top of your CV
2. Your name should stand out so use a bigger font size and bold style
3. Keep your contact details separated from your name but clearly visible and make sure you add your telephone number, email address, and residence address (mainly City and Country)

Other Sections:

1. Make sure that you state a clear, concise, and attainable career objective at the opening of your CV
2. Add a section for your skills and mention everything you have learned and able to do that is relevant to your job and experience including computer skills
3. Add a section for your hobbies as they reflect a bit on your personality style
4. Add your languages and your level of proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking for each

All of the above is based on my experience and some tips from people I worked with and are not based on any official source.

Good luck in your career search :)