How To Write Your Curriculum Vitae (CV)

How do you decide whether to apply for a job with a CV or a Resume? Follow the instructions given in the job post. While a resume is typically only a page or two in length, a CV is more detailed and therefore longer, often containing more information about your professional achievements than a resume.

Personal Information: Include your phone number and email, avoid including too much information such as marital status, religion, place of residence.

Professional format and style: All size does not fit all, you can have up to three CVs, if you wear many hats. Do not send the same CV when applying for job vacancies. CVs vary depending on your field and experience, but there are a number of general format and style guidelines you can follow when creating a CV.

Sections of a CV: A CV has main sections that should be included while others are optional. The main sections include Personal Summary, Education, Professional Training & Awards, Skills & Competencies/Technical Proficiency, Work Experience and References. Highlight your honors and awards on the first page, use this as your competitive advantage.

Organized and Easy to read- Font Choice and Font Size: Use easy to read fonts such as Times Roman, Arial, Calibri, or fonts like these are best. Your font size should be 12 points, although your name and the section headings can be a little larger and/or bolded. Avoid italics and underling text within a sentence. Don't over-use capital letters. Explain your abbreviations

Use Correct Spelling, Grammar, Tenses. Strong writing skills and an impressive command of the English language should be evident in your CV. Don't over-rely on spellcheckers, do your own spell-check. Be Careful with Shifts in Tenses.

Keep Sentences Short. Recruiters spend between 6 and 30 seconds (depending on the source) looking at your CV before deciding whether it belongs in the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ pile. An interesting study published by the American Press Institute back in 2009 found that: Readers understood 100% of the information they were reading if sentences were fewer than 8 words long. This fell to 90% if sentences were between 9 and 14 words.

Your CV is a professional representation of who you are and what you bring to the table – and, as such, should be written in a professional manner. Don’t use humour, slang, colloquialisms or profanity – no matter how ‘casual’ the company culture is.

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