#jobseekers: CV ISSUES

Some of the concerns we have advised jobs seekers time and again on this forum re-echoed by Coach Mudson.

1.      Formatting: Almost every job you get, unless it’s a purely menial job, will require you to write reports and other professional documents. Therefore, how you format your CV is a good representation of your writing and formatting skills. We have CVs that have three different fonts in one CV. And the fonts are not the official formal format. A good CV must use Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri.

2.      Arrangement: A CV must flow logically. Things that have to do with years for instance must flow chronologically starting with the most recent occurrence. You can’t just put them there, with work experience and education not properly arranged.

3.      Profile/Skills/Attributes: The purpose of the Profile and Skill section is to market you to the prospective employer. Most CVs have the same things from one CV to the next, If your claim the same things as the next person, what will make you stand out.

In as much as they important, 80% of the CVs have the following as Skills and Attributes: ability to deliver with minimum supervision, hard working, confidential and dependable, result oriented and organisational skill and the ability to multi-task, and able to adapt to new environment.

Honestly, how does the HR choose a person who stands out if all of you have the same things? Your skills must be practical, measurable and tailored in line with your career or the job you are applying for.

4.      Clutter: A number of CVs I have seen are highly cluttered. You need serious effort to find the data you are looking for. They have important data yes, but the data is hidden in clutter. Too much useless stuff like hobbies. Are you applying for Big Brother?

5.      Picture: You don’t really need a picture on your CV. It’s not a must. However, if you are going to put a picture, make sure it’s a professional HD portrait; this is corporate CV, not a Whatsapp DP.

6.      Objective: Well, I really don’t know why you have to put an objective on a CV. In the experience I have seen, no one makes a decision to employ based in; “Ok, she has a good objective, let us employ her.”

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