Preparing Your CV
A Curriculum Vitae or CV is a marketing tool. With your CV you will be able to promote yourself.
Imagine the CV as being a brochure that will list the benefits of a particular service. The service being offered is your time and skills!
Look at it from an employers' point of view: would you stand out against the competition (other candidates possibly from other colleges) and would a manager want to talk to you for a possible placement? The CV will generally be the only document an employer has with which to evaluate you and other candidates before an interview. A CV should therefore distinguish you from other candidates. You may fail to get an interview because the CV said more about what the company can do for you, than what you can contribute to the company.
Networking and interview skills are essential in your hunt for a placement and your CV is the first step in the search, your first contact with potential employers. It will open the door. If you are invited for an interview, you will then be in a position to explain and expand on what is in you CV.
The difference between getting an interview and an extremely long job search lies in the content, lay-out, and professionalism portrayed through the CV. Most recruiters will not give a second glance at a CV with spelling mistakes, cluttered pages and irrelevant information. Use clean bulleted lists.
Your CV should reflect your biggest accomplishments. Potential contributions to the company make it easier to select the right candidate, and must be concise enough to glance through and give a good impression of your abilities. CVs that are too long are not read, just as vague and general descriptions will not suffice.
Employers and providers are looking for the following:
- Resourcefulness and analytical thinking skills
- Good verbal and written communication skills
- Reliability and trustworthiness
- Originality and determination to succeed
They will also be interested in other skills that you have acquired during any activity in your life - classes, projects, hobbies, sports, virtually anything that is transferable and applicable to what you want to do in your placement, or your first job.
How to Make Your CV an Interesting Document
- Always write a new CV for each placement opportunity (or job), specifically designing it to be applicable to that company, and highlight the relevant information about yourself with regard to the expected placement requirements.
- Always draw the employers interest towards your best points which would show you as one of the most eligible for the job for which you are applying.
- Collect enough information about the company in question to know exactly what points the employers are looking for so you can match your best talents to those particular points.
- Be aware of market trends regarding the latest technology, latest training, latest jargon that is relevant to the job. Use those in sufficient quantity to show you know and understand them.
It will be good to remember that there is absolutely no perfect fit for anyone to any job. There is always a plus and a minus and that is why interviews take place - so that the employer can find out how much of the plus and the minus there is and make an informed decision.
Special Personality Traits
Are you an artist by birth? Is acting second nature to you? Are you a born leader? These are all personality traits that can stand you in good stead when you apply for trait-specific jobs. In such cases you are likely to get preference over people who are more qualified and more experienced than you are. Highlight your traits properly and ensure that those that are highlighted match the requirements of the job for which you are applying.
The CV in Detail
In the CV heading you should clearly write contact information, such as:
Your First Name - Your Surname - Your Address [If you will be living at another address while your C.V is in circulation, note those dates.]
Your E-mail address - Your Phone number [If you will not be personally answering your phone during business hours, list a number where an employer can leave a massage for you.]
Objective
The CV of today must have an Introduction or Objective in the form of a summary of how you can add value to the company and what you anticipate will be the next step in your career. This should be a short, concise statement that informs the employer what type of position you are looking for.
If your profile is tailor-made to the job vacancy then the employer will read the rest of your CV whilst bearing in mind that they have found a possible match. A personal profile on a CV is a hook to encourage the employer to investigate further by reading the rest of the CV.
State your goal or objective in terms of what you can do for an employer, not what you want an employer to do for you. Avoid expressions such as "…where I can use my knowledge and skills to expand my experience in …” Be more specific than that.
CV Format
The CV should be typed in an easy-to-follow format and font, i.e. the headlines should be highlighted so as to catch the attention of the reader easily - often the employer has only a few brief seconds' time to glance through the CV and make his/her decision whether s/he is interested to know more or not.
The best way to write about your experience, is to write it backwards, i.e. the latest thing you have achieved and then add the rest backwards chronologically, although sometimes achievements need to be elaborated to bring out the best fit, preferably they should be listed in a bullet point format. The bullet points should act as headlines in case you need to expand upon them at the interview.
If a job appears to be ideally suited to you, have a 'why do I feel I am suitable and the right candidate for the job' headline on the very first page, where you can summarise the relevant information for the benefit of the employer
If you have had any training or additional hands-on experience, include it in your CV.
Do not forget to write your areas of personal interest, such as hobbies.
Include your level of ability in English. Oman is a bilingual country, and many companies undertake their work in English.
Provide two references – one from the college and another (make sure you inform the person thus named so they are prepared if the prospective employer contacts them).
If you are an IT student, a highly professional looking, latest technology and software CV would be very appropriate.
If you are a communications or design student, a colourful and innovative style would prove your credentials even before the employer read your CV.
Use the key aspects that employers are looking for correctly throughout the CV - this will not only attract their attention, but also highlight your overall awareness.
You need to build the expectations of the employer slowly but steadily so s/he will want to interview you; use the right formatting applicable to that company, region or country. Incorrect formatting often leads to rejection since it shows that the applicant cannot use logic to organise his or her way of thinking for a tailored CV.
Highlight clearly what value you can add to the job and the company so they can appreciate your worth. Suitable words for this may come from the information within the Training Plan criteria or your course content.
The above list is by no means exhaustive. CVs should, generally speaking, invite the employer to know a person better, create a good first impression, and open the possibility in their mind that the applicant, YOU, might be the right candidate for the job or placement.
CV Skills Summary
The Skills Summary section of your CV should include your main skills. You should only include keywords in his section, and not go into lengthy descriptions of your skills. Should an employer wish to know more about your level of knowledge, they will ask about it at the interview.
Additional Information
- Omit personal information such as your age, your marital status (unless you are applying to a job overseas where age, marital status and nationality are required, and then add the details to the bottom of your CV)
- Do not include the word CV at the top of page one or the date you prepared the document
- Ensure that your name is at the top of all pages
- Include the page number on all pages other than page one
- Use the dictionary and thesaurus to understand and express accurately your skills / abilities for the job, and the contribution you can make to the organisation
- Check your first draft for accuracy and completeness of information. Check your final copy for errors before printing
- The more in-depth the material and your preparation, the more informative your CV will be to the prospective employer, and the easier it will be for you to answer subsequent interview questions
- Keep all your notes from which you prepared this CV on file and add to them periodically (yearly or twice yearly) data about your recent activities, job, etc. So that you will always have up-to date information to generate future CV.
Look at the sample CV section to see if your CV resembles that. Try to keep your CV to no longer than two pages. When you have finished, give your completed CV to your Career Guidance Adviser for comment, or to start sending to potential companies.
Remember, you too can seek out companies to which to send your CV. Choose those companies you would like to work in. Do you have any relatives working in those companies, or similar companies, if so, ask them to help you get a foot in the door.
