Some times its not that you are not qualified for a job, its about how you present your CV. Once you have come across a Job and the first thing that comes to mind is to apply for it, then it is more than apparent that you are qualified for the Job. But it doesn’t end with applying for a job putting down all your academic degrees and work experiences. The way in which you draft your CV and some vital points to never overlook play an important Role. Before we get to the key points, we should take a brief look at the parts of a CV.
Parts Of A CV
- Heading: The heading of your CV should contain your name, your phone number and your email address.
- Educational History: This is where you list your educational history should be limited to your most relevant degrees. Eg: University degree. If still in the university, include your expected year of graduation and your GPA (leave it out if it isn’t good enough). You can include your High School in this section but only if necessary.
- Skills: This is a very important part of a CV. In this section you should list the things you can do to help accomplish the tasks required for the job.
This section should contain: your personal skills (ability to work well under pressure, good communication skills, innovative e.t.c), and your applicable skills (Microsoft Word, JavaScript, Photoshop, etc). You should list them together under this section. - Experience: This section is also very important. Only include work experience that is related to the position you’re applying for.
Having gone through the parts of a CV, lets now quickly list out the key points to note while drafting your CV.
These are key points to note while drafting your CV.
- Use a professional-looking gmail, or personal domain email address. eg: fullname@gmail.com
- Don’t put an objective section or summary. That space that can be used better.
- Unless you have 10+ years experience, make it 1 page. It is vital to make your CV as concise as possible.
- No need to put your full address. “City, State” is enough.
- Name your CV “FirstName LastName CV”
- When emailing your CV, always submit it as a PDF, never as a Word doc. You never know how a Word doc will look on someone else’s Computer or Mobile. (You can use a doc to pdf converter online for this purpose) If you are uploading to an online application that uses resume parsing software, you can upload the Word doc as well or if you are asked to do so.
- Try to read your CV for 10 seconds or less and see what you take away from it. That’s about the initial time before someone makes an up/down decision, so you’ll want to examine it from that perspective.
- Interests are important because it gives the interviewer something to connect with you on, and it makes you more than just a faceless resume.
- Lastly, take your time to draft your CV for a particular Job you are applying for. Trust me, it will be worth the effort.
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