After talking about the general components of a basic CV, you will realize that everyone may be having the same format but what will it take for your CV to be selected out of the many applications. When a job is advertised expect millions of people to see it, thousands to get interested and hundreds to apply for it with only one vacancy. The selection process for short listing candidates is a long one, tiring and boring. It is easy for a CV to be overlooked by a panel because of the most common mistakes that we do on this very important document. A CV should be a mirror, when you look at it you should see yourself through it. That is why I insisted a CV should portray you by all means, your organizational skills, you articulate character, your attention to detail and precision in reporting.
1. Understandability: Is your resume easy to understand or is it susceptible to many interpretations.
2. Easy read: What kind of English is there? Make sure you remain basic.
3. Theme: What font is used? Is it uniform? What does the general outlook of the document portray?
4. Accuracy: Does it contain typos? Is it articulate enough?
5. Dynamism: What character is the writer? Can he be dynamic?
To see you through the CV is very easy. Imagine of a government job application like untrained teachers - so many are qualified and most of the applications will be in a brown envelope with a white CV. Can you be different? Yes. If an organization is still using manual methods in their recruitment, woe unto you if you do not differentiate yourself from the competition, then pray for a miracle. Show your neatness from the outside to the inside. Your CV should be quite easy to understand, don’t complicate issues around various sections, just be straight to the point. Imagine someone talking of his university education and saying he was the fifth in his class of graduates! This is unnecessary detail which in all sincerity pisses of. If you have a second class upper, just state that and go on.
Just visualize yourself writing a novel or a text book for use by students. How will it be? What kind of language will you use? Simple English. At this point I need to remind you that if you decide to use British English use it throughout and if it is American English then go with it to the end. Be careful with words that are different in these two types of English especially if you are applying to an NGO and a British national going through yourself. Make your resume as easily readable and draw interest from the reader. Remember it is not a must that an HR executive goes through your CV and that is why you need to give a novel approach where the writer draws interest from the readers.
The theme is the general outlook of the document, the organization approach and the character through the writings. The theme shows your interests in life and you interests show your personality. If you mix up the fonts and the sections don’t match your personality is that of a disorganized person, if you have several typos you are not attentive to detail and if you sentence construction is poor then your education levels must be different from the stated. Be careful with these three demonstrators of bad personality. The font should be uniform, make the sections matching and do a spell check to avoid typos.
What is dynamism? This is the ability to change and be as the surrounding demand, when in Rome behave like the Romans. 100% of employers prefer employees who come in and adapt to the work environment, behave like other employees and bring in what they learnt from their former employers to improve his current employer. They also expect new graduates to be dynamic when they enter the corporate world. Personally after university I entered into the crème de la crème of the corporate world which helped me up to the time that I opened doors to my own company.
As a final word, your CV should determine your salary range and status, so it should be the best paper you will ever write. Remember this is your character, your strengths and abilities make good use of the opportunity. A CV changes with the type of job you are applying for, the employer you are applying to, your qualifications and the step of your career life that you are in. Next week we shall carry an article on the best paying start – up jobs and the best degree and diploma courses to take.
We wish you all the best.
