BAZA ZNANJA

Kurs: -- English - Business English

Modul: CV

Autor: prof. Gordana Matorkić

Naziv jedinice: CV Writing

The word Curriculum Vitae literally translated means the story of your life. The words Curriculum Vitae are usually abbreviated to CV or C.V. and you will sometimes see it incorrectly written in lower case as c.v. or cv. The possessive form of Curriculum Vitae / CV should be written as Curriculum Vitae's or C.V.'s or CVs, but not as c.v.'s or cv's.

Your CV is a very important document; with it rest your hopes and dreams for the future - that next step up the career ladder, a better position, more money, new challenges, etc. Your CV therefore has to represent the best you have to offer if you do not want to miss out on that job you saw which was "perfect" for you.

These days employers often receive a lot of CVs for each advertised position - jobs advertised in national papers can often attract hundreds of applicants. So your CV has to be just that little bit special to stand out if you want to obtain interviews. The good news (for you) is that most people do not know how to write a CV and only spend a short time preparing a CV. Writing professional CVs is a skill, which these people have not learnt.

Of course your CV can continue to work in your favour even after it has obtained an interview for you. It can help you at an interview by carefully focusing the interviewer's mind on your good points and on your achievements. Once you have left the interview it will continue to work in your favour as the interviewer will probably reread it before making a decision, either on who should be invited to the second interview stage or who the job should be offered to.

When it comes to salary negotiations a well written CV can help. If your CV conveys your full worth you are likely to get a higher salary offer than you might have done with a poorer CV. So do not skimp on the time you spend on writing a CV as it will probably be a false economy.

CV writing techniques

Most importantly, always thoroughly proof-read your cv or ask someone to do it for you before sending it to either an agency or a potential employer.

• Make sure your CV is well laid out so that it is immediately easy to read and understand. Leave plenty of white space.
• Use concise, unambiguous sentences, avoid exaggerations and a flowery writing style.
• Do not make false claims; honesty is always the best policy.
• Bullet points are useful to highlight relevant skills and experience and help break up continuous text.
• Depending on your experience, two pages is an ideal length.
• Stress your past accomplishments and the skills you used to get the results you achieved.
• Focus on information which is relevant to your own career goals.
• If you are making a career change, stress what skills are transferable to support your new career objectives.
• Put your highest level of education first.
• Put your most recent job first and work backward chronologically in time.
• Ensure all dates are accurate.
• Explain any long career gaps (i.e. travelling, maternity leave etc)
• Describe what you did 90% of the time, not 10% of the time.
• Avoid references to hobbies, activities and memberships which are not business related or have no relevance to your current career goals or job objectives.
• If you are preparing a CV for a specific vacancy, explain why you would be good at the position for which you are applying.

Create a professional resume