I review CVs almost on a daily basis. Hardly will a week go by without having a chat or interviewing candidates. Truth is one cannot see all the candidates but your CV gives you a leg in the door.
The word ‘Curriculum Vitae’ has its root meaning from a Latin word which means ‘course of life’. Your CV is a snapshot of who you are and what you have done.
It is a summary of your background, experience, education, achievements, awards and other activities that may be taken into consideration when looking for a job. In other words, your CV is you without your physical presence.
When an interviewer or prospective employer peruses a CV, there are certain things they are looking out for. Getting what they’re looking for or otherwise can determine whether you get a look in or you’re looked over.
There are 8 major questions a good CV must answer.
1. Who are you?
A good CV must answer this question by giving the basic information such as the name of the candidate, phone details and e-mail address as a minimum. Including physical address is no longer required because of security concerns.
A good CV should also have a brief bio that is well written and original.
2. What have you done?
A good CV speaks to 3 major items here: Educational history, work history and personal attributes. Your list of degrees should be stated including the ones you are still pursuing.
I personally prefer the reverse chronological order- describing your most recent first before previous ones.
Do the same for your work history. Be very specific with your experience especially those that are applicable to the role you’re applying for. List your achievements.
It is important to include other forms of experience. If you served in a leadership capacity, please include it. I once interviewed a lady and I was drawn to the statement on her CV that she served as the Vice President of the Students Union Govt during her undergraduate days.
She was interviewing for a sales role and her leadership skills came in handy. When I was younger, I always include in my CV that I was the President of the Students Union Government when I was an undergraduate student. If you served as a volunteer anywhere, please include it.
3. What do you like?
Your CV should reflect your areas of interest. I should be able to read your CV and see a pattern for those who are well experienced. What are your hobbies?
4. BWhat skills do you have?
You should clearly state the skills related to the job role applied for. Don’t wait for a physical or virtual interview to mesmerize the panel. Let them be able to pick up your CV and decipher where you fit in.
There are 3 major types of skills- Transferable, employability and technical skills. If you’re a specialist in an area, state it. It’s also a good place to state the languages spoken. The more languages you can speak, the better your chances of being hired.
In the first part, I stated 4 questions a good CV must answer. Your CV is the first thing a prospective employer sees before seeing you.
Oftentimes, many employers have formed their impression about the candidate based on their CV even before the in-person interview. Let’s look at the remaining 4 questions.
5. What are your achievements?
One achievement clearly written on my CV is when I handled a transaction for a former employer and the ticket was the biggest size in Africa that year. If that career achievement will make you look more competitive and it’s genuine, write it down.
It could be an individual achievement or a team one. List your major achievements on each role you have had. If you have awards or commendation letters, include them.
I got two commendation letters signed by a former employer and they are listed on my CV. I even laminated the letters.
Any honours conferred on you? Fellowships? Registered patents? List them.
6.What have you written?
The more you rise in your career, the more interviewers begin to look at your soft skills more than the hard ones. At this stage of your career, your competence is no longer in doubt. People now interrogate your soft skills more closely.
Consequently, interviewers are willing to discuss such things as books you have authored so as to have a window into your personal world view. If you’re an author of any papers, texts or books, include them on your cv. If you contribute regularly at panels or seminars, indicate.
Thought leadership takes centre-stage the more you rise.
7.Where do you belong?
Write down the professional organizations you belong to. List the social an service clubs you belong to also. If you held offices, clearly indicate them.
I have been interviewed once and the mention of my secondary school gave me a leg in the door because the person who was interviewing me that time also went to the same secondary school.
It was a very interesting interview as both of us sang our school anthem during the interview. Of course, I got the job. If you belong to Rotary Club and you write it on your CV, the prospective employer might just be a Rotarian. Put down anything that can give you an advantage.
8.Who will vouch for you?
This is a bit controversial as a school of thought says that references can be submitted upon request. I personally think otherwise from experience.
I interviewed a young fellow some years ago and I saw the name of my former Head of Department during my undergraduate days as one of the candidate’s referees. Right in his presence, I called him to give me a character recommendation of the candidate.
The recommendation was phenomenal. Sometimes, the references become the decider especially when you have many good candidates and you can’t take them all.
Use fonts that are very readable, especially Calibri, Century Gothic, Times Roman or Arial. Use only one type of font throughout. There are no hard and fast rules about the number of pages, however precision is key.
When I started to apply for jobs after graduation, I thought the type of paper used and style of CV will have an impact on the interview process. I later found out that the substance of the CV is what matters and not the style or the type of scented paper used.
The content is more important than the layout. Nevertheless, packaging and presentation makes it appealing.
Don’t ever submit photocopies of your CV. Recurrent photocopying makes it fade and illegible.
Good luck!
Credit:Bayo Adeyinka
