What Makes Your CV Interesting? Insight into Making a Well-Written CV
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In the 21st Century where creativity is at its peak, the fight to find a job relies on your personal creativity. Curriculum Vitae, or CV for short, is one thing that could determine your success in searching for a job.
Recruiters will see your CV and judge based on what you wrote in it. That is why, creating a good well-written CV is very crucial in your journey to finding your dream job.
And we have to admit: making your own CV may sound easy, but when we are already in front of our computer, finding the right words to write often become an obstacle.
While this problems isn’t over yet, how about the text placement, the CV template, and many other things that you need to consider to make your CV look appealing.
All of this things could overwhelmed you and in the end will affect the result of your CV. And of course, you do not want to spoil your CV.
A mistake-free CV will give the impression that you are really committed in whatever you do. And making a good impression towards the company you applied for is really important.
In order to get the attention of the company you desire, you need to make your CV as appealing as possible. This article will help you to make your CV into a well-written CV:
1. The Content of Your CV
First thing first, before you write your CV you need to decide what you want to write in it.
Just writing in a whim will let you confuse half-through. Make sure you know what you want to write and write something that will sell yourself as a worth-hire employee.
Ideally, CV only consist of one page. That is why you have to write in short and concise way so you can fit in every important information you have to offer.
But, if you need more than one page because you have more experience, it is OK to write a two-page CV.
That means you have a longer and more experience. Keep in mind that CV is a summary of yourself. Keep it short and clear. Write something that make you become an interesting person.
These are the things that you need to include in your CV:
- Personal Contact
This section consist of your personal data and ways to contact you, such as your name, phone number, e-mail, and your social media.
This section will help the recruiters who interested to hire you to contact you. That is why your e-mail and phone number is really important here.
There was a time where you need to include your home address too, but right now you just need to write your town and country.
You can also put your LinkedIn account on your CV so the recruiters may see deeper into yourself.
- Education History
Make sure you write your educational history, including the names of the institutions and the time you attended.
These are the things you may write:
1. School or University name
2. Graduation year
3. Your Grade Point Average (GPA)
4. Your Study Interest
5. Your Thesis title
- Work Experience
Work experience is very crucial in CV. Company tend to seek people with experience because experience brings wisdom and skill.
So write your work experience in detail, who were you working for and what change did you make during the time.
If you are a fresh graduate and don’t have any work experience, you can write other relevant activities.
You can mention your time working as a volunteer, organizational event that you participate, and any other activities that you have done.
- Skills
This section is also important, people with skill are more preferable by companies.
Include your skillset briefly on your CV, skill such as language ability, skills in Microsoft Office, and other skill that would be beneficial for the job you apply for.
What you write on your CV has often discussed by many, but what about the things you shouldn’t write on your CV?
In order to not write something redundant, there are several things that people usually write on their CV, but it actually not necessary and should even be avoided.
- Profile Photo
People often put their profile photo on their CV. But the truth is, it is not necessary.
Recruiters do not judge you by your look, but by yourself and what you can offer to them. So you do not need to put your photo there.
Besides, profile photo will only take space you need to write other important thing about yourself.
- Reasons you left your previous job and your Salary History
Talking about the past is not really good for your future. Focus on what you are going to do in the future.
Mentioning your salary from your previous job and the reason why you left are not a good decision. Focus on writing something that you want to achieve in the future instead.
- Marital Status and Age (Date of Birth)
Your age and marital status should not affect your ability to do your job. It also should not affect the company to judge your ability.
Whereas the only date should be mentioned in your CV is the date of your work experience and educational background.
2. CV Format and Design
Format and design of your CV is very important. It would determine the attractiveness of your CV, and that is important to draw the recruiters’ attention.
There are several things that you need to take a note in order to create a well-written CV.
- Writing Format
Writing format is really important for your CV. A well-written CV is a CV that will tell the reader that you are a professional who is ready to work for them.
It is necessary to make your CV look clear, professional and easy to read.
There are three common format in writing your CV, chronological, functional and combination.
When you choose what format you want to use, you have to consider about your professional history and what kind of job you want to apply.
Understanding the function and how to use it will help you decide what format would be best for you.
Chronological Format
A chronological format will allow you to highlight your working experience. You will write your work experience in a reverse-chronological, where you write your most recent position at the top then followed with your later one.
You may use this format when you have a consistent history in your work and you wanted to apply for a job in the similar position as your previous work
Functional Format
Different from chronological format, functional format focus on the relevant skill you have, rather than your previous job experience. In this format, the first thing you should mention after your profile is your skill summary.
Functional format and combination format will be effective to use when you have multiple gaps in your employment history and you wanted to change careers path as your previous job.
It also a really good strategy for first graduate who do not have work experience, yet.
Combination
Most people use the combination format because of its effectiveness.
It is the combination of chronological and functional format that allows every detail information, both professional and educational history, to be written in the same page.
Because this format focuses on two important things, you have to make more space so you can fit in both.
That means you have to eliminate optional sections that you do not need, such as summary statement, volunteer work or your special interests.
- Templates Design
Choosing the right templates is very important, because the first thing your job interviewer will look.
Well-organized template will make your CV look like you are a professional and that would be a really good first impression for the recruiters.
Sometimes, when you know what will you write on your CV, you get confuse of the placement of what you want to write. The placement of CV is very important to make your CV more presentable.
CV templates will also help you to save your time. Procrastinating about the placement can be exhausting and used up a lot of your time.
It is OK to ask for help, there are a lot of platform that you can visit that will help you with this.
The templates you use could determine your overall CV. Make sure that you choose templates that is simple and tune to what you need.
To help you with the templates, UrbanCV is committed to help you build your CV that will showcase every important points in the most comprehensive way.
UrbanCV will help you to optimise your CV for better job application performance. In the end, you’ll have well-written CV in no time.
