How To Write A CV

What is a CV/Resume?
• Resume:Origin: French Word resume meaning
“to summarize”
• CV: Curriculum (course)Vitae(Life)Origin:Latin
• Purpose: to persuade the prospective employer
for a personal interview

• Serves to provide a summary of your

qualifications
• Emphasizes your skills and accomplishments

• Convince prospective employer that you are

well suited to succeed in performing the
responsibilities
Difference between CV and
Resume
• CV is longer (2 or more pages) and
more detailed synopsis of your
background and skills.
• CV includes a summary of your
educational and academic
backgrounds as well as teaching and
research experience, publications,
presentations, awards, honors,
affiliations and other details
Before You Start
DO… DO NOT…
• Be brief, clear and concise
• • Use the pronoun “I”
Stress your accomplishments and
skills, as well as experience • Use a font size smaller than 10
• Be neat and organized; direct the • Include personal information such as
reader’s eye with format marital status, health, age, place of
• Use bold type to emphasize certain birth, etc
elements; use italics sparingly, only to • State salary requirements
highlight • Use nicknames
• Be consistent on format and tenses • Include a photograph
• Concentrate on positives • Include any information that you
• Use action words to describe your cannot supply documentation or
accomplishments explain
• Proofread carefully
• Use high quality matching paper
Heading

• Initial section of your CV details

– Who you are
• Do not use nicknames
– How the employer can reach you
• Name, address, phone number, email (professional)
• Current and Permanent if applicable
Career Objective
• Some Do, Some Don’t
– Some choose to exclude from cv and state in cover letter

• A clear Statement of Your Intentions

– Some employers like to see a clear goal or purpose
– Taylor to the job, examples:
• To obtain a position as a management trainee
• To secure a full time teaching position at the school/university level.
Education
• Content and format
• Schools you have attended, including universities, community colleges,
technical schools, etc.
• Location of school(s)
• Date of graduation, actual or anticipated
• Degree(s) earned or pursued
• Grade Point Average (GPA) / Division

• Placement
– Recently graduated students place it after objective
– Graduated a year or more, place after experience
Experience
• Experience relevant to your objective
– Full or part-time employment, internships, practicum
– Also be sure to list volunteer work, community committee work.
This section includes….
• Company or organization and location (city, state)
• Position title
• Dates of employment or involvement
• Descriptions of responsibilities, duties, achievements, etc.

• Important to use action words

– Good descriptions are vital to convey your experience
– Keep your tense consistent; present tense if you are currently
active in the experience and past tense for all other past
experiences
– Use the action word list provided for ideas
Skills
• Summary of special skills
– Computer skills, language skills, customer
service, leadership
– Be Specific! Example:
• Proficient in writing and speaking English
Skilled in the use of MS Word, MS Excel,
MS Access
Achievements/Activities/
Honors/ Awards

• Emphasize significant outside of

work
• Awards, grants, prizes, and special honors
• Memberships in professional clubs and organization
• Volunteer activities
• Hobbies (optional)
References

• Choose two to three people (Past

supervisors or employers)
– Name
– Designation
– Contact information
• Not usually sent with CV and
cover letter unless specified
• Can write at end “References
Available Upon Request”
A few things to remember...

• There is really no ONE right way to write a

resume or CV—everyone is unique. There is
room to “be yourself.”
• Proofread your CV very carefully for
grammar, punctuation, and spelling. You do
not want ANY mistakes in your CV. Have
someone review your CV for mistakes and
use spell check!
• Get feedback from other people. Make sure
that your resume looks good, is easy to
understand, and says what you want it to
say!
Three Types of Resumes
• Chronological
• Functional
• Hybrid
The Chronological CV
• A chronological CV focuses on
presenting the candidate's experience
on an employer by employer basis,
with the posts being listed in reverse
chronological order.
• It also contains details of education
and qualifications, together with
hobbies.
• This is the most common type of CV.
How to structure a
chronological CV
• A chronological CV typically uses the
following structure:
• Personal details (i.e. name and contact details)
• Personal profile or career objectives. This
should not exceed 5 lines.
• Employment in reverse chronological order.
• Key qualifications
• Professional memberships
• Hobbies and personal interests
Advantages/Disadvantages
• Particularly useful for those applying within the
same industry as it will demonstrate your career
progression.
• It is the favourite format for most employers,
who simply want to get a feel for your career to
date.

• If you have gaps in your employment which you

would rather not discuss, a chronological CV will
Name
Street  City, State  Zip
Objective Write a short statement about the purpose of your resume, indicating if
it is for a specific company and/or for a specific career (field of work
specific).
Employment Company Name - City, State, Dates of employment (e.g. January 2005
to present)
Job Title
Write two or three bulleted statements about the work you performed
beginning with activities that are relevant to your current job search.
Express how your performance made you an asset to the company, it’s
bottom line, your co-workers, customers, etc.
Be positive but be accurate; neither exaggerate or understate what you
brought to the job.

Company Name - City, State, Dates of employment (e.g. May 2003 to

Jan 2005)
Job Title
Leave some white space between companies to make it easy for an
interviewer to distinguish between your jobs.
Prioritize your job activities in accordance with how they relate to your
resume objective.

Company Name - City, State, Dates of employment

Job Title
Keep listing your jobs, going back ten to fifteen years, or to the first
one, if you have limited job experience.
Start statements with active verbs like “accomplished, organized,
created” whenever possible
Refrain from using the word “I”. Your interviewer knows the resume is
about you!

Additional Use this section when your job experience spans more than ten to
Experience fifteen years.
Or use this section to detail relevant volunteer experience.
Prioritize additional experience as it relates to your current job search.

Education Your course of study or degree

Name of School - attendance dates (e.g. 1995 to 1999)
List courses that are relevant to your resume objective
List extra-curricular activities, honors, awards, etc that are relevant to
your resume objective.
Skills
Use this section to detail relevant personal and professional skills that don’t
appear elsewhere on your resume.

 Personal Skills: Equipment Skills:

 Office skills:

Activities
Use this section to detail relevant personal and professional activities that
don’t appear elsewhere on your resume.
 Community Service Professional Affiliations
 Memberships
 Volunteer Work
21
The Functional CV
• Unlike a chronological CV, a functional CV
places the emphasis on your skills and
expertise rather than the chronology of you
employment to date.
• A functional CV typically starts with a
personal profile which highlights the
achievements, skills and personal qualities
that you possess. This is then followed by a
succession of sections, each relating to a
different skill or ability. These should be
ordered in decreasing order of importance.
Functional headings that are commonly
used.
• Administration
• Advertising
• Communication
• Consulting
• Counseling
• Customer service
• Designing
• Editing
• Education
• Journalism
• Human Resources
• Research
• Publishing
• Writing
Advantages of Functional CV
• If you have changed jobs frequently, if your
experience is a mish-mash of seemingly
unrelated posts or if you have several career
gaps, a functional CV will help place the
emphasis on what you have to offer as a whole
rather than on the chronology.
• If you are changing industry, a functional CV will
help the recruiter focus on your transferable skills.
• If you are a more mature applicant, a functional
CV will take the spotlight away from your age.
Disadvantages of Functional CV
• If you do not have much work experience,
you may struggle to highlight
achievements in a separate section.
• A functional CV will not enable you to
highlight consistent career progression. If
you wish to convey career progression,
you should adopt a chronological format.
26
The Hybrid CV
• A hybrid CV follows both the chronological and functional
format, which makes the CV slightly longer than normal.
• Advantages
• Perfect format if you have a strong career progression
with many achievements.
• Enables you to sell your strengths as well as your
experience.
• Disadvantages
• Lengthier than a functional or chronological CV
• Failing to get the attention with the right profile at the
start of the CV may result in the whole CV remaining
unread.
• Not suitable for those with little experience or
achievements.
• Not suitable for those with employment gaps
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Adjectives
• Accelerated • Popular
• Active • Practical
• Capable • Proficient
• • Punctual
Comprehensive • Reasonable
• Conscientious • Detailed
• Helpful •
• Determined • Reliable Unified
• Honest
• Distinctive • • Useful
• Lasting
Responsible • Vital
• Loyal • Educated
• Revamped
• Mutual • Effective
• Satisfied
• Notable • Efficient
• Simplified
• Permanent • Exceptional
• Substantial
• Exclusive
• Superior
• Goal Oriented
Nouns
• Ability
• Ambition
• Confidence
• Diversity
• Economy
• Progress
• Excellence
• Prestige
• Harmony
•
• Honor
Recognition
• Imagination
• Stability
• Ingenuity
• Success
• Judgment
• Merit
Verbs
• Analyzed • Conceived
• Appreciated • Conducted • Designed
• Arranged • •
• Aspired Constructed Determine
d
• Assembled • Controlled
•
• Assisted • Converted
Developed
• Accelerated • • Cooperated
Budgeted • Devised
• Accompanied• •
Built • Directed
• Achieved Coordinate
• Clarified • Discovere
• Acquired d
• Commanded
• • Correlated d
Administered• • Displayed
Completed •
• Advised Created
• Composed • Doubled
• Decided
• Earned
• Delegated
• Educated
•
Demonstrat
ed
More
• Verbs •
Established Founded
• Evaluated • Generated • Induced
• Exceeded • Governed •
• Executed • Graduated Influenced
• Initiated
• Exhibited • Handled
• Innovated
• Expanded • Headed
• Effected • Inspired
• Facilitated • Hired
• Eliminated • Installed
• Finalized • Identified
• Enacted • Instructed
• Financed •
• Encouraged Implemente• Insured
• Formalized
• Engineered d • Integrated
• Formed
• Enhanced • Improved • Intensified
• Formulated
• Improvised
• Increased
Even MORE
Verbs
• Licensed • Organized
• Located • Participated • Revised
• Maintained• Perfected • Served
• Managed • Piloted • Serviced
• Marketed • Pioneered •
• Mastered • Planned Streamline
• Interpreted d
• Monitored • Prepared
• Invented •
• Motivated • Produced Structured
• Justified
• Negotiated • Provided •
• Keyed
• Negotiated • Succeeded
• Keynoted Recommende •
• Obtained
• Launched d Supervise
• Operated
• Reconciled d
• Reorganized • Trained
• Unified
• Verified
Closing Remarks

• Remember that resume building and fine

tuning is an art not a science

• There are countless ways to design and

layout a resume/ CV