Complete Guide on CV Preparation

CV's are called a variety of things (eg, curriculum vitae, resume). There is no universally
accepted format. The most important attribute of a successful CV is that it clearly explains to
the reader what it is that you can do for them. Your CV should be:

- A well-presented, selling document

- A source of interesting, relevant information
- A script for talking about yourself

The purpose of your CV is not to get you the job. Its purpose is to get you an interview, and
after your meeting to remind the person you met with about you. Remember: you are not
writing a CV for yourself, you are writing it for the reader. So, as you write your CV, put
yourself in the shoes of the intended reader.

This section takes you through the content and detail of effective CVs:

- A standard two-page printed CV

- A one-page summary CV
- An online CV

The decision to recruit is like a buying decision on the part of an employer. This creates a
very clear picture of what a CV must include:

1. It must meet the needs of the target organisation where possible. This means a
single generalist CV is unlikely to be sufficient.
2. It must highlight your achievements and how they relate to the job you are applying
for. It must give the reader a clear indication of why you should be considered for
this role.

To decide what to include in your CV and where, follow these principles and guidelines:

a. Generally, the document should contain no more than 2 pages. Sometimes, a one
page summary is all that is required.
b. Your CV should be honest and factual.
c. The first page should contain enough personal details for a recruitment consultant or
potential employer to contact you easily.
d. Choose a presentation format that allows you to headline key skills, key
achievements or key attributes.
e. Your employment history should commence with your current or most recent job and
work backwards.
f. Achievements should be short, bullet-pointed statements and include your role, the
action you took and a comment on the result of your action.
g. Where information clearly demonstrates your suitability for the vacancy you're
applying for, and enhances your chances of being short-listed, include this
information near the beginning of the CV.
h. Leave out information that is irrelevant or negative.
i. Include details of recent training or skills development events you have attended
which could be relevant.
j. List all your professional memberships and relevant qualifications.

As we work through examples in this section, we will continually refer back to these
principles and guidelines.
 The most common contents of a CV include:

- Personal Details
- Skills and Career Summary
- Key Achievements
- Qualifications
- Career History

Don't forget: The ultimate test of YOUR CV is whether it meets the needs of the person
making the buying decision, and whether YOU feel comfortable with its content and style.

The next few pages will provide a detailed description of how to achieve this.

When you submit a printed CV to a recruiter or a potential employer, it is likely to be the first
thing they get to see or read of yours. Therefore, you need to present your CV well and
make it user friendly. For example:

 Use a good quality paper, typically 100gsm in weight and watermarked. In most
cases, be conservative and print your CV in black ink on white paper. Covering
letters should use identical stationery.
 Lay your CV out neatly
 Don't make the margins too deep or too narrow
 Resist writing lengthy paragraphs - be concise
 Careful use of bold type can be effective
 Typefaces such as Times New Roman or Arial are fairly standard
 Do not use a type size less than 11pt.
 Check for spelling or typographical errors - whoever actually types your CV, errors
are YOUR responsibility. Don't rely on a spell checker. If you're not sure about a
word, resort to a dictionary. Sloppiness and lack of care could be heavily penalised.

Key Skills/Competencies/Attributes:
Summarise the things about you that are relevant to this role. You can present the
information as a list of achievements, a summary of skills, or a list of key competencies (this
choice should be made in consultation with your career consultant). Give as much evidence
as you can to suggest that you are suited to the career that you are pursuing. A reminder:
You will find a list of your skills in the summary pages.

The one-page summary CV may also include one or two of the following sections if you
consider they enhance your application.

CV Dos and Don’ ts

It takes time to write a CV, addressing the issues and organizing the information so that you sell yourself. The
biggest error most people make is throwing away a great chance by rushing a mediocre CV. Regard your CV as
work in progress and give it a polish every couple of months. You never know when you will be asked for it.

As a professional CV writer I have known people return to the same agencies that had previously refused them,
this time with a great application that gets them noticed. The difference between managing your career and just
letting it happen can be more than the cost of your home over the course of a lifetime. You need to take this task
seriously right from the start.

You do not need to be headlining the trivial details of your life like your address and what primary school you
went to. You do not need to tell someone that the document is a CV.
For each occupation and each level of each occupation and for changes of career and country there are key
things you need to be saying that recruiters want to hear. If you already know enough then spend some time
listing these key things before you ever start writing your application. If you need more information, then start
collecting it, start finding out what buzzwords, concepts and competencies that will carry conviction.

A boring format or copied job definition makes your resume dull to recruiters who have to read lots of applications
every day. You need to reach these people where they get interested. The story of your career needs to build up
expectations that you are worth meeting. You need to tell them the context in which your achievements have
taken place and let them know what value you offer for the future. Enter the page content here.

Do not pepper your CV with titles like PROFILE, CAREER OBJECTIVE and SKILLS like a template. You can
have an introduction to your CV but there's no need to label it. All you really need is a few sensible headings
such as PROFESSIONAL, CAREER and PERSONAL - under which you can group your skills/qualifications,
narrative of achievements and necessary details.

Bulleted paragraphs are a great way to save space and add impact but they need to be congruent. They need to
relate to the one before and the one after in an intelligent way.

The medium is in the message. If they have reached the third paragraph of your letter and glanced at your CV,
you have already shown them that you can communicate. There is no need to tell them you are a GOOD
COMMUNICATOR, a SELF-STARTER or a GREAT TEAM PLAYER in so many words. It needs to be implicit in
your account of yourself, not stuffed under their nose as a grandiose claim.

People cannot help but be impressed by talented design and clever typesetting. Your choice of fonts and styles,
however, is somewhat limited by the restrictions of email and online CV Builders. If you want to make a subtle
and sophisticated impression you need to use simple fonts and give bold and cursive ones a miss.

Your letter needs to sing, summarise, promise, capture the spirit of what's best about you. Safe, boring, over-
length, repetitive letters that regurgitate your CV or try to match every single minor point in the job definition will
have one damaging effect on the reader - they will think you are not very bright.

All the best!