CV Writing

Why do you need a professional CV ?

Your CV should basically have the following elements:

Should be well-presented, selling professional document
Should be a source of relevant professional information
Should tell about yourself in minimal words.

The purpose of your professional CV is not to fetch you a job. Its purpose is to show what you are and get you an interview. An interview later can give you a chance to show what you can be.
Remember: You are not writing a professional CV for yourself, you are writing it for the reader. So think about it from a recruiters perspective.


Remember: The ultimate test of YOUR professional 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.

Following are the Free CV writing professional advice.
	How do I start?
	Types of Professional CV’s
	Layout
	CV Content
	CV writing through employers prospective
	Change in industry
	What do employers seek in your CV?

How do I start?
Depends on how do you want to write a CV
It can be
a brief descriptive one or
a short summary of your Professional CV.

a. Brief CV
	Now here the kind of CV can be decided upon the amount of professional experience you have. If you have a career path of say around 5-6 yrs, a two pager professional CV would be just fine. If your professional working experience exceeds 10 years your CV length might also get lengthier. Try to avoid this since the recruiter would not be interested in reading everything you have written down. The recruiter will just scan through a candidates CV to see if you have what they want. But still its best to try and keep the professional CV a good two pager.
b. Summary CV
	A summary CV should generally include the main points. This type is generally used when you do not have enough professional experience or may have just finished with your education. Qualifications: Include qualifications which are relevant to the job you have applied for.This will boost your chances of getting your CV to the next step. Experience Summary: This should generally be a 4-5 liner summary of your professional achievements and your professional skills. If you have more than a 4-5 line description learn how to write a CV with experience summary on a CV in bullet points. Career History: This can be written down with not giving much details about the employer. A one liner about the company, your tenure with your designation.

A.2. Types of CV's

Generally there are two basic types of professional CV's

Performance CV or a Chronological CV

Functional CV

a. Performance CV
	This is a detailed professional CV which is written in a flow according to your career path. It includes the following titles. Personal Details, Profile, Achievements, Experience, Training, Qualifications, Areas of Interest. Each point is discussed below in detail. Personal Details: Personal details should include your full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and email. Provide the telephone number on which you can be contacted easily, say your cell phone number. Check for the phone connections. See that you have given all correct information, ISD codes and pincode. For eg: Eva Ryker Russell Chambers The Piazza Covent Garden London WC2E 8AA Contact Details: Home: 020 8311 3111 Mobile: 020 8222 2222 email: eva_ryker@yahoo.com Profile: This would be a brief description of about 4-5 lines. This is like an attractive ribbon over a wrapped gift. So this has to be a very interesting piece of information. The sentences should be positive telling about your objective, your professional skills in the job and your professional achievements. Make sure you also include those attributes which the employer is looking for. For eg: If you are writing a Marketing CV it can be something like With a 10 yr marketing experience I am now looking to apply my expertise from the field to a better position with good marketing methodologies. With a strong background on direct response and marketing strategies have been successful in creating brand awareness through direct marketing thereby contributing directly to the revenue growth of the company. Achievements: Writing your professional achievements and professional skills together. Writing them down in bullet points for your professional achievements. How to write a CV with all the achievements as points which you think can be your professional achievement. If you think a certain point may not be considered as an professional achievement, do not leave it out unless it is irrelevant. Sometimes the reader or the recruiter may just happen to see that particular point. Writing around 5-6 points which you think will be useful in your new employment. You may have about 8-10 professional achievements learn how to write a CV with your achievements in bullet points, in that case try to club some similar points or you may even omit certain points which you think may not be of any relevance to the job you applied for or the kind of company you are planning to join. For example you may have a professional accounts experience in a Pharmaceutical Co. Learn how to write a CV with professional achievements about the work done rather than being industry specific. Learn how to write a CV with all your professional skills which can be of help to you. professional Skills should be such that they let the recruiter know what you know. Work Experience/Employment Details: This should be in reverse chronological order starting with your most recent job and working backwards. You only need to include the year you started and the year you finished each job. If you have had a lot of jobs you may need to group some of the earlier jobs together, e.g. '1975 - 1980 various engineering positions'. When you are writing your professional experience for each position you should start with the strongest point in your favour and then work backwards. You could break up into section like responsibilities and professional achievements or you could break it up into specific functions, e.g. management, sales & marketing. Make sure you stress your responsibilities and professional achievements under each job which will be useful in your next job. Training: Writing down all the professional training courses you have gone through. Do not list down the training courses which are not relevant to the job you are applying for. Any voluntary course which you think would be of importance to the next job do mention that too.
b. Functional CV
	In this type of CV you can list down all your professional experience and professional achievements under a appropriate heading. Choose proper heading which can describe your profile and which will be useful for you to bullet your points under it. Following would be the order of titles: Heading, Training, Professional Qualifications, Personal Details, Interests. Heading: Writing heading that would best describe your profession and your professional skills. You can list down about 4-5 bullet points. These points should be more focused on the professional achievements and professional skills for your next job. In short this should be a brief summary of the job you were doing at your recent employer. Also include job responsibilities which would be useful for the job you are applying for. Headings like Management, Journalism, Publishing, Designing and Editing can be used. Qualifications/ Educational Details: Learn how to write a CV with all your educational details. It is not very important to include your 12th grade details. Learn how to write a CV with your most recent qualification. Learn How to write a CV with all the correct year and month of completion of the degrees. This section may be included before the professional Training title also depending upon your professional work experience. Work Experience: Begin with your most recent employer. Writing down all your employment from and to dates. If you have fairly large number of professional work experience years then list down only the ones which are important and which you think will create an impact on the employer you are applying for. Usually this section should include similar work clubbed together. For eg. Managing accounts for stores and maintaining balance sheets. – ABC Druggist Jan 2002-2004, XYZ Pharmaceuticals April 2004-till date. Personal Details: Add your name (as you want it to appear), your telephone number, if possible mobile number, email address and in case you have a clean driving licence do mention it. Include your date of birth and your marital status also. Interests: This part should be short and to the point. Writing down your interests which is of importance to the type of job you are applying for. These can again be job specific. For eg: Managing extra curricular activities for Old age homes, trainer for yoga classes, researching for new breakthroughs in the business and economy division. For eg: Researching scientific studies done on various projects, freelance work on designing page layouts for corporate brochures.

A.3. Layout

How do I choose a layout for my CV?

You may always think which layout would look the best to make your CV presentable.

Different layouts can be chosen for best fit of your content. See that you choose a layout which will give you an opportunity of displaying most of your content details and which appears neat and good. Name can be put as the top heading in the centre or at the left corner as per your layout. Remember to put in Full name or the name you would want to be known as.

A.4. CV Content

What should I include in my CV?

The actual CV creation comes here.

The skeleton structure of a CV can be something like as shown below.

a. Appearance
	The appearance of the CV is as important as how well you dress up. The content layout should be neat, presentable and should impress the recruiter. The text shouldn’t be too much scrambled up. Look of the CV : Choose a layout for your CV based on your content and years of experience. The look should be clean and readable. Make paragraphs wherever necessary Check for proper indentation. Words: You need to be very choosy about the words in your CV while writing. Do not use negative words like avoided, unsuccessful, lost or tried. Use words which will enhance your CV. You may not be good at it, but can definitely use synonyms to make it sound different. Some positive words which can be used are completed, headed, organized, developed, guided, conducted, initiated and many other similar words. Language: Language used for writing should be simple english that can let the employer know what you want to present from your CV. You need not be an editor or a writer to write a good language. This again depends on your educational background and experience. If you are from a technical background or a software background your language will involve lots of technical words or abbreviations. You can actually modify the language according to the kind of advertisement being published. There is no harm in using the same words or phrases from the advertisement. It would sound like ‘Hey you want this?’ ‘I have this’
b. Content (body of the CV, qualifications, professional experience neatly explained)
	Writing the contents in a simple, clear and concise manner. Writing the matter that best describes your qualifications and your professional experience. Give enough points to explain every detail. Do not use lot of phrases and industry jargon.
c. Structure
	Personal details (telephone no, date of birth, address, email id) Education (Your basic educational qualifications) Professional experience (start from your current employer working backwards) Other professional skills (professional achievements, training, special courses)
d. Areas of Interest
	Mention interests which would help you in fetching you a job. Eg. If you are a software programmer include things like, online games, reading technology books etc.
e. Cover letter
	A Cover letter should capture the employer's attention. Show why you are writing, indicate why your employment will benefit the company, and ask for an interview. A covering letter is generally written to enhance your CV. It should highlight your qualifications and your relevant experience. Let them know that you have thought about why you want to work with them. It should entice the reader to read the whole page which would in turn make them go through your CV. It should: Emphasize your professional skills and professional experience in relation to an   advertised job Create a first impression if making a speculative application Explain things about yourself to prospective employers Should not exceed more than a page. What kind of a job you are seeking? If you are seeking for a technical job then, see that how to write a CV with all your professional skills, programming languages, platforms you have worked on, projects you have handled and the kind of team you have lead (if any). Here the recruiter will not be giving more points to your communication or professional organisation skills. He will only be looking at your knowledge base and whether you have the necessary professional skills that he needs for the job position. It you are writing for a HR position, the CV would demand you to be more explanatory and detail oriented. Give full description in writing of what programmes you have undertaken, what plans you have come up with, how did it benefit the organisation etc.

A.5. CV writing through employers prospective How to write a CV to meet your prospective employer's needs

Get yourself into recruiters shoes and think like him. For every sentence of your CV ask a question to yourself.

Eg. Why should I be hired as a software programmer? You can describe as saying that you have been exposed to a lot of projects and have been in constant upgradation, installation of various softwares. This will create a positive impact on the employer and he might at that moment think of something good for you. Other professional skills required are good analytical, problem solving and the ability to work under pressure. The recruiter will check if you possess the required professional skills for the advertised position. You need to portray yourself in such a way that the recruiter should feel that you are the best person for this position.

A.6 . Change in industry
Are you changing the industry?
If you are, you have to be very careful in this regards. Very positively give reasons as to why you are changing your field. Even if you were not happy with your earlier field do not make it obvious with statements like,
‘I got into this industry just by chance’.
‘My father has the same business, so I joined it too’.


A.7 What do employers seek in your CV?

Your professional skills: Employers will first check for the professional skills you posses. If you have the professional skills they are looking out for they would consider to hire you then and there. It would be your knack to list down professional skills for the position they are seeking. You can mention exactly the professional skills they have advertised for the said position.

Your qualifications: The recruiter will go through your qualifications to confirm if the educational details support your professional skill set. If your professional skills make him happy and your education may not match the experience that wouldn’t matter much. You have already won over his first point.

Leadership qualities: Recruiters generally look for someone who has leadership qualities.
You may be applying for a team lead position or just as member of a team, its important for you to show the recruiter that you have those professional skills. The employer will like someone who takes a lead in times of crisis or who has a problem solving capability. They would hire someone who is level-headed and can give a better output.

Your professional achievements: If it's job specific, clearly write in how much professional experience you hold in that field. Club your professional skills and professional achievements together with bullet points so that it will be easier for the recruiter to understand your language.
If you are applying for a software engineers job, highlight your professional skill sets and the operating systems you are familiar with, programming languages, software used and knowledge of other softwares.