CV Writing Tips
Let Your CV Shine

Your CV should be a signal fire on that crowded wall your potential boss finds himself (or herself). Your CV writing skills can grow and glow. Yes. Let your CV shine.

The time and effort you invest in writing your CV is worth it. It will yield life long dividend.

Remember... apart from helping out in getting you an interview, a well written CV may be all that will linger in your employer's mind as he decides who to give the job after a closely matched interview. It may also be the initial basis on which your salary negotiation can start and stand.

You can bring in the desired eloquence to your CV by writing your CV yourself, contracting it out to professional CV writers or using available award winning digital CV Writing Software that takes you through your CV writing step by step.

Whatever you choose to do, there are vital CV writing tips you should be familiar with.

1. Never use a "general" CV to apply for a job. Always customise your CV to suit the requirement of a job
2. Learn about the company you are applying to and let this reflect too in your CV
3. Always send a covering letter in with your application.

The following are further tested and trusted CV writing tips that could land you that dream job of yours.

It is vital to determine from the outset, the type of CV format you would need. There are different CV formats, depending on the type of employment or profession you are seeking to apply to.

There are basically four or five CV formats to choose from. These are Chronological CV (also called performance CV if presented in a reverse chronological form), Functional CV, Targeted CV, and Combination CV. You can read more on each of these types of CVs at the CV formats section.

Most professional or some industry related employments like nurses, doctors, architects, or health care assistants, may do well presenting their CV in chronological order to highlight their career progression so far.

For business managers or those changing employment to unrelated, fields, they may choose to pick a functional or targeted CV format that highlights their achievement and functional prowess. The aim here is to demonstrate that they have "in demand transferable skills".

Combined CV as the name implies is an amalgamation of chronological and functional CV.

If you are not sure of the format to use, see a sample CV for your profession from a colleague, or read more and get further details on CV writing format from the CV Formats page.

Also see the sample CV page for examples of CV by professions.

The Draft

Once you have agreed on the type of format, your journey on how to write good CV is off on a good start. You need to then draw a rough draft.

• The draft should show all you want to include. Do not be afraid to add what you think is very important. If you do not tell them (your employers to be), they won’t know (your worth). Be complete.

• Know the keywords or buzz words a particular job and employer is looking for. You can find most of these out by taking a look at the persons' specifications of the advertised job. Let such keywords show on your CV. Show on your CV how your skills, knowledge and attitude can address the needs of the business or company. Let these keywords or "big gun" words stand out in your CV.

• The information provided should be concise. No too much wordings. Even though you can write in the first person, the third person presentation is preferred.

  Many recruitment experts want the use of bullet points to highlight information. It makes it looks distinct and concise. It you are applying for a general position, one or two pages are okay for a CV.

  For some specialist or managerial post, you will need a little more. See the various positions below for examples

• Nobody likes cluttered presentation. Be clear in what you say and how you write them. Make use of space.

  When pages are presented with free spaces available, it lightens up the look of the presentation. So do not crowd the page

• Name, age date of birth, address, email contact, telephone are universally agreed information to be included in any CV. On the other hand, if you feel comfortable, and depending on the type of job, or where you find yourself, you may wish to include your nationality and immigration status

• If you must excel in how to write good CV, you must learn to adapt your CV to each job you are applying for. No shortcuts

• Be truthful in all you present. You could loose your job, get prosecuted and live with a criminal record all your life if you are found to have lied in obtaining a post.

Word Processing

Presentation is King here too. You must aim to present a pristine concise looking CV. No short cuts. How you word process this your marketing document is vital.

Use a size 12 or 14 font. A serif or Times New Romans text format will do, with headings being in Sans Serif. Always use a double word spacing…it makes reading more comfortable. Your paper should have margins of at least 2.5cm on both sides.

Never underline any heading, word or paragraph on your CV. Avoid the use of too many fonts or text format.

A 80 – 100 grams size white printer paper is excellent. You may elect to use colored paper, but I would rather avoid that.

Use a laser printer only please. It comes out better, and makes photocopying great too.

Don'ts

Do not ever do the following when writing or submitting a CV for job application:

• Do not submit an application without a Covering Letter

• Do not ever hand write your CV, or covering letter

• Do not include your age, sex and date of birth on your CV, except you are specifically asked to

• Do not include salary details from last employment except again, it is a precondition

• Do not include a photograph, except you are an artist, or have been asked to

• Do not include the reason for your leaving your last or current employment

• Never fold your CV in an envelope. Always use C4 envelope

The following are more CV writing resources to help make your cv writing a walk in the park.

CV Formats

How to Write a Good CV

Free sample CV

CV Covering Letter

Professional CV Services

Great CV Drafting and Writing Books

CV Writing Tips: Comments And Questions

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