Section 2 - CV or Résumé ?

After sitting in the employer's chair, you should have got a few clues about how best to approach the job application process, what the employer is looking for and what information you give away besides the facts that you've written.

There are many styles of CV or Résumé and the mode you choose will usually reflect the country in which you live as well as the profession or chosen field of work.

The more formal and detailed Curriculum Vitae is usually more lengthy and includes more information generally than a Résumé. A CV tends to be the preferred option in some countries and with academic institutions generally.

The US generally seems to favour the style of the Résumé, which is more concise and summarises some information.

Whichever approach you take, CV or Résumé, there are still some principles that apply regardless.

Presentation

In particular - legibility, spelling, grammar.

Whatever the style, your job application, CV, Résumé and/or letter of introduction should always be neat, organised and well written. This is an absolute essential.

Contact Information

Contact information should be clear, accurate and complete.

Include all modes of contact, including telephone, mobile, fax, postal address, email address. The more ways that you can be contacted, the easier it makes it for them to get in touch.

Job Target or Objective

State the position that you are applying for, up front, right at the beginning of your CV.

Bear in mind that the position you are applying for might not be the only one that is being dealt with by the person receiving applications. It would be a shame if your application was filed with the wrong batch and never reached its intended target for consideration.

Capabilities or Summary

This is a short synopsis or bulleted list at the beginning of your CV/résumé that summarises what you are capable of and that is relevant to the job application.

There is no point including irrelevant information here, keep it concise and firmly targeted at the job position you are applying for.

Make sure that you include the key words that an employer might be looking for, for the position you are applying. These might be tools or equipment, accreditations, languages, methods of work or systems. They are generally industry specific and would be used by people who really do work in that industry.

If you have been supplied with the selection criteria for the job, then this will guide you as to what is relevant.

In some cases you are asked to write a covering letter addressing the selection criteria and this would be completed as a separate document to preface your CV.

You still need to prepare your CV according to these guidelines though - CV's of the top applicants are often filed for future reference, even if they didn't get the job, because they might be relevant for a similar post or a further recruitment. You want your CV to include all the information that is necessary if it is picked up later, without the covering letter.

Qualifications & Credentials

List them with the most relevant and highest level of qualification first. The first on the list might as well give the best impression, because details further down could be glossed over.

Career History

Reverse chronological order i.e. the most recent jobs first, working backwards.

You are making sure that someone scanning your CV has got the most recent information first - they are looking for what experience you have in the field you are applying for and it needs to be recent.

They may not read beyond the beginning of it or might just scan the whole for continuous employment - unless you get through to the detailed scrutiny stage.

It is also important to cross-check your dates and be clear if jobs overlapped, or if you had time out of employment for specific reasons - such as further training or education, sabbaticals, etc.. Some people may misinterpret the information and wonder what you were doing during "missing years"!

How much detail you put in this section depends upon whether you are writing a CV or Résumé, but the above principles apply.

It is also worthwhile listing for each job, what are the important skills, tools, systems, etc that you used during this time. It helps the reviewer to build up a more complete picture of your experience over a period of time.

Other Information

Depending upon the position and the particular industry, there may be other information that is relevant to include.

Examples might be -

a list of industry specific or workplace training courses that you have undertaken, languages that you are fluent in, computer software that you have used, mechanical equipment that you have worked on, publications that you have written and so on.

These should have an appropriate heading and be grouped in a way that someone can quickly assimilate the information.

Key Words

If you are a serious job hunter, then you are probably registered with several job agencies. Your CV will be in a database against which job opportunities will be matched. It is important therefore, to ensure that your skills list is up to date and includes all appropriate key words.

If you are registering with an online agency, via the internet say, then you will probably have an opportunity to add keywords to your details as a separate list - make full use of this, as it will determine how your CV is indexed. When matching jobs and CV's there is a better chance of yours being picked up and for more opportunities if you have all the variants of a key word listed.

It is worthwhile preparing a list of all the keywords relevant to your own CV. Group them according to type e.g. all job descriptions and roles together, all tools, all training courses, etc.. With a pre-prepared list, it can save you time when registering your details with job agencies and ensure that nothing important is overlooked. Being thorough with your registration details means that your CV has the best chance for being selected when a suitable job comes up.

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