cv writing

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How To Write A CV
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Transcript of cv writing

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How To Write A CV

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What is a CV/Resume?• Resume:Origin: French Word resume meaning “to summarize”

•CV: Curriculum (course)Vitae(Life)Origin:Latin

• Serves to provide a summary of your qualifications

• Purpose: to persuade the prospective employer for a personal interview

• Convince prospective employer that you are well suited to succeed in performing the responsibilities

• Emphasizes your skills and accomplishments

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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

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Before You Start

• Be brief, clear and concise

• Stress your accomplishments and skills, as well as experience

• Be neat and organized; direct the reader’s eye with format

• Use bold type to emphasize certain elements; use italics sparingly, only to highlight

• Be consistent on format and tenses

• Concentrate on positives

• Use action words to describe your accomplishments

• Proofread carefully

• Use high quality matching paper

• Use the pronoun “I”

• Use a font size smaller than 10

• Include personal information such as marital status, health, age, place of birth, etc

• State salary requirements

• Use nicknames

• Include a photograph

• Include any information that you cannot supply documentation or explain

DO… DO NOT…

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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Skills

• Summary of special skills– Computer skills, language skills, customer

service, leadership– Be Specific! Example:

• Proficient in writing and speaking EnglishSkilled in the use of MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access

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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)

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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”

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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!

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Three Types of Resumes

• Chronological

• Functional

• Hybrid

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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.

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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

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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 make them more obvious.

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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 possibleRefrain from using the word “I”. Your interviewer knows the resume is about you!

Additional Experience

Use this section when your job experience spans more than ten to 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 objectiveList extra-curricular activities, honors, awards, etc that are relevant to your resume objective.

NameStreet City, State Zip

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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

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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.

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Functional headings that are commonly used.

• Administration• Advertising• Communication• Consulting• Counseling• Customer service• Designing• Editing• Education• Journalism• Human Resources• Research• Publishing• Writing

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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.

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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.

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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

• Active

• Capable

• Comprehensive

• Conscientious

• Determined

• Distinctive

• Educated

• Effective

• Efficient

• Exceptional

• Exclusive

• Goal Oriented

• Helpful

• Honest

• Lasting

• Loyal

• Mutual

• Notable

• Permanent

• Popular

• Practical

• Proficient

• Punctual

• Reasonable

• Detailed

• Reliable

• Responsible

• Revamped

• Satisfied

• Simplified

• Substantial

• Superior

• Unified

• Useful

• Vital

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Nouns

• Ability

• Ambition

• Confidence

• Diversity

• Economy

• Excellence

• Harmony

• Honor

• Imagination

• Ingenuity

• Judgment

• Merit

• Progress

• Prestige

• Recognition

• Stability

•Success

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Verbs• Analyzed

• Appreciated

• Arranged

• Aspired

• Assembled

• Assisted

• Budgeted

• Built

• Clarified

• Commanded

• Completed

•Composed

• Accelerated

• Accompanied

• Achieved

• Acquired

• Administered

• Advised

• Conceived

• Conducted

• Constructed

• Controlled

• Converted

• Cooperated

• Coordinated

• Correlated

• Created

• Decided

• Delegated

• Demonstrated

• Designed

• Determined

• Developed

•Devised

•Directed

•Discovered

•Displayed

•Doubled

•Earned

•Educated

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More Verbs• Established

• Evaluated

• Exceeded

• Executed

• Exhibited

• Expanded

• Facilitated

• Finalized

• Financed

• Formalized

• Formed

• Formulated

• Effected

• Eliminated

• Enacted

•Encouraged

•Engineered

•Enhanced

• Founded

• Generated

• Governed

• Graduated

• Handled

• Headed

• Hired

• Identified

• Implemented

• Improved

• Improvised

• Increased

• Induced

• Influenced

• Initiated

•Innovated

•Inspired

•Installed

•Instructed

•Insured

•Integrated

•Intensified

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Even MORE Verbs• Licensed

• Located

• Maintained

• Managed

• Marketed

• Mastered

• Monitored

• Motivated

• Negotiated

• Negotiated

• Obtained

• Operated

• Interpreted

• Invented

• Justified

• Keyed

• Keynoted

•Launched

• Organized

• Participated

• Perfected

• Piloted

• Pioneered

• Planned

• Prepared

• Produced

• Provided

• Recommended

• Reconciled

• Reorganized

• Revised

• Served

• Serviced

• Streamlined

• Structured

• Succeeded

• Supervised

• Trained

• Unified

• Verified

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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