How to write a CV? When crafting a curriculum vitae (CV) in 2023, it is essential to understand the key elements that make it stand out. A traditional CV is mainly used in academia and research-oriented fields to display your educational background and research prowess.
Begin by outlining your professional experience, including diverse documents such as research projects, certifications, and degrees. Highlight notable accomplishments that demonstrate your career achievements and highlight your potential value to employers in various industries.
Unlike a resume, a CV provides more detail about your work history, academic background, and credentials. However, it is important to keep it concise and within the specified page limit. Aim for a well-structured CV that showcases your strengths and qualifications for senior positions. Remember that the CV should not exceed three pages to maintain its impact and readability.
Also, See: What Documents Would I (Need for a Successful Scholarship Application)-2023
What is a CV? How to write a CV
A CV, complete from curriculum vitae, is a document required when applying for a job. It should tell them to summarize your education, professional history, skills, and achievements enabling you to successfully sell your abilities to potential employers.
You may also need to submit a cover letter and an application form along with your CV.
Americans and Canadians call it a resume. There are no specific formatting rules for these documents, so they should be more concise.
Differences between CV and Resume
CV
A CV is an extended utility file and has no duration limit.
It covers an element of all records which include educational background, studies experience, awards, honors, teaching, publications, and different particular accomplishments
There are most effective sorts of curriculum vitae
- Chronological format
- Functional format
Resume
A resume is a short application document and should not be more than one page.
A resume is a brief/precis of your skills, qualification, abilities, work history, and academic background.
There are three resume formats types:
- chronological resume format
- functional resume format
- combination resume formats
How long should a CV be?
CVs should not exceed two sides of A4 paper. In order to save space, only include the most important points of your education and experience. In your cover letter, don’t repeat what you’ve already said. Instead, stick to relevant information.
You may only need one page on your CV if you are a recent graduate. Depending on your experience and expertise, a medical or academic CV may be longer.
People also ask?
How to write a CV in 2020?
What should be included in a CV?
Name, Professional title, and Contact details:
Your CV should begin with your full name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, located at the top of the page.
Previously, your CV had to include your full address. Currently, you only need to list your city and county.
When applying for an acting or modeling job, you do not need to include your date of birth or a photograph.
Profile:
Your CV should include a personal profile, which is also called a professional profile, career objective, or personal statement.
It should be brief and snappy, with no more than 100 words, and it should summarize your key attributes.
This statement should appear at the beginning of your CV and highlight a few relevant skills and accomplishments while expressing your career goals. An effective CV profile focuses on the sector for which you are applying and is tailored to the cover letter.
Here is the following question you must mention in your profile
- Who are you?
- What are your career goals?
- What can you offer the company?
Qualifications and Education
List the names of the institutions, qualifications, and grades you achieved along with the dates. You may write your degree or qualification if you have recently finished your education.
You can include your most relevant modules, assignments, or projects if you have a degree.
Experience and Employment history :
The employment history section allows you to describe your previous jobs, internships, and work experience in reverse chronological order.
This section should come before education if you have more than one work experience.
When listing each position of employment, state your job title, the employer, the dates you worked, and a line that summarizes the role.
Skills and achievements:
This is where you mention the foreign languages you speak and therefore the IT packages you will competently use.
The key skills that you simply list should be relevant to the work. If you’ve got many job-specific skills you should do a skills-based CV.
Hobbies and interests:
Your CV can be improved by adding a section on hobbies and interests if you feel it is lacking.
However, relevant interests can provide a more complete picture of you. For example, you can start writing your blog if you want to be a journalist.
References
Like adding an address on your CV, you can also add a reference. You don’t need to provide the names of referees if you don’t want them.
You also don’t need to say ‘references available upon request as most employers do.
Formatting and Spacing Guidelines:
Font: Avoid using fonts such as Comic Sans. Choose something professional like Arial or Times New Roman. Use a font size between 10 and 12 to make sure that potential employers can read your CV. Ensure all fonts and font sizes are consistent throughout.
Heading size: Section headings are a good way to break up your CV. Ensure they stand out by making them larger (font size 14 or 16) and bold.
Length: Standard CV size in the UK is two pages, almost the same as in the USA but so for some Experts and professionals, one or three pages may be more appropriate.
Proofreading and consistency: Your formatting must be consistent throughout your CV to keep it looking admirable. Proofreading is to capture the grammatical error and spelling mistakes you can use Grammarly for it.
Tailor your CV: Accordingly to reflect the requirements of each job. After all, it’s better to send one strong, targeted application, than 10 poor applications.
Saving the file: You can send your CV via e-mail or on the job board. Save your CV as a pdf file. A pdf will also maintain the formatting, so you can be sure that employers will see your CV as you intended.
What not to include
There are many things you shouldn’t include on your CV, a few of them are
A headshot: To include a photo of yourself is very common in many countries like India, and Pakistan. But not common in the UK.
Age and date of birth: The only employment and your qualifications dates should be mentioned in the CV. Your age doesn’t affect your ability to do the job, but you shouldn’t mention your age in the CV.
Marital status: Like your age, your marital status and dependents don’t affect your ability to do your job. So don’t include them on your CV.
Home address: If posting your CV online don’t include your home address, as you could be targeted by fraudsters.
Curriculum vitae: Don’t put it at the top of the page.
We summarize the important guideline for your Cv, you should follow these guidelines
- All text should be left-aligned
- Dates should all be aligned
- The relevant coursework should not exceed two lines
- The address, phone number, and email should be on one line
- Education should be followed by work experience
- Provide 2-3 bullet points for each internship
- A photo is not required
- Month names are written in full or just the first three letters, for example, June
- Below the address, add a link to your LinkedIn profile
- Please do not add details such as NIC, father, mother, etc.
- There is no need to include a summary or objective
- A/O Level is not required if you have a master’s degree
- O-levels should not be included
- CVs and resumes should always be sent in PDF format
- To start a bullet point, use action verbs such as analyzed, evaluated, managed, etc.
- Each bullet should begin with an action verb
- There should be one line for each bullet point. Two lines should only be used in exceptional cases
