DESIGNING AN ATTRACTIVE CURRICULUM VITAE

Your skills, abilities and expertise are strong to earn you a job, yes; but your ability to market them determines how strong they are. To secure a job that you have an interest in, you need to know how to present yourself as an attractive candidate worthy of that position. How do I present myself as an attractive candidate? you may ask! 

Marketing yourself as an attractive candidate should show in the presentation of your curriculum vitae. Your CV is a marketing document that gives you the opportunity to present yourself to an employer who knows nothing about you.

We do say first impression counts, right? Yes, first impression does count and the first impression to take you to your desired role is your curriculum vitae (CV). Your ability to construct an eye-catching CV will get you closer to your dream job. The role of the CV is to at least take you through the door of your next employer or even gets you an interview.

Another thing that bores employers over CVs is the layout and style. It is advisable to justify your document, use an appropriate font style (such as Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Cambria, Verdana etc.), an acceptable font size of 10 minimum and 12 maximum depending on the font style chosen. Candidates should ensure they are consistent with their bulleting, font style and size. 

The following elements should be included in your CV;

• Contact Detail 
• Summary statement (this maybe a short sentence on your personal profile)
• Experience and achievements
• Educational Qualification
• Skills and Interest

Contact Details

Candidates must ensure they provide a professional email address, I prefer Gmail or Hotmail to yahoo. Try to use appropriate email names for example juliana@gmail.com instead of sexyjollof@yahoo.com. Have your address, contact number and your Full name, website or blog if any. I will recommend that this be centred so it can be easy for potential employers to contact you for future vacancies.

Summary statement

The summary statement should highlight your skills, experience and achievements and how you can contribute your quota to a potential organisation. This must come before your Work experience. This section should be as brief as possible, not a long essay. Remember that the employer uses just about 10 to 15 seconds to review CVs.

Work Experience

Include the various jobs you have held in your previous organisations. Always ensure that you provide duties and responsibilities of the position you held in your previous organisation as well as what you are doing currently. Every duty described should be in past tense except your current job. Some candidates just provide you with the role title, company name and date and leave out the duties. It is advisable to provide your potential employer with your duties and responsibilities, this helps to ascertain if your duties match what you might be doing at their organisation.

Educational Qualification

This element includes educational institutions you have attended, start and end dates and qualifications earned. Other training and short courses attended can be added as a sub topic under this section.

Skills and Interest

State the skills that are relevant to the position you are applying for, you can also list your knowledge on some programming languages and software programs for technical roles, IF it important to the role you are applying for.

The interest section of a curriculum vitae indicates one’s personal interest. This may include but not limited to sports (Football, swimming, volleyball, basketball etc.), books, movies, cooking, traveling, or any other appropriate hobby or personal interest. 

Recruiters have a lot of CVs to review, thus, it is very important to make your CV as catchy and detailed as possible. Never forget that, your CV tells the Recruiter/ Employer who you are. If your CV is improperly laid out, it means you are not an organised person. Job seekers take certain things for granted when writing CVs and this sends the wrong message across to the Recruiter/ Employer. Also, bear in mind to apply for roles that you are currently practising, that is, if you want to apply through a recruiter.

Wish you all the best in your job search!!!!!