CV Tips 101
A Guide to CV Excellence Part II
So welcome back and thank you again for joining me, Saturday morning, the sun is shining, and I have the fortunate task this morning of writing for all of you wonderful people.
CVs, CVs, CVs, like them or loathe them, but never underestimate the importance of getting them right. During our last blog I gave you an introduction as to who am I, why I chose this blog, problems I see that people have with creating a Curriculum Vitae, I also hopefully gave you an idea as to why I am qualified to write about this topic and I also asked you to review your existing CV, which I hope you did!
There are a number of key ingredients in creating an excellent CV, but most of them fall under two very important distinctive headings which are Layout & Content, layout we will cover today. Layout is the visual impact & aesthetics of the CV, in simple terms when the soft copy of your CV is opened or a hard copy of you CV passes onto a reviewers desk, it must automatically please the reader’s eye and subconsciously lure him/her to engage & read this fine specimen of a document. It can NOT be a chore or it will end up in the bin!
The Layout/Sequence I find most effective & logical, based on experience and feedback from both candidates and employers, is as follows.
Soft Copy attached to an email
I always advise job seekers to submit their CV as a pdf, as it comes across as a more professional document submittal when the email is opened.
The CV should be saved as Name & Occupation CV (example: Clive Dunne Operations Manager CV)
Actual CV (Hard Copy)
Sequence:
o CV Title (Bold name and Title)
o Personal Details (Beneath Name and Title)
o Summary Section paragraph (5-6 lines max written in the third person) followed by skillset bullet points.
o Qualifications/Education (Follows profile section in reverse chronological order)
o Career History (in sequence starting with most recent)
o Prior Career History (At end of career history)
o Other information
As you can see from the previous images, there are clean lines in the document and a logical sequence to the layout and most importantly, it’s pleasing to the reader’s eye.
You might ask why I use yellow, well, yellow is the colour that gets noticed most.
“Yellow - is the most visible colour and is the first colour the human eye notices! Yellow, the colour nearest to "light" leaves a warm and satisfying impression, lively and stimulating and in many cultures symbolizes deity. Dark yellow can be oppressive while light yellow is breezy. Yellow's stimulating nature and high visibility to the eye is the reason why many road signs are bold yellow (contrasted by black text). Yellow birds, flowers and skies are sure to be eye-catchers just because of the way the mind and eye works”
http://www.moosepeterson.com/techtips/color.html
I hope you have enjoyed this session and found it informative and helpful,
Best Regards
Clive