4 SMART Ways To Write Your CV When You Don’t Have Much Experience

By Florence Mukunya,

John Mwangi is a graduate with a communications Diploma whose only job experience is a three month attachment that he did as a schools requirement. His dilemma is how to write a CV that will stand out enough to compete with other job seekers who have far much experience than him.

The question is also raised by so many people who want to change careers and have no experience in that field they are switching to.

To find out how John can do his CV and gain confidence as he presents it to employers, I talked to June Njoroge a professional career advisor and a CV writer and she gave me pointers on how to work on such as CV.

“Don’t let lack of work experience put you off applying for a role where otherwise you meet most of the requirements. Instead, make the most of your other qualities like your skills, attitude and potential.” says June

Here are tips on how you can go on writing the CV when you do not have much experience

1.Identify what qualifies you for the role
Not only paid experience counts. Voluntary work, personal projects and extracurricular activities can all be highlighted to show your suitability. Think from the employer’s perspective and decide on the most interesting factors, where you have used relevant skills, and then make these prominent on your CV.

2.Make yourself irresistible to an employer
One of the hardest things to do convincingly on a CV is to convey desirable personality traits. Just writing that you are enthusiastic or motivated without giving supporting details isn’t enough. Instead, demonstrate through examples.

Starting something from scratch and overcoming hurdles can show resourcefulness and determination. For instance: “started a youth group magazine that advices on ways youth can raise money without employment and found sponsors for the magazine production. You can use examples like this to illustrate other characteristics such as an ability to get on with others, or organizational and communication skills.

Also holding down a job such as part time tutoring to pay your way through college can reveal humility and a strong work ethic which is part of what employers are looking for in a candidate. .

3.Speak the same language as the employer.
This is especially the case for career changers, but all applicants should aim to use language that an employer would expect to see from an ideal candidate. Include keywords throughout your CV, in job titles, skills, and in how you describe your work experience. An example is outlining your course work in school some of the units covered are relevant to the job expected to cover, an example Editorial writing for a candidate looking for an editorial job, if the candidate did practical lesson on the unit then its highly possible he know the ropes.

4.Experiment with layout
Put the most important information first, relevant work should come before less relevant employment.
You can be flexible with layout and include additional sections for work that is less relevant, or earlier in your career. You can also put your education before your work experience, or extract relevant course work and place that prominently.

“Finaly I advices candidates not to be tempted to do a CV with long, rambling paragraphs and irrelevant details to compensate for a lack of work experience.

Instead, they should  focus on making it easy for their reader to find key information” says June.

June Njoroge is a Career Adviser in CV Writing with Corporate Staffing Services. You can reach her through June.njoroge@corporatestaffing.co.ke

Dont Miss any Job Or Article Subscribe to Career Point Kenya by Email FOR FREE CLICK HERE