Contents Of A Good CV:  Essential Guidelines To Follow

By Joan Igamba

We know you have heard it all. All the bad advice being floated around on what to include or leave out of your CV.

It ranges from having a one page CV (no matter what) or getting creative with bold formats. It can get difficult to know what advice to take and what to ignore.

However, we are here to remove all the guess work from this very important part of your job search.

A great CV never misses these essential contents. Use this article as a resource or guide on how to write a winning a CV.

1. A Good Format

It is important that you follow a good format that shows the employers just how organized of a professional you are.

The widely accepted format to use is: your contact information, career objective, academic history, professional experience, qualifications and skills, interests and references.

The order you choose to follow is entirely dependent on how many years of experience you have.  It could also depend on what you are trying to achieve with your CV.

If it is for a scholarship then your academic qualifications could come first. If it is for a job and you have strong, impressive work experience then you could lead with professional experience.

When it comes to formatting your CV, these are the things you should consider.

2. Relevant and important details

The skills section of your curriculum vitae should be very detailed. This is the section of your CV that the employer is most likely to gravitate towards.

Allocate more space to your professional qualifications as well. This is especially true for individuals who are entering the job market for the first time, if you have multiple gaps in your employment or if you are changing careers.

If you are confused on what skills or qualifications to include as always let the job description guide you.

3. You can include certifications too

If you have training certification in areas that are relevant to the job that you are applying for then go ahead and include it.

Did you attend an accounting training, customer service skills training or HR training? Include it here.

How can you do this? Create a subsection named ‘additional training and qualifications,’ under your educational background, for example.

4. Utilize your space effectively

CVs can get lengthy, this however does not mean you strive to fit your whole career story into one page.  Two to three pages is usually just as good for employers to go through.

If you write the first draft of your CV and it comes to anything longer you should try to shorten it.

Some tips to ensure you’re using space effectively include:

• Using bulleted lists which make the information on the CV is easier to go through.
• Using section headers that separate different parts of CV.
• Using bolded words to set apart sections such as job titles.

Essentially,

Doing your CV right will increase your chances of finding a job more quickly. We understand that your CV is your first chance to make a great first impression. This is why our professional CV writing service is available to you. You can reach out to our professional CV writer through this email brenda@corporatestaffing.co.ke and you will get your CV looked over to increase your chances of landing those job interviews.