I started off in an earlier post indicating what I believe to be an essential starting section of any CV.  By allowing the recruiter to view your personal details at a glance it makes it easier for him/her to get an overview with whom they are dealing with.  Let me provide you with an overview of what the rest of the CV should be focusing on:

  • Profile: A brief introduction of your experience and abilities.  This should really be only one paragraph highlighting your experience and abilities that you can bring to the table.  It should be written in such a way that it interests the reader to want to look at your CV further
  • Applicable experience:  Remember that you will be applying for a specific position.  This section is to be used to briefly outline the applicable experience you have relevant to the position that you are applying for.
  • Education and training history: This would include information relating to the qualification obtained, the name of the the institution where you obtained the qualification, date completed and a student registration number
  • Current studies: List any current studies you are busy with in the same manner as above and list the date of expected completion.
  • Computer literacy:  Briefly list your computer literacy and especially those applications that you are proficient in
  • Language proficiency: Indicate which languages you can read, write and speak
  • Professional membership and registration: Are you registered with any professional institutions and list your registration number
  • Major achievements: Briefly list any major achievements in your working career
  • Work history summary:  In this section you will provide the recruiter with an overview of your work history and should contain the following information:
    • Company you worked for
    • What position you held
    • The period that you worked there
    • And the reason you left the employment or reason you are now considering a new position
  • Current employment: Provide details relating to your current employment.  This should include the following information:
    • Name of the company
    • Your position
    • Date you started at the company
    • Who do you report to: position (job title) and not a name
    • Immediate subordinates if any – job titles
    • Responsibilities: List your key performance indicators in other words, what are you required to do and doing in this position.  Keep it short and simple and provide a general section for this purpose.  Do not think that by listing pages of responsibilities it will assist you to get the position.  Try to focus on providing a short overview of what you are expected to do in this position and what you are actually doing.  I will focus in another post on this critical section.
  • Previous employment:  The section and outlay would look similar to the section containing your current employment. Remember to keep your dates chronological and now working your way back in time.

All the above seems to be quite a lot of information to be in your CV.  The idea is to keep it short and to the point.  Avoid long sentences or paragraphs just to try and impress the reader.  Remember, they are looking at what you bring to the table in terms of skills, qualifications, and what actually qualifies you to be considered for the position.  The recruiter does not want to read through pages and pages of useless information that really says nothing.  Keep your CV short and to the point, and in my opinion try and keep it to a maximum of 3-5 pages.

Trust this helps?  There are some issues that I would share with you relating to the CV points in later posts and hopefully help you to do your first generic CV in a professional manner.