CV-ING THE RIGHT WAY! (I)

As the right CV (Curriculum Vitae) is the first step in the door of your dream job, when writing a CV, it is therefore important to keep in mind that your CV is the first representation of who you are, that the interviewer will see. So you’ll agree with me that the importance of having it the right way cannot be overemphasized.

Tips for A Top Notch CV:

1. Fonts should be eye-friendly and consistent: A recruiter would not keep reading through a CV that’s causing eye pain. Some CVs do. You keep wondering why the candidate had to use such font at such big size. Also, you find CVs with about 4 fonts on one CV. Not good, stop it. If you must use more than 1 font, ensure consistency. Use one for headings, another for the body etc... Don’t just write with any that pleases you in a section. Two fonts in all are enough.
2. CV Alignment: How’s the alignment on your CV? Is it properly justified, aligned left/right etc. as it should?
3. Spacing: Do not leave so much space in between just because you want to create a 3-pages CV. If everything you have to write can only fit in a page. Then write a beautiful 1-page CV.
4. Bullets: So important, I had to give it its own number. Be consistent with bullets. Don’t use square bullets on headings in one section and then move to the next section and use round bullets. For example, all headings should have same bullets; all subheadings should have the same type of bullets all through too.
5. Spelling Errors: You should diligently go over your CV to ensure there are no spelling errors. Imagine recruiting for a Content writer or Accountant and I keep seeing spelling errors on your CV. It simply tells me that you are not as meticulous as you should be. That surely is the end of the recruitment process for the particular candidate. Carefully go over to ensure there are no errors. How much attention you pay to these first 5 points, really shows how attentive to details you are.
6.  Visibility of Contact Information: At first glance your contact information should be visible. There should be no need to scroll down to see what your phone number, contact address or email address is. Also as a recruiter, I do not support the idea of not including a contact address in your resume. Why? Let me give an example. Recently, I was urgently recruiting for a role in Lagos. Had close to a thousand resumes to go through. Opening up a CV I needed to quickly know who was in Lagos or not. Then group according to different locations. I opened a CV and I couldn’t find an address. I just moved to the next candidate. With so much CVs left, there was no time to try calling to know where the candidate was.
7. Your Career Objective/Profile: Make sure it shows that you have depth and have properly reflected before putting together the paragraph. Well written, straight to the point & giving a total picture of what your objective is / a summary of who you are as a professional. I recently saw a supposedly experienced candidate’s career objective as, “To be successful in all my dealings in life.” That’s a huge NO NO.

Till the next edition, may the odds be in your favour! Happy Monday and have a greatness filled week!