CVs Writing

Prepared by: Amira Heikal

Human Resource Manager
content
 Overview
 Objective
 Resumes vs CVs
 CV Outline
 CV Format/style
 Action Words
Overview
 A Curriculum Vitae (Latin for “course of
life”) is used mainly in Europe.
 Resume is French and means “summary”.
 In the US, the term resume is used
instead of CV. It’s an American-style CV.
 They may take on a number of different
formats or styles.
 Regardless of the style, make sure that
they flow logically and are error free
Overview (continued)

They should be able to give a clear

picture on the following aspects:
 What do I want to convey (my
career objective)?
 What are my core
skill/competencies?
 What are my major achievements?
Objective
 Resumes & CVs are tools used to
introduce job seekers to potential
employers.
 Their basic job is to create an
image/impression about you as one of the
best matches for the job at hand.
 They should compel the interviewer to
want to know you better because by
making you look promising for their
company. In other words, the main role is
to get you an interview call.
Resumes vs CVs
 The terms 'Curriculum Vitae' and 'resume'
are generally interchangeable.
 However, few people know that they do
differ in many ways.
 Both are lists of the most relevant
information of a person pertaining to job
seeking.
 Both are used for the same purpose - i.e.
seeking employment.
Resumes vs CVs
 However, there are a few basic
differences:
 CVs represent an in-depth and structured
information about the professional
experience and qualification of a person;
 The resume usually is the same thing in a
very short form.
 This is why typically a CV would be two to
three pages while the resume would not
normally exceed one page.
Resumes vs CVs
 The Curriculum Vitae is the most
accepted form for job applications
all over the world.

 The resume, on the other hand is

the most accepted form for job
applications in USA. Here, the
Curriculum Vitae would be used
exclusively for jobs in academics.
Resumes vs CVs

 The main difference between CV &

resume is the lengths.

 The standard CV is between 2 and 8

pages long where the standard resume is
between 1 and 2 pages long.

 Resumes are a reflection of your main

accomplishments only, while CVs are
detailed accounts of your education and
work experience to date.
Approaches in various countries
 In German-speaking countries, a picture
was a mandatory adjunct to the CV for a
long time.
 Indian employers prefer lengthy résumés.
 Including a photograph of the applicant is
strongly discouraged in the U.S. as it
would suggest that an employer would
discriminate on the basis of a person's
appearance — age, race, sex,
attractiveness, or the like.
Approaches in various countries
 In Korea, résumés always include a picture of the
applicant, and other information, such as religion,
family information, military information , and
other information .

 In Canada, by Canadian Charter of Rights and

Freedoms, applicants may refuse to put down
race, national or ethnic origin, colour, sex, age or
mental or physical disability on the resume even
if the employer instructed the applicants to do so.
CV outline
A Curriculum Vitae would normally
provide the following information:
 Personal information
 Objectives
 Work History
 Achievements
 Qualifications
 Skills
Personal Information
 Mandatory: Name, address, e-mail
address , contact details and
military status.

 Optional : date of birth, marital

status, nationality, religion
Personal Information
 Your personal information should
be written clearly right at the top
of the page.

 Use a different font (from the body

of the CV) if you like, but abstain
from using other color ink or
dividers. Too much of it will
distract the reader.
Work History (Professional Experience)

 Use the same terminology as in the

job requirements, particularly the
essential skills.
 Keep in mind the saying, 'You are
as good as your last job' - hence,
give as many details as needed in
the first two employments listed
and then reduce the details as you
go down the time.
Objectives
 In this part, you are telling the
employer why you want the job.
 Write the objectives section
showing a clear reason based on a
career track motive like “ I want to
gain direct experience as part of my
management studies”
 It should not exceed five lines.
Work History (Professional Experience)
 List your professional experience in
reverse chronological order.
 Clearly mention the employing
company's name, your position and
describe in bullet points what you have
achieved there.
 The CV should have quantified active
verbs, which show that you were a
person who made a difference and
hence, you would be ready to make a
difference in your new work place as
well.
Achievements
 Achievements added to the work
history as part of each job
description are a real positive,
particularly when you show obvious
relevance and value to the
employer.
 Use examples that are clearly
related to the new job application.
Skills
 Any job for which you can apply will
include a range of skills you can use.
 You may not have all of them, but you
must include all the required skills as
much as possible.
 Use exactly the same description of these
skills as used in the job ad.
 Skills may be classified as such:
 Organizational skills
 Managerial skills
 Technical skills, and so on for clarity and better
focus
Qualifications
 Key educational achievements
 List with dates the academic
locations, areas of study and
diplomas/degrees.
 Memberships in any professional
bodies
 Any training courses that would
reflect upon the present position.
Others
 Leisure activities: hobbies, sports
and interests can give an insight
into your personality.
 References
Styles of CVs

1. Functional CV
2. Keyword CV

2. Performance CV
3. Targeted CV
4. Combination CV
Functional CV
 This is the best style to use when there are gaps
in the employment and you want the recruiter to
stay focused on your expertise/skills rather than
being deflected by the gaps visible in the career.
 This is also great way to write your cv when your
skills are more important than your qualification
and employment history.
 This style usually concentrates most on skills you
have acquired in the past and how you have used
these in the previous jobs.
Keyword CV
 It is designed to meet the demands
of electronic scanning and electronic
applicant screening & tracking.
 It is often called an electronic
resume
 It is a new resume style, utilizing
power words and phrases.
Keyword CV
 It must contain an adequate description of the job
seeker's characteristics and industry specific
experience presented in key word terms in order
to accommodate the electronic and/or computer
process.
 Keyword CVs are designed to be scanned, to be
computer friendly, to produce hits (a hit is when
one of your skills matches the computer search
key word or phrase), not necessary for visual
appearance or to be read by humans. This is
contemporary most powerful resume.
Performance CV
 This style usually focuses on the past
performance.
 This is an excellent CV writing style when
you want to be seen as a major achiever
since it will focus the attention of the
recruiter on your performance/
achievement during each job listed in
your employment history.
 This is usually efficient when the career
graph has stayed more or less in the
same profession for a long time.
Targeted CV

 This style works best when your

employment history is too versified to
make the right impact.
 This type would focus on the requirement
of the job and exclude most of the other
traits and experiences that could distract
the recruiter from judging your match
with the job applied for.
 Though the skills acquired would have
enriched your professional capacity, these
are not directly applicable to the job and
hence would not really help the purpose.
Chronological Resumes
 The chronological resumes formats,
lists job experience starting with
your first job and ending with your
most recent position
 However, employers tend to prefer
the reverse chronological order,
because the format lists job history
beginning with the most recent job
listed first.
Combination CV
 In reality applicants use this format the
most. You actually use a little of every
style when you are trying to make a
winning CV.
 It is very rare that you would need to use
one single style, as the job vacancies are
complex and your career history would
need to be carefully tailored to answer
the requirements of the recruiter.
Action Words
 One of the most important things when
writing a resume is to use action words as
a specific resume words. Not only will
these action words increase the impact of
your resume in the eyes of the employers
but they might help your resume get
selected when recruiters use resume
scanning software. Usually used to
describe skills, experience and
achievements, action words shouldn't
however be "stuffed" in your resume as
you need to make sure your document
sounds natural.
A few critical points you should
remember
 The Curriculum Vitae should not
exceed two pages;
 The sentences should be short and
crisp;
 Use, as much as possible, bullet
points with active verbs that are
quantified with achievements;
 Choose the right style (functional,
targeted and Performance )for the job
you are applying;
A few critical points you should
remember

 Ensure that the best that you have to

offer is on the first page; the recruiter
might not bother to look at the second
page otherwise;

 Study well about the company and

tailor-make your Curriculum Vitae to
exactly match those requirements;
A few critical points you should
remember

 Ensure that all statements are true;

you might be asked to provide proof
for your claims or the company might
run a background check-up on you
 Check the spellings and punctuations
carefully.
A few critical points you should
remember

 Your contact information should be

clear and correct; this should have
your address, telephone number , cell
phone number, email id,
 Use an easily readable font - it should
not too small - Arial/ Times New
Roman/ Tahoma 10/12 point would be
a good choice
A few critical points you should
remember

 Use high quality paper

 The Curriculum Vitae should be laser
printed for high clarity and neatness
 Use light colored (if you want any other
color than white) paper for a stand-out
effect
 Use an easy-to scan format - avoid too
much italics, highlighting and underlining
Cover Letter
 Attach a brief cover letter explaining
why you think you would be the best
candidate for the job you are applying
for
 Always keep a copy of the Curriculum
Vitae you sent to each company - this is
very important, since each CV would be
specifically tweaked to match the job
and hence, you might not remember
exactly how it was presented when you
are called for the interview