Dos and Don'ts of CV writing

[sharmila banu.m]

As you think about your job hunt, the first thing that comes to your mind is writing a good CV. Your CV is the first document a prospective employer sees about you. The objective of your CV is to fetch you an interview call. It is your marketing brochure, through which you are trying to sell yourself i.e. the employee to the buyer i.e. the potential employer. Your CV should leave such an impression on the employer that he should not be able to turn you down from the interview. If your CV achieves this, its work is done. Make your CV the best document, you possess. It will need drafting and a lot of redrafting. Don't lose patience. Here are some suggestions on Dos and Don'ts of CV writing  which should make things easier for you.

Note that these are just the suggestions, not the hard rules. You may need to break them at times and you are advised to do so, as per the demand of the situation.
Dos of CV writing

• Draft and redraft your CV until you are satisfied
• Make your contact details i.e. the phone no. and e-mail address available at the very beginning of your CV
• Write an appealing career summary/executive summary at the beginning
• If you are an experienced candidate, keep the focus of your CV on your work experience, responsibilities and achievements.
• Use words with more impact to demonstrate your control over things
• Write about your achievements from academic or personal life. They demonstrate a facet of your personality
• Rank the achievements in order of priority
• Mention about your interests out of work in the CV
• Put un-important things on the second or back page, towards right side of CV
• Include some numbers which can impress HR people and they allow you to meet the responsible person for an interview
• Use formal font faces
• Write short sentences
• Keep the same tense through out your CV
Don'ts of CV writing

• Lies about your candidature
• Resume or CV on top
• Flashy fonts
• Colorful or glossy paper
• Photographs until asked or compulsorily required for the position
• Usage of 'I', 'my'
• References until asked
• Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors
• Your age, number of kids, age of kids
• Mentioning health problems in the CV. If you have some obvious health problem, inform the interviewer
• Abbreviations or jargons as HR people may not understand them. Doesn't apply to IT candidates
• Current or expected salary until asked
• Mention of reasons for leaving the last jobs
• Right alignment of the CV content

SOURCE - CAREERRIDE.COM
DATE - 02.06.2009