Pocket CV: Your Simple Guide to Writing a Stellar CV

Pocket CV Your Simple Guide to Writing a Stellar CV

By ANDREA AMATO

Career prospects come and go, remains the most important do propel you to your dream job.

The curriculum vitae (CV) follows

Your CV is the first impression you

your career journey in detailing your

make on a hiring manager.

work experience, education history,

“Submitting a good-looking resume

and other carefully curated content.

is just as important as dressing sharp

Just as your career prospects alter

for a job interview,” Darshinee

over time, so too does the

begins, “I would say much more

expectations of a well-written CV.

important!” In writing a CV, you want to motivate a potential

Darshinee Munsaram and Tijana

employer to offer you a job, but you

Tufek represent Castille’s Human

will only receive a call back if you

Capital consultant and Talent

successfully pass this first

Acquisition & Advisory senior finance

impression.

consultant, respectively. Darshinee and Tijana join us in conversing about the expectations of hiring managers—from formatting your CV to your weekend hobbies—and offer additional advice as two individuals in the recruitment field.

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, but your CV ocument to

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01. What does the perfect CV look like?

pg. 06

02. Don’t overshare personal details.

pg. 08

03. What is more important, a personal

pg. 10

statement or a professional summary?

What’s the difference?

04. The crème de la crème of your CV:

pg. 12

Employment History

05. From kindergarten to university

pg. 14

degrees, what is relevant today?

06. What about additional sections,

pg. 16

such as hobbies and interests?

Final words of advice.

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pg. 18

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01. What does the perfect CV look like?

One of the first things to consider

To compliment your sections, include

when writing a CV is format. “There

bullet points under headers so your

is no such thing as a single, standard

CV does not read like an essay.

CV,” explains Tijana, “CVs adapt to the particular role one is applying

In terms of understanding

for, and their particular profession.”

expectations, an important factor to

In general, you want to keep your CV

consider is the locality of the job role.

concise. It shouldn’t exceed two

“International standards vary greatly

pages, nor include any dramatic

depending on best practices and local

colouring and illegible fonts

legislation,” Tijana begins, “In

(Darshinee recommends using Times

Germany it’s forbidden to ask for a

New Roman or Georgia, for example)

photo of an applicant, whereas in the

to ease navigation for potential

US a portrait is considered standard.”

employers.

In Europe, Europass is a common format adopted to lay out a CV, but

Additionally, you should organise

nowadays Tijana suggests these

your CV with clear sections. “Keep

shouldn’t be used: “It is not widely

your font size between 10 and 12

accepted in the private sector

points and ensure you can

anymore.”

differentiate your headings using bold type and capital letters,” Darshinee emphasises.

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02. Don’t overshare personal details.

We’ve previously learned to include

So, what is appropriate to add?

our full home addresses, marital

“Include your full name, professional

status, and other personal details on

title, email address and telephone

our CV. Unfortunately,

number,” Darshinee begins, “Details

discriminatory practices altered the

such as your marital status and

course on what details are

political affiliation are completely

appropriate for the document. “Your

unnecessary.” The sentiment is clear:

date of birth, religion, nationality,

input the necessary work details and

and other information that can add to

keep the political talk for your next

potential discriminatory treatment

dinner party.

should be avoided,” Tijana reiterates.

Some countries, such as the UK, protect your personal details in that it is illegal for hiring managers to request certain personal information.

“

The sentiment is clear: input the nece

political talk for your next dinner part

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essary work details and keep the

ty.

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03. What is more important, a personal statement or a professional summary? What’s the difference?

A personal statement or professional

The professional summary goes a

summary serves as a quick biography

step further than a personal

of an applicant. Although they sound

statement, in that it typically

similar, both terms reflect different

displays the number of years spent in

goals. A personal statement outlines

a role, and other details such as skill

the objective of your application, i.e.,

sets and personal attributes.

why you are applying for a certain role. For example, the personal

Are these important to include? “Yes,

statement of a software developer

if there is space,” Tijana answers, but

would read: I am an experienced

not at the cost of your document

software developer now looking for a

length. If you have a lot of content to

senior position.

include on your CV, it’s not worth including either a personal statement

On the other hand, a professional

or professional summary. However,

summary presents a few sentences

Tijana considers another type of

summarising the content of a CV.

applicant: “If it is a graduate profile, an introductory personal statement is very welcomed.”

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There is no real preference between a

they’ve applied these skills to achieve

personal statement and a

results in a workplace setting.”

professional summary, as both can

On the whole, include these where

have a place in a CV. Nevertheless,

appropriate and according to

Darshinee explains that at times a

available document space.

summary can be more beneficial, “As a professional summary highlights an applicant’s skills, and proves how

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04. The crème de la crème of your CV: Employment History

Your employment history should be

“You could add two different

organised according to your most

sections, one for full-time and the

recent experience first. Include the

second detailing freelance work,”

company you work/ed for, job title,

Darshinee explains. When it comes to

and the dates employed in the

key responsibilities and

position. As previously mentioned,

achievements, what to include

use bullet points to outline your

depends on the position you are

responsibilities and avoid writing

applying for. “If it is a project-based

paragraphs.

role, you should focus on your achievements,” Tijana begins, “The

It could be that you are applying for a

same advice goes for senior

job role after a period of

applicants that have to narrow their

unemployment. “Ideally, applicants

10-year career into a few bullet

don’t go into detail about these

points.”

career breaks in their CV,” Tijana states, “Rather these are better

For a more junior profile (typically

placed in your cover letter.” Another

described as someone with two to

scenario could be that you offer

three years’ work experience), Tijana

freelance work, and, in this

thinks writing day to day

circumstance, you want the hiring

responsibilities are more appropriate

manager to distinguish between your

to include. “Be clear and focused,”

full-time role with freelance.

Darshinee states, and include only relevant details in this section.

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“

Your employment history should be organised according to your most recent experience first.

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05. From kindergarten to university degrees,

what is relevant today?

Your education and qualifications

Similar to your employment section,

section compliments your

you want to include the name of your

employment history and is often just

qualification, the institution where it

as important. “The education section

was issued, the start and end dates,

gives the employer a brief overview

and the grades/results of the said

of your studies and qualifications to

certification. For roles that require

date,” Darshinee begins, “You want

warranty, such as in law or

to include your degrees, diplomas,

accounting, you want to display your

any official means of certification,

qualification at the beginning of the

and any work or vocational training

section. For Tijana, this is an

you’ve received.”

important point: “This is because in most cases, your qualification is a non-arbitrary requirement for the role you’d be applying for.”

“

You want to include your degrees, dip

certification, and any work or vocatio

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plomas, any official means of

onal training you’ve received.

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06. What about additional sections, such as hobbies and interests?

Do hiring managers really care about

She went on to clearly express,

what you do on weekends? Not really,

“What you don’t want to do, though,

but they do care about your language

is put a section altogether just for

proficiency, and even this has its

random hobbies.” Including hobbies

limitations. “Applicants should add

are more appropriate for applicants

languages, but only those that they

who are still in education, lack

are fluent in or have working

experience, or applying for roles that

proficiency,” states Tijana. Perhaps

are directly relevant to their hobbies.

it’s worth skipping over that language you took up in secondary

If you choose to include these, place

school and dropped a year later.

them in an area of your CV that is not given much prominence, such as on

When it comes to skills and hobbies, the consensus is less agreed upon between recruiters. “Essentially, there’s no right or wrong answer,” Darshinee begins, “Some recruiters appreciate the extra detail, whilst others prefer to keep a CV strictly professional.”

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the side or at the end of your CV.

“

Essentially, there’s no right or wrong answer... Some recruiters appreciate the extra detail, whilst others prefer to keep a CV strictly professional.

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Final words of advice.

When writing your CV, you have to

Including redundant information

keep in mind that this should alter to

makes your CV hard to navigate, and

the specific job role you are applying

derails hiring managers from looking

to. You may have career experience in

at relevant keywords.

multiple industries, for example in sales and IT, in which case you have

When it comes to specifics, the

to lay out your CV and section these

obvious section to alter is your

appropriately. Maintaining the same

employment history. If you’ve

example, if you’re applying for an IT

received a promotion, changed jobs

role, you want to prioritise your IT

or responsibilities, your CV should

experience and skills before your

reflect these changes. If there is a

sales experience.

take home message for this guide, it is one that is offered by Tijana: “CVs

Contrarily, many of us experience a

need to be concise and focused. You

length of time when we don’t look at

want to make the reader interested to

our CV, and suddenly, a fantastic job

learn more about you, and that will

opportunity arises, and you must

be delivered when you get that job

re-write your CV overnight. When

interview.”

updating your CV after a long time, you want to retain your focus on the length of the document and leave out information that is no longer relevant (so, no, you don’t include your kindergarten years, nor do you write about what colour belt you obtained in jujitsu).

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“

You want to make the reader interested to learn more about you, and that will be delivered when you get that job interview.

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