Guidelines for
Creating a Simple, Well-Written CV or Resume
Imagine that you are an employer with 2 open
positions to fill. After advertising the position, you receive 200 CVs for the
2 positions, and you have to screen all CVs in order to be fair, and to be able
to select applicants to interview. Think of some of the things that will cause
you to discard some CVs, or things that
will raise your interest in other CVs. Would you like to invest your time
in going through 200 typo-filled, colourful, disorganized and grammatically
incorrect CVs? Probably not. Read on to find out about the dos and don’ts of CV
writing.
Remember that your CV or resume usually gives the
first impression of you as a person and as a potential employee, and so it must
speak very well of you. See it as your opportunity
to market your personal brand and make you an attractive, first choice pick
for any job position. Since you are not physically there with potential
recruiters to elaborate on anything, your CV must be clear and contain all
the necessary information. It must be well-organized, to-the-point, and easy to
read, and must be clean and free from any kind of grammatical or typographical
errors. The decision to interview you is usually based on the overall first
impression given by your CV or Resume. Your CV or Resume is needed to get your
foot in the door – it should impress and persuade the reader that you are a
potential ‘right-fit’ for the job, and should lead to an interview and ultimately,
to a new job and career.
In this document, please take note of the following
topics:
The difference between a CV and a Resume
Components of
a CV
Visual Layout
of a CV
Components of
a CV
The Dos of CV
writing
The Don’ts of
CV Writing
Other Job
Search Strategies and Tools
Interviewing
Skills
The Difference
between a Resume and a CV
The term “resume” comes from the French word for
summary – résumé. The resume then, is a brief summary about your [relevant]
background – past jobs, educational background and relevant skills etc. that
you bring to the job. Resumes/CVs on their own don’t get jobs - they get you
interviews, and it’s your performance at interviews that gets you the job!
Especially for jobs outside of academia, resumes are preferred, while CVs are
more common for academic positions. For non-academic positions, resumes are widely
used in the USA, while CVs are more commonly used for both academic and non-academic
positions in European and African countries including Ghana. CV styles differ
from one country/region to the other, and in academia, it also may differ from
one discipline to another. Be sensitive to what is appropriate wherever you
find yourself. It is also prudent to have multiple (2 or 3) versions of your
CV, each with a particular emphasis – for industry, for academia, for certain
types of jobs, etc…
The abbreviation “CV” stands for “Curriculum Vita,”
which comes from two Latin words –
currere and vita. Currere means to run – as in, to
run a course. Vita means life, and together, “curriculum vita” means the course
of life. The CV is typically more comprehensive, and covers your relevant
experience over the course of your life. Curriculum Vita or Curriculum Vitae is
singular, while Curricula Vitae is plural. The CV [a biographical sketch] is
also referred to simply as a Vita.
*** When sending application documents to Axis, CVs are preferred, so long as they are
well-written and follow the guidelines below. The lists of Do’s and Don’ts of
CV writing provided in this section are by no means exhaustive.
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