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8 tips to design an impressive and user friendly CV
This article is an attempt to help the readers design an impressive and user
friendly CV. If you ensure that you include this information in your CV, the
chances of it meeting the interviewer’s expectations become very high.
Begin with Name and Contact Details
Make this information available at the beginning of your CV. This should
include, your physical address, phone no.(Preferably mobile no.) and the e-mail
address (only one). If a company wants to call you for an interview or need to
communicate with you for any further information, they will look out for this
information. If it is buried somewhere inside the CV it will not only put them
off but also reduce their chances of contacting you.
Write an appealing Career Summary
This is your chance to bring forward your relevant strengths and skills in front
of the recruiter. Everything in your CV should actually support your Career
Summary. If there’s anything which doesn’t support your Career Summary,
probably it is worth reconsideration.
You should write your Career Summary around your Skills, Attitude, Knowledge and
Experience. There are 2 schools of thoughts on writing the career statement.
Some people think that it should be a short 30-40 words paragraph while some
give it a liberty to be covered in 4-5 bulleted points. Well, whatever you
decide on, ensure that everything relevant that you want to sell to the
prospective employer should be covered here. At the same time, it should not
become nauseating.
Focus on your Work Experience, responsibilities and achievements
If you are an experienced candidate, your work experience is your main weapon.
Include the details of the relevant jobs you have done in the past. You should
present your work experience in a chronologically descending order i.e. the
last company first. This should include the name of the company, your
designation and tenure followed by your Job responsibilities and achievements.
It is always better to present this information in bulleted format rather than
a clumsy paragraph. Mention some figures when you talk about your
achievements.
For example:
Worked as Business Development Manager for XYZ Company from June 2000 to Jan
2004.
Job Responsibilities:
• Setting up 7 franchisee across 4 countries
• Maximizing the business from existing customers to the tune of $ 200,000
Your next weapon is your Educational Qualification
Educational qualifications play an important role in the recruitment of
Freshers. If you are a fresh candidate, focus your CV on your qualifications
and achievements during your student life.
Write about your out of work achievements, interests and hobbies
These reflect your personality and skills. So present the relevant achievements
in the order of priority i.e. the most important achievement first. Similarly
you can present your interests as well. Write about the achievements, which
display a facet of your personality. For example-If you have been the president
of your College, do mention it. It shows your leadership skills.
Write short sentences with more impactful words
Lengthy CV puts the recruiter off. Keep the sentences short and use words which
demonstrate your hold of situation like managed, arranged, supervised
etc.
Formal font faces- A font like Verdana-10 should be good for the content while
the Name at the top can be written in Verdana-12, with a bold font face.
Use the same tense through out the CV. Changing the tense in every second line
leaves the reader confused and annoyed.
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