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STRUCTURING A WINNING CV- A SECTION BY SECTION APPROACH.
Before I say anything about CV writing I want to first dispel any myth that seems to suggest that a CV is what gets you the job.
Candidates spend all of their energy designing CVs some with very stylish fonts that make their whole CV unreadable. To tell the truth, a CV’s only duty is to get you past the initial screening stage and get you called for further discussions. (Interview)
I have screened a lot of CVs, interacted with a lot of Job Seekers and concluded that the majority do not have a clue as to what to put on their CVs. I want to sound a word of caution at this stage that even if you are confused and unsure of what to do, as much as possible refrain from copying another person’s CV word for word replacing their details with your details. Your CV must stand out, and be different. Also, try not to have a generic CV that you use to apply for every job vacancy. Take time out to assess the job vacancy and decide whether the role is for you and then tailor a CV that reflects your skillset and how those skillsets align with the job vacancy.
My aim in this write-up is to provide a basic guide on how to structure your CV, section by section making sure you capture only the relevant aspects of your profile. A CV should be broken into specific sections and they must highlight different aspects of your employment history, educational background and any other relevant achievements. Each section should be able to capture the above information in the most concise, professional way.
The heading captures your name, your address, your most reliable email address (make sure it’s an email address that you check regularly) and your most reliable telephone numbers (you should be reachable at all times). These details are always at the top of the page, clearly written out, and very legible. I have seen candidates state their nationality, date of birth etc in the heading, my advice – is ‘Please Don’t’ unless an advert specifically asks you to. Your name and your contact details are adequate.
Right after the Heading, is the Objectives section. The Objective section spells out your career objectives. Remember I stated earlier that one should have different CVs for different vacancies, meaning that the objectives must reflect the specific areas that the job description covers.
The Objectives section should be specific, stating clearly why you have chosen that career and what you expect of the role. What are your expectations for the role, work environment etc?
This section is usually confused with the objective section. Here, one is supposed to briefly explain who they are and what they can offer the employer. What technical skills does one possess in relation to the vacancy? My recommendation is to have a series of bullet points, to take the reader through the set of skills you possess and how useful they are to the role. The summary should clearly itemise one’s skills and attributes, highlighting the technical aspects (eg performance management specialist with extensive experience in conducting and interpreting 360 degrees appraisals, 12 years experience managing cross-functional teams, Training and Development specialist with 8 years course facilitation experience having designed and handled different self-development courses in Customer Services, Time Management etc.). This is where you toot your horn focusing on your strength and how your technical skills align with the vacancy. Take time out to think about your strengths and weaknesses making sure you avoid too many superlatives.
As the section clearly states, it is where you focus on your past and current work experience. This is arguably the most important section of your resume, my advice is for you to clearly arrange everything in a chronological manner, stating the most recent experience first and making your way to the earliest part of your work. Every job listed must come with your role title, the organisation worked for, the dates- from your appointment date to when you left the organisation, your duties and responsibilities and more importantly your accomplishments. Avoid the use of first-person pronouns, (the I, I, I’s).
Candidates tend to state every duty and responsibility that come to mind making the CV long and heavy, the approach is to be very specific, differentiating between the broad responsibilities and the specific ones. It is advisable to think deeply about your duties and responsibilities and how relevant they are and select the specific ones that have direct relevance to the job vacancy. I insist that if every candidate takes time out to properly understand the job description they would only focus on the relevant duties and responsibilities and won’t be under any obligation or attempt to put everything down.
The work experience section is where you talk about your achievements and your accomplishment. Two ways, you can talk about your achievements by tying it directly to a specific duty or responsibility. You state the duty/responsibility and state your accomplishments directly below. The other way is to list the accomplishments back to back under the work experience. I recommend the former as it makes it easy to understand. Note once again that your stated accomplishments must be specific and very relevant to the job vacancy, meaning you take time out again to reflect on your achievements and measure their relevance to the role.
The focus here should be on your educational background. Remember to focus on the relevant qualifications. Candidates tend to go as far back as their early development stages. There are no hard and fast rules here, how far back you go depends on how long you have been out of school and how relevant your list of education is to the vacancy in question. One doesn’t have to list everything if you have many qualifications. Pick and choose.
Candidates desperately try to fill spaces with very irrelevant, one-day and two-day personal development (soft skills) courses they may have attended. By all means, you can list conferences and workshops attended if they are relevant. Having a long list of personal development courses is a no-no. Note that the arrangement of your educational background must also follow a set structure; the qualification first, the Institution attended (where the qualification was acquired), and the dates attended (Start date to completion date).
This section should be focused on job-related skills, an example would be languages spoken, software, computer skills etc.
Hobbies can also be stated here on the resume. The hobby must also be relevant to the vacancy, if not leave it out. Your hobby must complement your skillset in the CV. People select hobbies for the fun of it, a good candidate thinks through the hobby and selects hobbies that align with the theme of the CV. The tendency here is for people to lie and state a hobby that supports the CV even though that necessarily is not a hobby for them, do not lie on your CV.
A CV as I already stated can only get you through the screening process and get you called to the interview – that’s where you show your worth. My advice to candidates is to have a theme for their CVs, themes like ‘My Audit Skills based CV’, ‘My Leadership Skills based CV’ ‘Mining related CV’ etc. The theme helps you decide how you should structure the CV.
Finally, the CV must be checked and re-checked for mistakes, check for spelling, and check for grammar, font, the structure until you are very sure. The worst thing for a candidate is to present a CV with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
By Michael Kuma Avuglah
Michael Kuma Avuglah is a Human Resources Management professional. He is the Chief Operations Officer of Ghana HR Solutions ( http://ghanahrsolutions.com/old ) a Ghanaian Recruitment Agency with services in recruitment and organisational training and development. Ghana HR prides itself on having the employment strategies, a wide range of options and resources needed to recruit professional talent on demand.
At Ghana HR Solutions, we help your company find, train, develop and engage your people, with world-class human resource Solutions. We are known to work tirelessly with individuals, teams and organizations to increase performance and realize true potential. Ghana HR Solutions provides Payroll Services in Ghana.
Ghana HR prides itself on having the employment strategies, a wide range of options and resources needed to recruit professional talent on demand.
At Ghana HR Solutions, we help your company find, train, develop and engage your people, with world-class human resource Solutions. We are known to work tirelessly with individuals, teams and organizations to increase performance and realize true potential. Ghana HR Solutions provides Payroll Services in Ghana.