By implementing these suggestions, your name will be effectively highlighted at the top of your CV.
E-MAIL ADDRESS
To enhance your professional image, it is important to have a suitable email address. Avoid using email addresses that include personal interests or unrelated information, such as the name of a favorite band or movie, or your birth date. Instead, create an email address that clearly distinguishes your first name from your last name.
For example: Olga.Smagina@gmail.com
PERSONAL DETAILS
Name:
Write First name + Surname (e.g. Ivan Ivanov)
Never use any nicknames.
Personal details:
Write contact details (one email address and one phone number are enough).
Email:
Make sure you have a standard professional address containing your real name , preferably without any numbers.
Remember : you are not required to include the following information: age, gender, marital status, nationality.
However, if you feel that it will increase your chances of getting a particular job in a particular company, don’t hesitate to do it
Other details: if you wish you can give links to your LinkedIn profile or your website.
THE PHOTO
There is no special requirement to use your photo.
Nevertheless, a simple black and white photo is not supposed to divert attention from your CV and moreover, it will make your CV more attractive and interesting.
Remember that it is acceptable to have only head shot on a white background.
Make sure your face and hair as well as any visible clothes look presentable.
Try to look friendly and open, preferably with a light smile.
It goes without saying, the photo should be recent and reflect your current appearance.
– How to Highlight your strengths and hide weaknesses
When it comes to showcasing your strengths and downplaying weaknesses in a CV, there are several strategies you can utilize to present yourself in the best possible way. Here are some tips:
1. Tailor your CV:
make your CV fit the specific job you are applying for by highlighting the skills and experiences that are most relevant to the position. Emphasize your achievements in these particular areas to demonstrate your strengths.
2. Start strong:
start your CV with an irrefutable objective or summary statement highlighting your key strengths and qualifications. This will immediately capture the reader's attention and demonstrate your value as a candidate.
3. Prioritize your strongest qualifications:
List your most impressive qualifications and accomplishments first, whether it's education, work experience, or certifications. Place these sections at the top of your CV to ensure they are noticed right away.
4. Determine your achievements with numbers, percentages, or other measurable metrics to illustrate the impact of your work. This helps highlight your strengths and provides concrete evidence of your abilities.
5. Use positive language:
Frame your experiences and accomplishments in a positive light by using strong action verbs and confident language. This will create a favorable impression and showcase your strengths.
6. Downplay weaknesses:
While it's important to be honest in your CV, you can choose to minimize or omit certain weaknesses that are not relevant to the position or would detract from your overall qualifications. Focus on highlighting your strengths instead.
7. Highlight transferable skills: If you have skills transferable to the position you are applying for, make sure to emphasize them in your CV. This can compensate for any perceived weaknesses in other areas.
8.Seek feedback: Before finalizing your CV, consider getting feedback from colleagues you trust, supervisors , or professional CV writers. They can make valuable insights and ideas for highlighting your strengths and minimizing weaknesses. Remember, the aim of your CV is to present yourself as a strong and qualified candidate. By strategically showcasing your strengths and minimizing weaknesses, you can create a compelling document that demonstrates your gravity to potential employers.
How to state the correct objective
An Objective determines what kind of job you would like to have. Generally, it is used when you are not responding to a specific advert but sending your CV so that a recruiter or HR manager will have a suitable job for you.
An Objective is placed under your personal details.
For example,
Helen Brown
Helen.brown@virgilio.it, +39 640 7898 3456
Objective: Position as an editor of drama novels aimed at a female audience.
You may simply wish to state what your career objective is, e.g.:
A career in physics with a special focus on engineering.
A position in teaching, specializing in helping children with learning disorders.
An Executive Summary
An Executive Summary is made up if a person applies for a specific advertised job. It is a summary of who you are and enables a recruiter to get an instant idea of your qualifications and skills only by scanning your CV.
The secret of its success lies in highlighting your unique skills and achievements that will distinguish you from other candidates.
An Executive Summary can be sometimes called a Personal Profile, or Career Highlights.
Like an Objective, it should be placed immediately below your personal details.
No heading is necessary but it can be put either on a light grey background or in a box.
Remember: you are trying to sell yourself to the reader by writing your Executive Summary or Personal Statement. However, you should not exaggerate your abilities as otherwise you will seem less trustworthy. Thus, avoid filling your statements with adjectives such as amazing, best, outstanding unless you can provide true evidence of such attributes.
Try to use words with positive connotation such as achievement, active, evidence, experience.
Avoid using negative words such as bad, error, fault, hate, mistake, never, nothing,problem.
– How to impress an interviewer with your education
If you completed your education several years ago, the Education section should appear after the Work Experience section and contain fewer details than the Work Experience section.
Here are some guidelines for the Education section:
– Start and end dates: Include the start and end dates of your education in reverse chronological order.
– University details: Provide the name and location of the institute, along with a web link to the institute or department.
– Degree type: Specify the type of degree you obtained.
– Coursework details: Briefly mention the coursework you completed during your education.
– University prestige: If you are sending your CV outside your own country, provide a link to a relevant page on the university's website to give the reader an idea of the level of prestige of the university or organization you attended. Here is an example of a typical layout for the Education section:
Education: 2020–2023 University of Manchester,
UK – Doctor of Philosophy in Information Engineering
– Research in greening the Internet.
Elective coursework included enhanced Internet architecture employing advanced communication service paradigms, protocols, and algorithms targeted at the optimization of energy consumption. Dissertation "A radical energy-aware application for wireless energy reduction" advised by Professor Giuseppe Verdi.
2017–2020 University of Santiago, Chile – Bachelor of Science degree (5-year course) in Electrical Engineering – Engineering coursework included continuous and discrete systems and signal processing, analog and digital circuit design, and computational theory.
Undergraduate thesis project "Wireless Enabled Context Awareness for the Future
Internet."
Note from the example above:
– The information is in reverse chronological order.
– The candidate has not mentioned her high school.
– The candidate completed a 5-year course for her Bachelor's degree, which is longer than the standard 3-year course.
– The candidate only mentioned her thesis title without providing further details because it is self-explanatory. If you finished your education after your first degree and are now looking for your first job, it is normal and acceptable to include your high school. However, if you subsequently completed a Master's or PhD, mentioning your high school may not be necessary.
If the name of your high school is in your native language and does not provide useful information to the hiring manager, you can simply mention the specialization or write "generic studies" if there was no specialization. You can also include your final score or percentage if applicable. Additionally, you may include other relevant courses you attended that are pertinent to the job you are applying for and would benefit the position you are seeking. Provide details about the course, what it was focused on, and any notable achievements or skills gained during the course. In summary, the Education section should be organized in a reverse chronological order with necessary details about your education and highlighted coursework or additional courses relevant to the position you are applying for.
– How to make your work experience sound relevant
If you finished your education several years ago, it is advisable to place this section before your Education section and provide more comprehensive details.
When describing your work experience within a company, use the same format as in the Education section.
Start by stating the company's name, location, and your position within the organization. Then, provide a detailed account of your responsibilities and accomplishments, highlighting how they align with the requirements of the job you are presently applying for. Just like the Education section, make sure to present everything in reverse chronological order.
2020 – Present:
Tshwane University of Technology (www.tut.ac.za (https://www.tut.ac.za/)), South Africa University Lecturer
– Prepare and teach software engineering subjects, including Systems Analysis and Design, OO Analysis and Design using UML, SQL & PL\SQL, Data Engineering, OO Programming, Object-Oriented Software Engineering, and Project Management.
– Design and develop distributed Systems for 2nd and 3rd year students, as well as Advanced PL\SQL for Final Year Computer Science and Software Development Students.
2017–2020:Vodacom Congo SpRL, DRC Information Systems Specialist(Intern)
