- The primary purpose of a CV or
Résumé is to tell prospective employers something
about you. It should make him/her want to give you
that all important interview.
(From time to time
there may be others to whom you may also wish to
send a summary of your career and interests.)
- The terms CV and Résumé are virtually
interchangeable but, from time to time, one or the
other may be more fashionable. If a prospective
employer uses one of these terms, it may help to
use the same term when corresponding with them.
- A covering letter is an opportunity
to be a little less formal than in a CV. This is
your chance to tell your prospective employer how
enthusiastic you are and how excited you are about
applying for their specific position.
- Always keep in mind that employers
use the PLU (‘people like us’) principle and try
to pick employees who will fit in. Therefore, it’s
not a bad idea to do a little research about the
company and include some of these facts in your
covering letter.
- Prospective employers see many
CVs and covering letters and, therefore, it should
be your aim to compile documents that stand out
from the crowd. There are a number of ways of doing
this:
- By using an attractive writing
style that’s easy and quick to read
- By only presenting information
that will be of interest to your prospective
employer
- By making your document attractive
and eye-catching
- By not making the document
too long
- By using the bullet format
- Never alter the facts and never
make things up - it’s amazing how often you’ll be
caught out. However, a seasoned writer should be
able to take the bare bones and make them sound
interesting. Also remember that there are good ways
and bad ways of presenting the facts.
- Many people put their job history
at the top of a CV but it’s modern practice to begin
with a list of your personal attributes
- You should always keep a standard
CV that can be modified to suit the particular employer.
Let’s say you have experience and qualifications
as a hairdresser and as a masseuse; if you were
applying for a job as a hairdresser you wouldn’t
put the qualities that make you a good masseuse
at the top of your list of merits.
Your standard CV may say that you are a member of
a number of car clubs. However, if you were applying
for a job in a car showroom, you would elaborate
on your interest in cars, show some technical knowledge
and use jargon that the man in the street may not
know.
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- Make sure that your list of references is carefully
selected. It always helps to include someone like
a doctor or Member of Parliament. Always make sure
that everyone on your list knows that they’re there,
so that they don’t get a surprise if they’re contacted.
- Although it’s illegal for employers
to discriminate on the grounds of sex, sexual preference,
religion, age or disability, an employer is not
obliged to give reasons for not employing people.
Therefore, these are things that are better left
out of a CV. As an example of a potential problem,
let’s take the case of a person in a wheel chair.
If they put that in their CV, the prospective employer
would probably not invite them in for an interview
because he/she would anticipate problems that probably
don’t even exist. If they don’t mention their disability
and they get an interview, the prospective employer
would soon see that they’re disabled but, of course,
the interview would be the time when they should
be able to convince the interviewee that there won’t
be major problems in employing them.
Let’s take another example: if one is over 50, there
are ways that good writing techniques can be used
to present a full CV without mentioning age or the
year one started work.
- There is an art to writing attractive CVs and
covering letters. Obviously you know more about
yourself than anyone else but, often, one may fall
into the traps of being too verbose and of not readily
seeing the specific things that will make you attractive
to an employer. It should also be kept in mind that
poor spelling, bad grammar and inadequate expression
of thoughts, often lets people down. Write-to-the-Point
conducted a market survey that showed that 91% of
those polled said that they could see advantages
in a professionally written CV. There are a number
of individuals, organisations and businesses that
offer to compile CVs and covering letters, so you
may decide to shop around before selecting a writer
that suits you.
Write-to-the Point’s market survey also revealed
that people identified a number of possible pitfalls
to having a professionally written CV:
- Expensive
- No individuality
- Time-consuming process.
The same market survey revealed that the overwhelming
majority of people were prepared to pay up to $100
for a good CV and even more if it was an intricate
document.
Therefore, based on the results of our poll and our industry experience, we
would recommend that you look for a professional
writer who offers:
- Individualised service based on a viewing
of your current CV
- A reasonable price
- A quick turn-around time.
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