Writing a good CV/resume example & exercise

Interests:
To be honest, the 'interests' section has never influenced my decision to offer somebody a job interview (and often I don't read it). So if there is any section you can miss out from your CV/resume, it is this one.

Most employers only really want to know about your work experience and to a lesser degree for most jobs your qualifications and training. But if you decide to include it (and there's no problem if you do), keep it short and avoid including things which put into questions your ability to do the job (e.g. activities which may interfere with you doing the job or require you to take a lot of time off from work.).

Potential employers are used to CVs having this section order:
This is the standard order for the different sections on CVs/resumes for most professions:

1. Contact & Essential Information
2. Profile
3. Work Experience
4. Education & Training
5. Interests

The reason why keeping this section order is important is that the people who are going to be reading your CV/resume will expect to see it. By using this standard section order, it enables them to quickly find the information they are looking for.

When a company advertises a job, they are more than likely going to get tens if not hundreds of CVs/resumes sent to them for the position. The harder it is for them to find the information that they are looking for on a CV, the higher the probability that the candidate will be rejected. So use a standard section structure/order.

Although you should use this structure on your CV/resume for most jobs, for some professions (e.g. for academic jobs) different sections or a section structure may be used. So, make sure that you use the standard structure and sections on your CV/resume for the type of job you are applying for.

To help people quickly find the information they are looking for:
Having a good CV/resume is not only about having well written and appropriate information, but also how easily this information can be found. You need to make sure that there are clear divisions between the different sections on it. If you don't, people reading it may have problems knowing where one section stops and another starts.

For me, the best way to do this for sections is to centre the section heading in middle of page with a larger size font than the rest of the text. Also make sure there is a clear separation between the different sections.

You should also use a similar separation when writing down the different jobs and positions you have had in the work experience section.

To highlight important abilities, experiences & achievements:
Bullet points are good way to highlight information which you believe is important. I find they work well when listing responsibilities and achievements for different jobs and positions you've had and you want the person reading the CV/resume to know about.

Don't over use bullet points on a CV/resume and only use them for highlighting one type of information. For example, I would use bullet points to only highlight responsibilities and achievements for different jobs and positions.

If you want to highlight other things on CV/resume (e.g. qualifications), use a different form of highlighting (e.g. underline or bold). It makes the CV/resume both easier to understand and to find things.

To summarize the most important information contained on the rest of the CV:
A common mistake which people make with the profile (personal profile) section is to use it to say how good they are (the best place to self promote yourself is on a cover/covering letter which you should always send with a CV/resume when you apply for a job), but it shouldn't be used for this.

This section should be to give a quick insight (like a summary) into you and to what information you've included on the rest of the CV/resume. Briefly talk about your most important abilities, experience and achievements which are relevant to the job you are applying for.

This section is good for clarifying information which you may not have pointed out or be clear on the rest of the CV/resume (e.g. 'able to work under pressure' or 'total number of years you have worked in a type of job').

Formal:
This is pretty obvious, but the choice of vocabulary you use on your CV/resume is quite important. The use of formal verbs and words makes you sound more professional. For example, instead of using 'can', use 'able to', or 'thorough' instead of 'careful'.

Although using professional sounding vocabulary won't help you get an interview if you don't have the skills or experience that they are looking for, it will help if you do.

Click here to see examples of professional sounding CV and job interview vocabulary.

These jobs are more relevant for the job being applied for than the others:
In the work experience section on a CV/resume it is important that you write all (or the majority of) the jobs you've had. Unfortunately, you don't have a lot of space on a CV/resume. So, you have to focus more on some jobs than others.

The decision on which jobs you focus more on depends on their relevancy to the job you are applying for. If a job is not relevant, write a couple of sentences at most about what it was and your main responsibilities.

Some people leave off these irrelevant jobs from their CV/resume. Although you can do it (if the job was a long time ago or you did it when studying), if it leaves a large unexplained time gap in your work experience, the person seeing it may wonder what you were doing then.

In the work experience section you need to account for all your time. So it's best to include any period of unemployment, sabbaticals (e.g. world travel or study) or irrelevant jobs you had.

Fire warden for the floor of the office:
You don't have a lot of space on a CV/resume, so make sure that everything that you include is both important and relevant for the job you are applying for. The best way to decide what is, is to put yourself in the position of the person looking to hire somebody for the job. What experience, responsibilities, achievements and qualifications would they be looking for and what wouldn't they care about?

I would recommend that you consider modifying what you include on your CV/resume for each job you apply for. It won't take long to do and it will improve your chances of getting a job interview.

I was a member of the division's marketing strategy group:
For some reason, there is a certain convention for how you write sentences on a CV/resume. When you write about yourself, you don't start sentences with a subject (e.g. 'I'). Instead, you should always start a sentence with a verb (e.g. completed), adjective (e.g. motivated) or adverb (e.g. successfully). For example:

Instead of writing,

'I presented the annual sales team awards for the company'

You should use,

'Presented the annual sales team awards for the company'

This is especially important to do when you write about your roles, responsibilities and achievements in the different jobs you've had. For some reason it just looks more professional.

The only section where you should start sentences with a subject is 'interests'.

Microsoft NT4 Network Support Certificate:
You don't have a lot of space on CV/resume, so make sure that everything that you include is both important and relevant for the job you are applying for. The best way to decide what is, is to put yourself in the position of the person looking to hire somebody for the job. With qualifications and training, only include those which the potential employer would see as necessary or relevant. Exclude those which have nothing to do with the job.

I would recommend that you consider modifying what you include on your CV/resume for each job you apply for. It won't take long to do and it will improve your chances of getting a job interview.

It is relevant for the job you are applying for:
Although using the right vocabulary is important when writing a CV / resume, including experiences, responsibilities, qualifications etc... which are relevant for the job you are applying for is by far more important. This is what any potential employer will be looking for on a CV/resume. If they don't find it or there's too much information which they don't see as relevant, your chances of being offered an interview are low.

What is relevant will change for each job you apply for. The best way to decide what is or what isn't, is to put yourself in the position of the person looking to hire somebody for the job. What experience, responsibilities, achievements and qualifications would they be looking for and what wouldn't they care about?

I would recommend that you consider modifying what you include on your CV/resume for each job you apply for. This is especially important in the responsibilities & achievements parts of the jobs you've had. Ask yourself if there are things you need to add to your CV/resume that will make you appear as a good candidate for the position. Likewise, are there things you need to change or remove because they are not relevant for the job you are applying for.

To help me do this, I have a word document which contains all the phrases which I have used (for achievements, responsibilities, qualifications, trainings etc...) when applying for different types of jobs. I use these phrases to change the content on the CV/resume to make it more relevant for the job I was applying for.

It makes it quicker and easier to read for potential employers:
When a company advertises a job, they are more than likely going to get tens if not hundreds of CVs/resumes sent to them for the position. It’s not an enjoyable task to have to look through all these CV/resumes to choose a select few to interview.

To save time, most people normally skim through most of them, searching for experiences, responsibilities, achievements etc... which are relevant for the position. The harder and longer it takes them to find the information that they are looking, the higher the probability that the candidate will be rejected.

So it's essential you try to make this task as easy for them as possible. Keep your CV/resume short (around 2 A4 paper sides is perfect). Use a standard structure where the different sections, jobs etc... are clearly separated (to help them quickly find information they are looking for). And make sure that the information you include is relevant for the job you are applying for.

If you do this, you chances of being selected for a job interview will be significantly increased