Presentation write effective CVs

HOW TO WRITE EFFECTIVE CVs

www.centreidiomes.es

TOP TIPS WITH THE INTERVIEW GUYS

WORKSHOP: CVs & JOB INTERVIEWS – SESSION 1

Keep the design simple

Include important keywords

Use ‘Power Words’

Tailored CV to the job you want

Professional help


HEADINGS FOR THE SECTIONS OF YOUR CV


CONTACT DETAILS PROFILE KEY SKILLS MAJOR

CONTRIBUTIONS CAREER TO DATE EDUCATION PUBLICATIONS HOBBIES REFERENCES

EDUCATION & TRAINING RESEARCH INTERESTS CORE COMPETENCIES RELEVANT CAREER DETAILS WORK EXPERIENCE OVERVIEW NOTABLE SKILLS KEY ACHIEVEMENTS PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND REFEREES QUALIFICATIONS PROFESSIONAL PROFILE PRESENTATIONS INTERESTS EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES CONTACT & PERSONAL DETAILS SUPPORTING REFERENCES EDUCATION & ACCREDITATIONS


CONTACT DETAILS


YOUR NAME Write your name in a larger font than the rest of your CV to make it stand out.

MARITAL STATUS

Not obligatory, but do it if it’s to your advantage.

DATE OF BIRTH You may include it although again it’s not necessary.

NATIONALITY It’s not necessary but it could be positive. Eg. a native teacher applying for a post.

CONTACT DETAILS

Include your personal email address but make sure it’s a serious one; telephone number where you can be contacted; city & address if it’s to your advantage.

OTHER INFO If the job requires you to drive state you have a clean driving license; if you are applying for a web design position then including a webpage you have designed would be a good idea.

PHOTOGRAPH It’s advisable to include a photograph, just make sure you look your best.


PROFILE


“I am a confident, highly driven graduate with practical hands-on customer service and travel experience. Resourceful and proactive, I combine effective communication skills with detailed product knowledge to identify commercial opportunities and deliver a satisfactory outcome for both customer and company whilst working alone and as part of a larger team. I am currently looking for an opportunity to further my career within the travel and tourism industry.”

The profile is a brief summary of yourself where you state your strengths and your career.

The use of positive language and power words is very important here.

A good profile might make the employer have a closer look to the rest of the CV.Note: make sure the rest of your CV is as good as your profile description.

You should mention the kind of job you are looking for.

“I am an award-winning Senior Sales Executive with over eight years managerial and client handling experience. An effective communicator, I have a proven track-record of combining a strong product knowledge with excellent negotiation skills to identify and maximise sales opportunities and deliver results in high-pressured target-based environments.”


KEY SKILLS


Communication: writes clearly and concisely, speaks effectively, openly expresses ideas, negotiates/resolves differences, leads group discussions, provides well-thought out solutions, gathers appropriate information, confidently speaks in public.

Interpersonal Skills: works well with others, motivates others, shares credit, counsels, delegates effectively, represents others, understands feelings, self-confident, accepts responsibility.

Research & Planning: forecasts/predicts, creates ideas, meets goals, identifies resources, solves problems, defines needs, analyzes issues, assesses situations.

Organizational Skills: handles details, punctual, manages projects effectively, sets goals, keeps control over budget, plans and arranges activities, .

Management Skills: teaches/trains/instructs, counsels/coaches, delegates responsibility, makes decisions, directs others, enforces policies, takes charge.


KEY SKILLS


Exercise 1: Match the skills below under the correct heading.

Communication | Interpersonal Skills | Research & Planning | Organizational Skills | Management Skills

provides feedback develops strategies

sensitive supportive meets deadlines multi-tasks

persuades others leads groups identifies problems listens

attentively

gathers information manages conflict cooperates

implements decisions coordinates tasks


KEY SKILLS


Exercise 1: Match the different skills under the correct heading.

Communication | Interpersonal Skills | Research & Planning | Organizational Skills | Management Skills

provides feedback

persuades others

listens attentively

sensitive

supportive

cooperates

identifies problems

gathers information

develops strategies

meets deadlines

multi-tasks

coordinates

tasks

manages conflict

implements

decisions

leads groupsExercise 2: Which of the key skills we have seen would you use to describe yourself?


WORK EXPERIENCE


When talking about our work experience we should do it in reverse chronological order starting with our latest job. In this section we may include:

Period of work: e.g. 2010 – present.

Name of the company: e. g. Tower Bridge Language Services, London.

Position in the company: e.g. language instructor.

Responsibilities: e.g. teaching all kinds of levels, assessing students, preparing exams, filling out forms…

Brief description of the company: e.g. Language school based in London with over 1500 students.

Key achievements: e.g. very high percentage of success in First Certificate examinations, number of students has increased in 600 during my time there, the school has been recognised by the Chamber of Commerce to provide business lessons…


EDUCATION


When describing our education in CVs we should start with the most relevant to the job we are applying for which it usually is our latest. In this section we may include:

BSc. Government and Economics 10/2011 –

06/2014

London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Grade: First Class (Honours)

Dissertation researched the changes to economic

public policy and the extent to which the changes

were affected by outside influences/institutions from a

political science perspective

Degree

Overall grade

Relevantmodule

Period of time

Name of institution


PUBLICATIONS


This is only necessary when we are applying for an academic position, e.g. a university lecturer, where conferences and reserach are considered very important.

If this is our case we should start listing either the most relevant for the job we want to apply to, or in chronological order starting with the most recent.

Try to keep them in no more than two pages because a potential employer is not very likely to go through all of them if there are too many pages.


ACHIEVEMENTS, SKILLS & INTERESTS


In this three sections we can talk about other aspects of ourselves; we should think carefully about what we say here because sometimes there is hidden information in what we say, e.g. interests that denote we like spending too much time alone.

Achievements: we can talk about awards we have won during our time in high school or university, or scholarships we have received for being successful students.

Skills: we can talk about our abilities with computers and languages. Not a good idea to lie in this section.

Interests: when discussing your hobbies & interests make sure they give a good impression of you


REFERENCES


Unless you are asked to provide references there is no need to state referees at this stage. Something like this may be included in this section: “References available on request”. If you do this, make sure you have contacted a couple of referees just in case.

Who should I choose: typically one referee should be a course tutor if you have just graduated and the other referee should be an employer. If you have been working for several years then having two previous employers as referees is the usual thing.

How should I write them: something like this below is normal.

Dr Mike Smith (lecturer in microbiology)Department of BiosciencesUniversity of KentCanterburyKent CT2 7NJemail [email protected]


LAYOUT & DESIGN


How long should a CV be?

no longer than two sides of A4. The exception is an academic CV, whith extra pages about publications and conferences.

Skills based or chronological?

Usually chronological, with standard sections for work experience and education. Skills based is recommended when changing your career.

Should I use a CV template?

Not recommended; a CV is something personal.

Should I use different colours?

Again, not recommended; black ink on white paper is standard.

What font should I use? Arial & Times New Roman are the most common; size 10 or 12. Avoid unusual fonts, use something that is readable.

Bullet points or text? What is easiest to read, usually a combination of both.

Work experience or Education?

What goes first? Depends. Someone with lots of experience would mention it first; a recent graduate with hardly any experience wouldn’t.A Word document or a

PDF?Both are accepted but depending on the versión of Word your CV might look different on another computer whereas a PDF will look the same.


COMMON MISTAKES


Not scannable. An employer might not spend more that 90 seconds reviewing your CV so make sure the most important information stands out.

Sections split across pages.

It doesn’t make your CV look clean, plus some info could go unread.

Chronological order structure.

Reverse chronological order is the norm, which means you shoul start with the latest information.

‘Curriculum Vitae’ as heading.

People can recognise a CV when they see one so there’s no need to say it; your heading should be just your name.

Overusing bold and italics With too much info in bold and italics nothing stands out; avoid using them and nothing will stand out; a balance is recommended.


POWER WORDS


COMMUNICATION

MANAGEMENT RESEARCH TECHNICAL CREATIVE FINANCIAL SALES TEACHING

Address Assign Collect Assemble Design Administer Convert Clarify

Mediate Coordinate Define Calculate Fashion Allocate Close Coach

Motivate Delegate Diagnose Engineer Illustrate Analyse Deal Encourage

Negotiate Organise Evaluate Fabricate Integrate Audit Negotiate Explain

Persuade Recommend Interpret Maintain Invent Balance Persuade Facilitate

Publicise Strengthen Investigate Operate Perform Budget Satisfy Guide

Speak Supervise Summarise Repair Revitalise Develop Sign Instruct

write Train Survey Solve Shape Forecast Win over Stimulate

List of Power Words categorised by skill:


LISTENING


1 Part of John Woodrow's job is deciding which new people his company will employ.

2 Woodrow reads hundreds of CVs every month.

3 His company does not accept CVs.

4 Woodrow's company keeps lists of potential employees on a computer.

5 Woodrow will ignore a CV which is too long.

6 He thinks the first CV he looks at is too short.

7 One problem with the first CV is that it includes irrelevant information.

8 Woodrow suggests that placements are not important when describing your experience.

9 The second CV has too much space on it.

10 The second CV includes information about the languages the person can speak.

11 Woodrow names two languages from Asia as being useful.

T

F

F

T

T

F

T

F

F

T

F

Listen and say whether the following statements are true or false.


SAMPLE CV


Curiculum VitiAddress John Hopkins23 Black Dragon LaneCanterburyKent [email protected] 2DE

Nationality: BritishPersonnel profile: I have good teamworking and communication skills. I would like job in business.

EDUCATIONSt. Mungos School, BedfordGCSEs 2002I have 8 GCSE passes including English grade A and Maths grade B

A Levels 2004History A, Geography B, Psychology B

2004 – 2007 University of KentBA (Hons) Business Studies 2:1

Work ExperienceJune 2006-Sept 2006 Iceland Frozen Foods

Page 1

21 Station Road, Margate, KentStore assistantInvolved stocking shelves and operating the tills

2003 – 2004 Bar person, The Plough Inn

Interests I enjoy all types of fitness, and do martial arts, and skiing

I have a high level of fitness. I also enjoy train spotting, reading and playing computer games.

SKILLS- COMMUTING• LANGUAGES. I SPEAK FRENCH• SWIMMING. I HAVE A BRONZE CERTIFICATE

References available on request.

Page 2


SAMPLE CV


Curiculum VitiAddress John Hopkins23 Black Dragon LaneCanterburyKent [email protected] 2DE

Nationality: BritishPersonnel profile: I have good teamworking and communication skills. I would like job in business.

EDUCATIONSt. Mungos School, BedfordGCSEs 2002I have 8 GCSE passes including English grade A and Maths grade B

A Levels 2004History A, Geography B, Psychology B

2004 – 2007 University of KentBA (Hons) Business Studies 2:1

Work ExperienceJune 2006-Sept 2006 Iceland Frozen Foods

Page 1

You don’t the words Curriculum Vitae but at least spell it correctly. Name should be in a bigger Font.

No need an ‘address’ heading unless it’s a temporary address.

Make sure you include your email address but try something more serious.

No need to include nationality in this case.

Check for gramar mistakes: ‘personnel’; try to use more powerful words rather than ‘teamworking’ or ‘communication’.

Reverse chronological order is better.

No mention of relevant modules related to the career you are interested in: finance, marketing, administration.

Comic Sans Font is too informal for a CV.

Job is split on two pages cutting the information. Makes the CV look disorganised.


SAMPLE CV


21 Station Road, Margate, KentStore assistantInvolved stocking shelves and operating the tills

2003 – 2004 Bar person, The Plough Inn

Interests I enjoy all types of fitness, and do martial arts, and skiing I have a high level of fitness. I also enjoy train spotting, reading and playing computer games.

SKILLS- COMMUTING• LANGUAGES. I SPEAK FRENCH• SWIMMING. I HAVE A BRONZE CERTIFICATE

References available on request.

Page 2

No need to give full address, just the town; rather than talking about duties, focus on the people skills: ‘providing quality service to customers’.

Very few details are given for the second job.

Person comes across as a loner with little contact with people.This kind of sections is easier to read with bullet points.

Section is misaligned. The font has changed which makes it look messy.


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY


https://www.englishclub.com/business-english/resumes-vocab.htmhttps://www.tcd.ie/alumni/assets/pdf/news-events/career-network/careernetwork2013/rowan-manahan-cv-vocabulary.pdfhttp://www.blairenglish.com/exercises/cv_interviews/exercises/powerverbs1/powerverbs1.htmlhttp://www.career-pioneers.com/cv-personal-profile-examples/http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cvexamples.htm#CVhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/CareersAndVacancies/careersService/CVCoverApps/CVCoverLetterGuide.pdfhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYaXN8j7rL8

Self Improvement

Presentation write effective CVs