“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Mallikarjun Borigidde Published on

Begin with name and contact details

• Make this information available at the beginning of CV.
• This should include postal address, phone number (preferably mobile number) and e-mail address (only one).
• If a company wants to call for an interview or needs to communicate for any further information, they will look out for this information.
• If it is buried somewhere inside the CV it will not only put them off but also reduce their chances of contacting the candidate.
• Bring forward relevant strengths and skills to the recruiter. Everything in CV should support Career Summary.
• If there's anything that doesn't support Career Summary, one should reconsider listing it.
• Write Career Summary around skills, attitude, knowledge and experience.

There are two different thoughts on writing the career statement: Write an appealing career summary

A) Some people think that it should be a short 30-40 word paragraph.

B) Others give it liberty to be covered in 4-5 bulleted points.

Whatever one decides on, ensure that everything relevant that one wants to sell to the prospective employer is covered here. At the same time, it should not become “too much.”

Focus on work experience, responsibilities and achievements

• For experienced candidate, work experience is main asset. Include the details of the relevant jobs being done in the past.
• Present work experience in a chronologically descending order i.e. the last company first. 
• This includes : Name of the company, Designation, Tenure, Job responsibilities and achievements etc.
• Always better to present this information in bulleted format rather than a clumsy paragraph.
• Mention some figures while narrating achievements.For example: Worked as Business Development Manager for XYZ Company from June 2008 to January 2015. 
• Job responsibilities: Setting up 7 franchisees across 4 states  Maximizing the business.

Educational qualification- An asset

• Educational qualifications play an important role in the recruitment of fresher.
• Fresh candidate need to focus CV on qualifications and achievements during student life.

Mention out-of-work achievements, interests and hobbies

• Reflect personality and skills.
• Present the relevant achievements in the order of priority i.e. the most important achievement first. Similarly, present interests as well. Write about the achievements that display a facet of personality

Write short sentences with more impacting words

• Lengthy CVs put the recruiter off.
• Keep the sentences short and use words that demonstrate hold of the situation like managed, arranged, supervised etc.

Formal font faces

• A font like Verdana-10 should be good for the content while the Name at the top can be written in Verdana-12, with a bold font face.

Use the same tense through out the CV.

• Changing the tense in every second line leaves the reader confused and annoyed.
• Take care of it

WISH YOU GOOD LUCK