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Training Manual Creating a Winning CV
Iraq’s largest Virtual Job Fair
Presented by:
Getting Started This manual outlines strategies, techniques and tips needed to prepare a winning CV as a
first step towards your career advancement goals. Itsummarizes the best CV writing
practices and dos and don’ts that you should keep in mind while drafting your career
application. The manual also aims to debunk myths commonly associated with the practice
of writing a CV and includes practical advice to help youprepare a professional and
impressive CV.
What is a CV? A Curriculum Vitae or ‘CV’ isyour personalized advertisement which is the first
representation of your skills, expertise and ambitions to a potential employer in order to
help them learn more about you.
As a job seeker, your CV is not just as a document, but your very own dynamic and self-
promoting advertisement used to communicate to prospective employers exactly what you
would like them to know about you. Your CV is thus, perhaps your most powerful avenue to
positively influence an employer's decision making process.
From an employer’s perspective, the importance of a CV is significant since most hiring
managers rely solely on CVs as screening tools to sort applications based on relevancy. With
time and resource limitations, it becomes impossible for HR to read every CV in utmost
detail. Hiring Managers use CVs in the recruitment process to determine if you are relevant
enough to be interviewed for the job role.
For this reason, it is important that your best skills and unique selling points should be
spotlighted-prominently and concisely.
Understanding the HR strategy It is essential to understand how the hiring process works in order to fine-tune your CV to
truly ace the job application process. A CV that showcases your strengths and ambitions but is not relevant to the hiring
manager’s criteria will not advance your career. It is essential therefore to conductsome
basic research in terms of studying the job role to establish connections between your
prior experience and the expectations defined for the vacant role.
Hiring managers rely on skimming or 'eye tracking' through CVs during the first round of
review to select the candidates who have systematically highlighted their qualifications, key
experiences and expertise to match the parameters set in the job posting.
Must Haves: The HR teams at most organizations rely on a list of must-havecriteria to weed
out applicants that are not a good matchto save their time and streamline the hiring
process. These must-have criteria can range fromresidence location, industry exposure,
functional skills, transferable skills, and quantifiable results achieved.
For example, in the case of a ‘Sales Executive’vacancy, the must-have key words will include:
Sales, Revenue Growth, Customer Service, Reporting, Business Networking and Key Account
Management, accompanied by relevant statistics such as 20% increase in revenue, 30%
growth in account acquisition, and 90% customer satisfaction levels. These keywords are
attention grabbing while the numerical evidence will help reduce your chances of being
eliminated from the top contenders.
Using keywords as a vital selling point will improve your visibility in any CV database if
your job application is electronically submitted.
Debunking Myths
1) Use your CV as self-marketing tool to provide readers with an overview of your strongest
selling points, even if that means a CV longer than one page.
2) CV structure, formatting and presentation is as important as the content itself.
3) Never lie or exaggerate on a CV because it is unethical and will result in damaging long-
term consequences.
4) Avoid mentioning past salaries or salary expectations on a CV.
5) Customize/tailor CVs to make it more relevant to each targeted job.
6) Use brief bullet point statements instead of lengthy paragraphs to convey your message
to anemployer.
7) If a statement or a sentence on your CV does not seem to add value, delete it entirely.
Drafting your CV As an introduction to perfecting your CV writing strategy, it is necessary to quickly overview
the structure of the CV and its components to identify sections that must be included, their
placement, and the type of information that needs to be mentioned to maximize the impact
of the document.
Step 1:CVheader
This section will contain your full name, complete address, contact number and email
address. It is advisable to use bold formatting to highlight your name to make it stand out as
explained in the screenshot below:
Top tip: Ensure that your email address reflects you as a serious and polished job
seeker- ideally firstnamelastname@gmail/hotmail or yahoo.com are the best
alternatives to use on your CV.
Using unprofessional email IDs such as [email protected] or
[email protected] will make you a strong contender for an immediate
rejection from the hiring manager.
Step 2: Career Objective
Typically 3 sentences are enough space to communicate your top skills, industry/job-relevant
experienceand significant accomplishments that have resulted due to your initiatives. Ideally
you should write one sentence dealing with each component outlined above.
Step 3: Skills
Illustrate your transferable and specialized skills. Incorporate or list 10 to 12 of your strongest
skills relevant to the employer requirements mentioned in their job posting.
Remember to maintain honesty and avoid exaggeration, and strive to strike a balance
between general and industry specific attributes to ensure representation as a well-rounded
individual, and assured visibility if the employers conducts candidate search based on key
words.
Top tip:List your specialized, technical or vocational skills at the top before
mentioning any transferable or soft-skills (e.g. Communication Skills, Presentation
Skills etc.). The skills section needs to appear immediately below your career
objective to capture an employer’s interest.
Step 4: Work Experience.
This is the most powerful area of the CV and is read in greater detail compared to other
parts.
The largest chunk of your time should be invested in structuring your experience with details
including dates of employment, employer names, locations, job titles, scope of
responsibilities and major accomplishments.
Additionally, a standard rule of thumb is to use a combination of keywords, action verbs, and
results oriented bullet points to reflect your strengths, a subject that we will explore in
greater detail in subsequent pages.
Step 5: Education.
This is also a critical component of your CV because your academic qualifications, trainings
and certifications can give you the added competitive edge to impress the employer. Use
this section to your advantage by truthfully highlighting your background, qualifications and
corresponding credentials.
After these 5 steps have been covered, there is also flexibility to include additional pieces of
information such as memberships, extracurricular activities or volunteer work if the need
arises, but don't let that distract you from the core content for now.
It is important to note that deviations can be made in the layout. For instance, it is
recommended to place education before experience if you are a fresh graduate looking to
enter the field of your choice, whereas if you are a highly experienced professional with
numerous years of expertise, it would be more appropriate to reverse the sequence so that
the experience receives more attention than your education and academic foundation.
General CV Writing Tips
1) Keep the layout consistent through use of the same font, and only using formatting
options such as bold and italic to draw emphasis where required.
2) Use consistent margins and fonts that are neither too small nor difficult to read, a
standard rule of thumb is using nothing smaller than 10 points or larger than 12.
3) Ensure the use of a consistent header containing your name and contact information.
Avoid use of unprofessional email addresses at all costs- [email protected] or
[email protected] as this ranks one of the strongest job applicant deal-breakers
for employers.
4) Number the pages appropriately in the footer.
5) Take your time in preparing your CV- a cluttered, unorganized, lengthy or irrelevant CV will
be misrepresentation of your potential so it is best to prepare a draft and then revise it
multiple times to formulate a CV that has the 'wow factor’.
6) Utilize spelling and grammar check options in your word processing programs, or request
a friend or family member to review your CV to ensure that there are no inconsistencies in
presentation, or mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar that could potentially cost
you your job interview.
An error free CV is one of the foundations of a strong first impression, thus it is essential to
identify and rectify mistakes before they can adversely impact the employer's interest in
your candidacy.
Top tip: The selling point of any CV are the top 1/3 to 1/2 of the first page- basically the
portion that determines their ability to make it or break it.
HR personnel are known to pay critical attention to these portions of the CV, and as a
rule of thumb you must remember that "space equals importance".
Make the most out of the most pivotal sections of the CV through use of appropriate
visual structure and content to inspire the reader to continue to read the rest of the
document, without losing interest or focus in your capabilities.
CV Sections, in-depth:
Career Objective
The career objective is your chance of introducing yourself to the employer and setting the
tone for the rest of the CV.
It is basically the first point of contact that will either motivate the reader to continue
reading or immediately consider you as a misfit for the organization.
Consider the career objective as your tool to show the reader your target 'destination' as a
job seeker.
The key elements to consider in building a robust career objective are what outcomes do
you want to achieve from your job search, what skills are you able to offer in regards to the
company's needs, and what keywords is the reader of the CV looking for.
One of the first factors to take into account when building the career objective is to keep it
concise. Regardless of the relevant industry and nature of your dream job title, the most
impactful career objectives range between 2 to 3 sentences.
It is recommended to mention what you are looking for, your top 3-4 skills, the value or
results you will be able to accomplish if granted the opportunity, meanwhile consistently
upholding a conversational tone to effectively convey your message.
Let's demonstrate how you can express all these factors in a brief statement:
Example:"A results-driven professional with 6+ of strong expertise in the provision of proven
Marketing solutions, with keen proficiency in marketing campaigns and social media programs
resulting in 10% improvement in market share growth. Seeking a challenging position to
contribute accumulated experience towards accomplishing swift improvement in market
segmentation, market penetration, and revenue inflow and brand recognition, while
maintaining firm focus on the realization of organizational objectives."
To reinforce what we just discussed, this career objective concisely addresses the 3 core
questions necessary:
What are you looking for
What are your top skills, and
What are you going to be accomplishing for the company.
However, what deserves a special mention is that this applicant has also managed to stay
away from a common mistake of sounding too self-centered by maintaining a balance
between emphasis on employer's success and personal goals.
In case you are a fresh graduate and don't have practical experience to showcase in your
career objective, do not worry, let's go over another example for an entry level candidate to
help provide you with insight on how to resolve this dilemma. A sample to demonstrate a
possible approach would be:
Example: "A dedicated entry level professional with strong knowledge of Marketing, Sales and
Public Relations strategies to use towards accomplishing improved brand visibility, awareness
and market share growth. Seeking a position to utilize skills pertaining to media outreach and
business networking to attain high returns on investment, and fulfillment of business
objectives."
In this scenario, you have made it clear that you do not have any prior experience but have
the skill set to meet organizational needs, in addition to establishing a goal you aspire to
accomplish if hired as an employee.
Career Objective Do’s & Don’ts:
1). DO pay close attention to the employer's needs: Define ways in which you are adding
value to the company, what combination of unique strengths you are able to bring to the
table, and what are the tangible outcomes that can be expected from your addition to the
company.
2) DO stay away from common clichés: Remember that HR managers go through a large
volume of applications everyday and want to see candidates stand apart from the rest, not
blend in with the crowd. Inserting phrases such as "successful track of increasing customer
satisfaction by 40%” instead of a mere “track record of success", are more significant
indicators of the positive changes you can be held responsible for.
3) DO keep in mind the job description: The skill sets and areas of specialization you plan on
including in your career objective should be in alignment with the ones mentioned in the
vacancy or job posting. Building strong links and smartly making use of keywords to
optimize relevance is a sure shot way of providing the reader with evidence that you have
done your fair share of research, have an exact understanding of what the company needs,
and are confident of your ability to match them correctly.
4) DON'T apply the same career objective to every job you are applying for: If you are a
professional with diverse exposure in multiple fields, for instance Business Development and
Banking Operations, do not make the mistakes of expressing the same career objective in
every application. Structure and separate distinct career objectives for both positions so
that you do not come across as an uncertaincandidate split between two distinct fields.
5) DON'T provide too much information: Remember to keep the career objective brief
because you will be using your experience, skills and education sections to further elaborate
how you developed certain attributes.
6) DON'T use bullet points: Career Objective is best expressed in a paragraph form versus
bullet points. Use 2-3 concise and crisp sentences to piece it together. Using bullets is the
standard recommended approach for other sections, but the career objective remains an
exception to the bullet point practice.
Prepare your career objective wisely and tailor it accordingly to the relevant position you are
interested in. Be honest in your experience, talents, career span and milestones to establish
a mutually beneficial position for yourself and the employer alike.
Skills The Skills section of the CV should be utilized very carefully and strategically to present
yourself as a promising contender for the vacancy.
Identifying the skills employers want and incorporating them into your CV is one of the
main pillars of executing a fruitful job search plan.
The employers have clear cut definitions of what characteristics and talents their future
employees should possess. These characteristics or skills are detailed in job postings or
advertisements, or at the very least laid out as clues, thus making your task of building this
section actually quite fool proof.
Skills can be divided into 2 main categories: functional or specialized skills and transferable
skills.
Specialized or technical skills have a comparatively limited scope of application, and are
developed through education, vocational training, studying particular subjects or
performing specific job roles, some examples being database management, computer
programming and medical specialists.
Transferable skillshave versatile applications, are essentially applicable for all types of work,
and do not have to be necessarily developed through specific training or education- for
example teamwork, communication and accountability.
They can be further broken down into the following 4 categories:
- Soft Skills: for example team work and public speaking
- Analytical Skills: for example research and creativity
- Organizational Skills: for example time management and resource management
- Personal Skills: for example integrity and reliability
Spending time reflecting on yourself and your core objectives before writing your CV will
provide you with a stronger perspective to help you narrate your unique story,
If you are still in college or university, and have not yet had the opportunity to gain hands-on
experience in the professional world, there is nothing to worry about, even the most senior
job seekers know that their CV will always be a work in progress.
You can highlight your academic qualifications as your most significant achievement instead.
The key here is to make course work relevant to the skills required for the role, for example:
Research, Reporting and Adaptability to new technology.
Top tip:Read the job description carefully and make 2 separate lists containing the
appropriate skill sets requested clearly. You can perhaps highlight the transferable
skills in one color, and the specialized or functional skills in another color to refine the
organization process, and then determine which of these skills you can best support
in the professional experience sections with strong evidence and examples.
It is recommended to use a blend of 10-12 specialized and transferrable skills that will be
sure to help you in getting your CV shortlisted, whether by computer or human screening.
Exercise: Identifying skills in a job description
Let’s take a look at a sample job description to practice selection of appropriate skills:
"An exciting opportunity to become a member of the Alpha organization as an Executive
Secretary. The scope of work will include scheduling appointments, handling customer
database management, preparing performance reports, answering phone calls, greeting
customers and visitors at the front desk, in addition to performing other ad-hoc duties a
requested.
Preference will be given to candidates with exceptional communication, organization and
multitasking skills due to the fast paced nature of work."
Looking at this example, let's start differentiating them and putting them in their
appropriate categories. Scheduling Meetings, handling the customer database management
and preparing performance reports are functional skills that are typically developed with
hands-on experience in a professional setting.
Meanwhile, answering phone calls, greeting clients, communication, and organization and
multitasking are generic and transferable skills that can be developed and demonstrated
without definite experience within a particular job role or industry domain.
Be sure to supplement these skills with other applicable strengths when you prepare the
skills section. For example, other attractive traits that Executive Secretary could include are
presentation skills, use of software applications, time management, teamwork, decision
making, inter-departmental coordination, logistic arrangements and even bilingualism.
It is also advisable to place the skills in order of importance when building the sections,
starting with the ones that you consider as stronger selling points.
If you are a fresh graduate with little or no professional experience, place more emphasis
on transferable goals because the specialized or technical skills will be developed through
on the job training and professional development initiatives.
Recap: Prepare a list of your 10 best specialized/functional skills, and top 10 transferable skills that are relevant to your field, and can best highlight your professional strengths and areas of expertise. Out of these, go ahead and shortlist 6 skills from each of the 2 categories that you would want to include in your CV. It is recommended to place them in order of their importance and as well as your proficiency because we went to make your strongest skills your strongest selling points as well. Onceyou’re done, you may proceed forward to building the next section of the CV.
Work Experience The professional experience section is by far the most important section that can help you
market yourself, convince the employers of the unique strengths that you possess, and
persuade the employers to invite you for an interview.
For job seekers who have practical work experience, this section will probably be the
longest in your CV. On the other hand, if you are a fresh graduate and have no professional
experience or internships to use as content, do not worry, there is a strategy to counter that
situation as well.
Fresh Graduates:
As a fresh graduate, the main tools you can use to spearhead self-branding objectives are:
volunteer work, extracurricular activities, and accomplishments from other areas of your
life such as travel study experiences or team leadership highlights, and memberships.
Employers recruiting for junior positions understand that you need a job in order to build
experience, and for someone with a fresh degree, lack of experience will not be a crucial
deal breaker.
Experienced Professionals:
Moving on to candidates who have had some practical work experience, the first factor to
consider is how you make use of language to demonstrate your talents.
Avoid using lengthy paragraphs to convey your point to the reader, brief bullet statements
should be your focus.
In order to lay down foundation of a good bullet, remember that they do NOT involve use of
pronouns such as "I, you, he, they, etc." Omit personal pronouns, and the need to refer to
people in your statement
Use verbs or actions words at the beginning of the sentence. In addition, provide
quantifiable proof of your achievements while holding a job title, to give credibility and
momentum to your points.
To illustrate the significance of this point, let's take a look at 2 bullets:
a) Managed the Account Department to maintain positive cash flow
b) Directed the Accounting Department operations to accomplish growth in retained profits
by 15%
The second bullet is structured in a more thoughtful manner, it doesn't sound cliché or make
the candidate sound like he was doing the job just because it was assigned to him, instead
he has taken a step further to show drive as a leader by directing Accounting Department
operations, which consequently resulted in an increase in retained profits by an impressive
15%.
Numbers and financial performance are indicators of good or bad operational quality for all
employers, so leave a strong mark in the reader's mind by using quantitative figures as
evidence of your service contributions.
The third factor to consider when building your professional experience section is knowing
what a career highlight is, and what a responsibility is.
Career Highlights or accomplishments are more powerful sellers on a CV compared to key
responsibilities, so where applicable, use them to demonstrate proficiency in functional
areas.
For example, if an applicant was recognized for their outstanding contributions as a team
player or was awarded "employee of the month" title, this is not a milestone that can be
included under key responsibilities.
Thus, the professional experience section should ideally be divided into 2 subheadings: Key
Responsibilities and Highlights.
With these factors discussed, let's try to fine-tune the details presented in order to polish
your CV further.
Firstly, never undermine the importance of your promotions! If you joined the organization
as a Sales Executive and secured a promotion to the Sales Manager position, it is best to
show that growth in your work history.
Use a subheading titled "Designation Chronology" in bold, and mention the job title and
dates you were providing expertise under that role to gain an output, as shown below :
Designation Chronology
• Jan 2014- Present: Sales Manager
• Mar2012- Dec 2013: Sales Executive
Secondly, it is recommended to use a company profile as a part of your job description
without assuming that the reader will be aware of the company and the nature of its
operations. A brief one liner on your organization in the area between your job title and key
responsibilities should be included.
To essentially summarize the components of good professional experience section, use the
follow steps:
1). Start with your job title, company name, and dates that you have been employed at the
company. If you have multiple roles that you plan on detailing, use a chronological order
starting with the most recent ones. Also, keep in mind your tenses, use past tense for old
roles, and present tense for current positions being held.
2). Insert a brief one sentence company profile to indicate what industry it falls under, and
the scale of their operations
3). Insert your designation chronology with corresponding dates/titles in chronological order
if you have received promotions from an employer
4). Make a subheading for Achievements or Highlights and use this section to bring to
attention quantifiable achievements, successful projects and awards
5). Make a subheading for Key Responsibilities and use this section to provide the reader
with details regarding your direct accountabilities that you were hired to fulfill. Ideally, the
skills you mention should be supported by your key responsibilities as an explanation of how
the skills were developed or enhanced.
Education Education is an important point of interest to an employer, and a pivotal factor to remember
is that if you are a fresh graduate looking to build your career, place your education section
directly below the career objective as it will be your most powerful selling point.
Meanwhile, if you have already have prior experience relevant to the available job
opportunity, is it recommended to show experience, before adding details associated with
education.
List any honors, key projects, thesis topics directly related to the target job.
For entry level candidates it is advised to list key areas of focus under your graduate or
undergraduate degrees. For example, if you are looking to enter finance or accounting
domains then you can add course titles such Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting,
Corporate Finance and Business Statistics to provide a stronger insight into your
qualifications and exposure to related subjects.
Be concise. Only add your high school name and associated year of graduation if you are
under 25 years of age, and use it to complement your college degree or specialized trainings
completed.
If you have an undergraduate and graduate degree both finished, then highlighting your
high school in the education section is not recommended because your recent academic
accomplishments are definitely more impressive and carry more worth as unique selling
points.
You will ideally want to demonstrate passionate involvement with lifelong skill development
and learning, so relevancy is key to bridge gaps between employer interests and personal
professional development initiatives.
You can display and organize your education information effectively as under:
The 4 steps to follow are: Institution Name and Location, Degree Name, Year of
Completion, and your cumulative GPA.
The CGPA or grades are an optional step and can be skipped if you are not confident that
your results will help your job seeking goals. With these fragments of information put
together, the final output you achieve should look like this:
King Saud University (KSA)
Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering
Jan 2014
CGPA: 3.5
Or
Irvine High School (USA)
High School Diploma
Aug 2012
Remember to place all degrees, certifications, trainings etc. inreverse chronological order,
starting with the most recent enrollments. Other possible information you may want to
consider including here are publications, grants and awards.
A final recommendation is to make a separate subheading for computer skills under the
education section to highlight your fluency in use of specific computer applications,
software, and hardware and programming languages such as HTML or Microsoft Office
In conclusion, the education section should be used strategically to display a wide range of
information include degrees, trainings, seminars, conferences, awards, publications and
research.
Do not underestimate the importance of keeping your content job relevant to catch the
employer's attention without coming across as an under or qualified candidate.
Extra-curricular Activities / Volunteer Work
The Extracurricular Activities section of the CV is not absolutely critical to include, and can be
included or disregarded based on your personal preference and extent of experience in
engaging in extracurricular activities or volunteer work.
It is no secret that employers want well balanced individuals who are not only exceptional in
their area of expertise, but also take active interest in community involvement and
improvement initiatives to provide some sort of benefit to a cause.
Adding volunteer work that is relevant to your target role, especially if you are an entry level
candidate without professional experience to show off can be one of the major attractions
for someone reading your CV.
Volunteer work that you incorporate in your CV can be used to support the skills you have
displayed in the first half of the CV, for example Team Work and Leadership.
Remember that the information you include in this section should uphold the professional
tone that you have managed to set since the beginning of the CV
Lastly, this section of the CV can be used to incorporate memberships and professional
affiliations that you are involved in. For example, candidates targeting engineering or
project management roles can list their memberships linked to Jordanian Engineers
Association or Project Management Institute – Jordan Chapter- this will not only reflect
professional activities and support, but will maintain a close tie to their target job titles.
Now that you have an awareness and understanding of the various types of activities,
volunteer work and memberships that can utilized towards building this section, let's take a
look at some CV samples to gain insight into structuring the content.
The section can be titled Extracurricular Activities, and will be broken down into additional
subheadings based upon your personal needs. For example:
Affiliations:
• May 2012: Speaker at Alpha Public Speaking Competition; ranked 3rd out of 10 speakers
Volunteer Work:
• Jan 2014: Served as Coach for the Regional Football Team; secured 2nd place in local
tournament
• Nov 2013: Part of a Fundraising Team at Alpha Organization; played a pivotal role in raising
$2000 dollars for academic programs
Professional Memberships:
• Nov 2013: Member; Association for Financial Professional
• Jan 2013: Member; Association for Financial Professionals- Alpha Chapter
After you are done, youwill have finished building your CV, with all the 5 main sections of
your CV now completed.
Personal Information Section
The personal information section of the CV is an optional component, however, it does add
value to the CV, especially if you are planning to apply for overseas where the employers will
be curious about your visa status, country of citizenship and language proficiencies.
There is a diverse range of elements that can be included in this section, such as:
1) Date of Birth: If you are applying for a job in a foreign territory, mentioning your date of
birth is a recommended action to take especially in the Middle Eastern region. Also, in the
case of senior level and managerial roles, age can be a good indicator of expertise as long as
it is supported with necessary proof in the key responsibilities and accomplishments section.
2) Citizenship: It is advisable to include your country of citizenship when applying for
international jobs so that the employers can assess the ease with which you will be able to
relocate, and any work visa arrangements that will have to be made in order to facilitate
your transition to the new company.
3) VisaStatus: Visa statuses can be included in the personal section if you are native of one
country, but working or living abroad. This provides proof to the employer of eligibility to
work, and your adherence to all legal immigration guidelines. No hiring manager would want
to hire an employee with no valid visa because this will be a legal liability, so it will be in your
best interest to mention if you are on a business, spouse or visit visa so that that there no
misunderstandings regarding your status in the country.
4) Language: Fluency in multiple languages is an excellent skill to have, and can be
showcased in this section to strengthen the value you are capable of adding to the
organization. Remember to also mention your skill level with the languages mentioned, you
may be an expert in English and possess intermediate fluency in French, so clarify if you have
expert, intermediate or beginner level fluency to avoid making the employer think that you
were being dishonest in your CV.
5) Driving License issued From: The countries from which you have been issued a valid
driving license can be listed here to further communicate to the employer that you are
capable of travelling or commuting for the job role if the need arises.
6) Picture: While we are discussing the range of personal information that you can choose to
incorporate in your CV, this is a good opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of including a
picture in your CV body. The picture is an area of debate, and there is no concrete answer to
establish if a picture should be a staple ingredient of a strong CV.
However, do remember that if you do decide to use a photo on your CV, make sure that it is
well aligned with your personal branding goals. The picture should be not offensive, but
instead be professional, and not take up too much valuable space on your CV. The fact of the
matter remains that your skills, accomplishments and expertise play a more pivotal role in
helping your land the job of your dreams, so utilize the space on your CV attentively.
Cover Letter There is one last step to take before you meet your career advancement goals head-on –
building the “Cover Letter”
Hiring Managers receive CVs that can range anywhere between 10s and 100s in amount in
their inbox and company portals. Depending upon the volume of job applicants, they strive
to better utilize their limited time by using cover letters to determine which candidate's
personality shines brighter than the rest of the crowd.
The objective of a Cover Letter is to encourage the employer to develop interest in your
potential, and dedicate time towards reading your CV no matter how vast the applicant
pool maybe.
The importance of a well-structured cover letter cannot be stressed upon enough- a
personalized, enthusiastic and job focused cover letter is essentially the "bait" used to
"hook" the hiring managers.
To get the results you want, a few key components to a memorable cover letter are striking
a balance between highlighted strengths, qualifications, professional ambitions, and what
makes you stand out in terms of talents, experience and industry exposure.
The most critical factor to making a strong cover letter is remembering to making it
personalized and job focused to establish a more personal relationship with the employer.
Cover Letter Writing: Dos and Don’ts
Let's go over some common Dos and Don'ts to ensure that you don't miss out on the job of
your dreams due to unintentional mistakes that are easily avoidable.
In order to utilize the strength of this marketing tool to its full potential, let's start with the
standard cover letter DOs.
First off, DO start strong: Skip boring details, cliché introductions, and target immediate
reader engagement by structuring a powerful opening sentence focused on why you should
be hired.
Use the opener to set the tone for the rest of the cover letter content- it should give a brief
insight to your skill set and qualifications, in addition to core quantifiable accomplishments
Maintain sincerity and a conversational tone so that the employer is encouraged to read the
rest of the body to get to know you better.
Secondly, DO prepare a personalized cover letter: We all seem to be short on time, and
personalizing each over letter for a particular employer might sound like a lot of work,
however remind yourself of the potential returns on investment once you have passed the
interview and are well on your way to climbing up the corporate ladder.
Grab the reader's attention by remembering to address him or her by their name if
possible, and then further building the CV body with information built through research to
align their needs with your skill sets, and recommending a groundbreaking idea to help
streamline operations.
This helps to not only establish a personal connection with the reader, but proves your
dedication, professionalism, and interest in seeing the company perform consistently better.
Do number 3 is to highlight your core skills: Read the job description in detail, select the top
3-4 skills that the employer has emphasized upon the most, and incorporate them in your
cover letter. This strategic use of key words will not only boost your visibility, but using brief
examples of where the skills were applied and what outcomes were achieved to prove
proficiency with the skill set can be convincing of your ability to deliver impressive results
immediately.
Lastly, DO remember to follow up: Applying for a job with a carefully drafted cover letter
and CV is as good as winning half the race, but do make it a point to follow up on your
application a few days after deadline has passed. Unless you have personal ties with
someone in the company, establishing a direct connection is necessary to ensure that your
request for an interview does not get buried under a pile of dust.
This concludes our sections on cover letter DOs, so let's switch gears and go over some
popular cover letter Don'ts based on industry trends and proven job hunting tactics.
Firstly, DON'T emphasize "I":"I am an accomplished Engineer", "I am fluent in the use of
various accounting applications”, or "I am a highly experienced team lead", these attempts
to express your capabilities may sound like a good idea but in reality this is one of the
biggest cover letter Donts. Exercise varying your sentence structure because overusing "I"
repeatedly at the beginning of sentences are known to reflect arrogance, bad
communication skills, so put effort into building sentences that can market your capability
without making the cover letter sound like your autobiography.
Secondly, DON'T make it too lengthy: Cover Letters are not a test to see who can write
more about their experiences and interests, instead it is a brief snapshot of the information
that has already been detailed in the CV. Remember to focus on your most significant
accomplishments, quantified results, or impressive responsibilities; repeating the same
content mentioned in your CV will not only bore the reader, but can prove to be
overwhelming to absorb in the prescreening phase.
Thirdly, DON'T exaggerate: Despite its objective as a persuasive document, make it a habit
to maintain honesty and resist the temptation to exaggerate or lie about professional
experience, job titles, employment gaps and skills. Not only will it be embarrassing when the
employer calls your references to discuss your prior roles, or question you about
chronological discrepancies, but being assigned a project that you do not have expertise
relevant to may result in you missing out on a job opportunity that you are genuinely
qualified for.
Lastly, DON'T underestimate the power of your tone: Use a tone that is consistently
positive and optimistic, cover letters should not contain any jokes, puns or humor even if
you know the hiring manager on a personal basis. There is a high likelihood of your cover
letter being read by multiple people from the hiring committee, so it is best to not
incorporate any comments that can be offensive or overly personal.
Feel free to use the provided pointers as a check list, and go over your cover letter to
confirm that you are not making any of the mentioned mistakes. All employers are critical
about their expectations from the applicants, so aim at presenting yourself in the best way
possible, even if it is on paper.
Quick Recap Recap: The Steps to writing a winning CV
Now that you know what an employer is looking for, time for a quick overview of basic
essentials to remember to ensure no negative impact of common CV related myths that
prevail:
1) Use CVs as self-marketing tools to provide readers with an overview of your strongest
unique selling points, even if that means taking more than one page
2) CV formatting and presentation is as important as the content itself
3) Never lie or exaggerate on a CV because not only is it unethical but will result in damaging
long-term consequences
4) Never include Salary History or expectations on a CV
5) Customize CVs to make them relevant to the targeted job it is being used to apply for
6) Always use short bullet point statements instead of lengthy paragraphs to convey your
message to the reader
This is a great check list to compare your brand new CV against to ensure that you have not
fallen victim to any of these misconceptions. Also, while you are still reviewing your CV, also
confirm that it includes all standard sections required by employers as follows:
1) A heading with your full name, complete address, contact number and email address
2) A focused and customized career objective in a professional yet conversation tone
ranging between 2-3 sentences to communicate your skill sets, industry exposure, years in
the professional workforce, and significant accomplishments that have resulted due to your
initiatives. Remember to avoid clichéd phrases, and refer to the job description to build
strong links and optimize searchability
3) A skills section to illustrate your transferable and specialized skills that are in sync with the
job role expectations defined by the employer. This will also boost your visibility and
searchability in automated applicant tracking systems and employee talent inventories, thus
enabling you to fully utilize the power of technology both on business networking websites
and employee job portals as well.
4) A professional experience section with details including dates of employment, employer
names, locations, job titles, in addition to distinct subsections to differentiate between key
responsibilities and major accomplishments, as mentioned before, drawing attention to
results achieved for the company beyond what you are accountable for are a huge focal
point for the reader. Also verify appropriate use of action verbs, key words, and quantified
achievements to maximize career options and establish yourself a potential star employee.
5) An education section with academic qualifications, degrees, trainings and certifications to
demonstrate commitment to lifelong professional development
6) And lastly, though optional, a final section to showcase any relevant volunteer work,
extracurricular activities and professional memberships that contribute to the development
or enhancement of your talents in relevance to the job
We hope that your CV is sync with all the defined Dos and Don’ts, and as a quick reminder,
conduct a quick google search of your name to confirm that your online presence does not
carry any information that could potentially hurt your reputation or perception from the
employer's view point.
Moving on the cover letter, remember to invest reasonable dedication into the preparation
of an attention grabbing cover letter in order to entice the employer towards continuing to
read your CV.
Recap: The steps to building a winning cover letter
1) Prepare your heading that should contain the same information as the header on your CV
2) Insert the date, followed by addressee's name, designation, organization name, and
mailing address.
3) Insert the salutation to address the person the cover letter is being submitted to
4) Introduce yourself in the cover letter in the first paragraph with a carefully crafted
opening line by briefly mentioning how your skill set is in sync with the job expectations and
corporate objectives.
5) Use the second paragraph as the core attraction of the cover letter to express your key
responsibilities in your past roles, accomplishments, results obtained, while maintaining
relevance to the organizational issues and talent gaps to persuade them of your suitability as
a potential employee.
6) The third paragraph should be used to request the addressee for an interview, and also
thank them for the time they have taken to review your cover letter and CV
7) Lastly, remember to sign off the cover letter with content such as "Sincerely Yours" or a
simple "Regards",
To further fine tune your cover letter quality, use this check list to ensure that you are not
making any rookie mistakes:
1) Start Strong: Skip boring details, cliché introductions, and target immediate reader
engagement through use of skill set, qualifications, in addition to core quantifiable
accomplishments
2) Personalize the cover letter to prove your dedication and interest in company success
3) Highlight your core skills to convince employers of your ability to deliver stellar results
4) Proofread before submission, and check for spelling and grammatical mistakes.Many a
times, lack of attention to detail ruins chances of making a positive impression
5) Ideally, your CV should not exceed one page.
6) Do not emphasize "I': practice the art of structuring sentences without overusing "I" to
avoid sounding self-centered.
Circulate your CV and Cover letter, and don't forget to follow up if you don't hear back from
the recipient after a week.
You can email, call or leave a personalized note depending upon your preference.
Be sure to keep the correspondence short to avoid sounding too needy, or coming across as
an annoyance to the employer, whatever medium you choose.
Never resend the same CV and cover letter for the same job role.
Do remember that CV writing is always a work in progress, and it is necessary to periodically
revise your CV and cover letter content to reflect your progressive accomplishments as you
climb your way to the top of the corporate ladder.
Wish you the best of luck with your job search!