CV -Crucial in getting an InterviewYour CV is your first communication with the perspective employer. It serves as personal advertisement for you and must therefore, be organized in such a manner so as to make it interesting, attractive, brief and informative. Whether the interview is granted or not depends to a large extent on the impression created by the CV. If you wish to be one of the few to be called for an interview, you must ensure your CV is distinct from the hundreds of other CVs of candidates who may be as experienced or as well qualified as you. Today a good 20 to 30 per cent of candidates get rejected because they have not presented their CVs well.
Moreover, your perspective employers do not have the time or the inclination to meet all the people who may be interested in an opening, that makes it more important that among the other thousands of CVs, yours must stand out; not only in contents but also by the way it is formatted.
Essential Information must be mentioned
There are certain items which must be included in every CV. Other items may or may not be mentioned depending on whether they are relevant or not. The items which must be included are given below:
Personal Information: Name, date of birth, marital status, language known, address, telephone number.
Educational Background: Institutions attended with years, marks obtained, qualifications, achievements, computer literacy.
Employment History: Name of organization(s), years, designation(s), responsibilities, achievements and training program attended. Include any part time or summer employment if you do not have any full time experience.
Stick to the Basic Rules
Stick to these proven guidelines for writing a CV:
The term “Bio-data” is out. Curriculum Vitae (CV) has replaced it.
Do not make a mistake of beginning your CV with the title “Bio-data” especially if you are applying for the managerial position.
Before writing your CV sit down and think through what information you want to highlight. Include your achievements, your hobbies and interests, academic qualifications, details of your work experience (if any) and your job objectives. Don’t write a final CV without including all these.
Begin your CV with a section on personal particulars. Exclude family background.
Write your date of birth and not your age. If your CV were to go in a databank, only to be retrieved 2 or 3 years later, it would be difficult to make an estimate of your age.
You must give your phone number even if you do not have your own phone. Give a phone number of your friend or a relative who can pass on a message to you quickly. This is very essential as many vacancies have to be filled urgently and interviews have to be set up at a very short notice. Always mention the STD code of your town of residence if applying outside the city and remember to mention country code as well when applying abroad.
Don’t clutter your CV with irrelevant information. Mention your nationality only when applying abroad or when specifically asked to do so.
Mention your father’s occupation when applying for a position at the entry level or a junior level non-management job, or when specifically asked.
Try and give maximum possible information in minimum space.
