What to Include in a Curriculum Vitae
A curriculum vitae, commonly referred to as CV, is a longer (two or more
pages), more detailed synopsis than a resume. Your CV should be clear,
concise, complete, and up-to-date with current employment and
educational information. The following are examples of information that
can be included in your curriculum vitae. The elements that you include
will depend on what you are applying for, so be sure to incorporate the
most relevant information to support your candidacy in your CV.
- Personal details and contact information. Most CVs start with contact information and personal data but take care to avoid superfluous details, such as religious affiliation, children’s names and so on.
- Education and qualifications. Take care to include the names of institutions and dates attended in reverse order; Ph.D., Masters, Undergraduate.
- Work experience/employment history. The most widely accepted style of employment record is the chronological curriculum vitae. Your career history is presented in reverse date order starting with most recent. Achievements and responsibilities are listed for each role. More emphasis/information should be put on more recent jobs.
- Skills. Include computer skills, foreign language skills, and any other recent training that is relevant to the role applied for.Brief biography ,Scholarships ,Training,Study abroad ,DissertationsTheses,Bibliography, Research experience,Graduate Fieldwork,Teaching experience ,Publications,Presentations and lectures,Exhibitions,Awards and honors,Grants, fellowships, and assistantships,Technical, computer, and language skills,Professional licenses and certifications,Memberships,Hobbies and Interests
- Personal Details. This section consists of your name, address, age (not be compulsory), phone number, email. ...
- Work Experience. Start with your most recent job role. ...
- Education. Always start with the most recent educational qualification. ...
- Interests and Abilities. ...
- References.
- Pick the right CV format.
- Add your name contact information.
- Start with a personal profile and your title.
- List your relevant work experience & key achievements.
- Build your academic and education section.
- Put relevant skills that fit the job opening.
What Not to Include In Your CV??
There is no need to include your photo, your salary history, the reason
you left your previous position, or references in your CV. References
should be listed separately and given to employers upon request.
How Long Should a CV Be?
A good curriculum vitae should ideally cover no more than two pages and
never more than three. Aim to ensure the content is clear, structured,
concise and relevant. Using bullet points rather than full sentences can
help minimize word usage.
What do you want your CV to look like?
Best Free Job Application Letter Templates and Samples
- Free Accountant Application Letter Template
- Work Application Letter Template
- Employment Application Letter Template
- Internship Application Letter Template
- Engineering Job Application Letter Template
- Application Letter For Any Position Template
- Clerk Job Application Letter Template
- Doctor Job Application Letter Template
- Formal Application Letter
- Marketing Application Letter
- Resume Application Letter
- Resignation Application Letter
- School Application Letter Templates
- Volunteer Application Letter
- Graduate Application Letter Templates
- Vacation Application Letter
- Vacancy Application Letter Templates
- Application Cover Letter
- Personal Application Letter
- Application Thank You Letter Templates
- Manager Application Letter Templates
- Best Part Time Job Application Letter Templates
- Sample Nurse Application Letter
- Sample Receptionist Application Letter
- Sample Scholarship Application Letter
- Sample Science Teacher Application Letter
- Sample Teacher Application Letter
- Sample Transfer Application Letter
For a variety of templates. You can find CV templates under the “Resumes and Cover Letters” category. Browse the different templates, and then click on the title of the template to preview it. Click the “download” button to download the template and edit and save it on your computer, or “edit in browser” to revise it online.
If you revise the CV online, you can save it to the OneDrive (Microsoft’s online drive), or download a copy to your computer.
DOWNLOAD CV FOR JOB APPLICATION THROUGH THE LINK PROVIDED BELOW:
CV Format: Overview
A standard format of a CV for a job should include the following sections:
- Contact Information.
- Personal Statement.
- Professional Experience.
- Academic History.
- Key Skills and Qualifications.
- Industry Awards.
- Professional Certifications.
- Publications.
- Professional Affiliations.
- Conferences Attended.
- Additional Training.
Let's walk through these sections step by step:
1. Contact Information
- Full name
- Professional title
- Email address
- Phone number
- LinkedIn profile
- Home address
2. Personal Statement (Summary or Objective)
A CV personal statement is a brief (100 words tops), snappy paragraph at the top of your CV that provides an overview of your qualifications and skills. It works as a “trailer” for the rest of your CV. Fill it with keywords relevant to the job opening and explain why you’re the perfect candidate.
If you have years of relevant experience, write your personal statement as a CV summary: highlight your best professional achievements.
Not much experience yet? Go for a CV objective: summarise what skills you’ve mastered so far and how well you’d fit in.
Whichever one is right for you, don’t focus it solely on what you want out of the job. Instead, emphasize what you have to offer. For instance:
Dependable licensed NMC Registered Nurse trained to work in high-stress environments and stay calm under pressure. Seeking to leverage meticulous record-keeping and analytical skills to help St Francis Hospital with your upcoming challenges.
3. Professional Experience
- Start with your current or most recent job.
- Below, list your previous jobs chronologically descending.
- List: your job title, the name of the company, dates worked.
- Below each entry, add up to 5 bullet points explaining your responsibilities and achievements.
- Quantify whenever possible. Numbers pop!
4. Academic History
If you’ve got any post-secondary education, limit your CV education section to just that. Don’t mention your high school, unless it’s your highest degree of education.
Format your CV education section the following way:
- Graduation year (if you’re still studying, enter your expected graduation date)
- Degree
- Institution name
- Sub-honours (if applicable)
Don’t have a wealth of job experience? Place your education section above your work history and mention the coursework you’ve completed, as well as extracurricular academic achievements.
5. Skills
Here’s how to list skills on a CV step by step:
- Start with a spreadsheet with a master list of all the professional skills you’ve developed.
- Read the job ad carefully and look for skill-related keywords.
- Those skills from your list that match the job description go on your CV.
- Instead of just listing skills in a separate skills section, mention them in your CV personal statement and in the work history section.
6. Additional Sections
If you’ve participated in any activities relevant to your career that don’t fit into any of the above sections, list them in extra sections of your CV. Some CV examples of such sections include:
- Industry awards
- Professional certifications
- Publications
- Professional affiliations
- Conferences attended
- Additional training
The above template is an example of a classic, reverse-chronological CV. But, according to many a career expert, there is
an alternative. A skills-based CV format, also known as a “skills CV”
or a “functional CV.” Read on to find out what the right structure for a
skills CV is.
One more thing to keep in mind when formatting a CV is to make it skimmable for recruiters and hiring managers.
If potential employers cannot extract the most important information about your skills and expertise in a flash, it’s game over. So—
How to Format a CV?
- Set one-inch margins on all sides.
- Use 1.0 or 1.15 line spacing.
- Pick a good font for a CV and stick to it on the whole document.
- Create a professional CV header format for your contact details.
- Divide your CV into legible sections: Contact Information, Personal Statement, Work Experience, Education, Skills, Additional Information.
- Make section headings slightly larger than the rest of the contents.
- Add a blank line before and after each heading.
- Save your CV in PDF to keep your formatting intact.
Follow the steps above, and you’ll create an eye-pleasing CV. Recruiters will appreciate a well-organized layout and you’ll give yourself a good chance of passing the Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) CV scan.
And trust me—the latter matters a lot nowadays. According to the worldwide report on recruiting automation trends, 75% of talent acquisition professionals claim that AI-based technology will play a larger role in their hiring processes in 2022. And ATS is the cornerstone of modern-day recruitment technology.