Here are some tips to write an effective CV

Here are some tips to write an effective CV

Keep it neat
The only fate dirty CVs meet is landing up in the trash bins. So, make sure that your CV is neat and well organised. We talk a lot about the products being user friendly. Make sure your CV is also user friendly. User her is the person who screens the CVs and gives you a gate pass to the interview.

Keep it small
No one has time to read pages after pages about you. Keep your CV as short as possibly. Try that it doesn’t go beyond two pages. After all, certain things should be left to discuss in the interview also.

Write short and crisp sentences
Long sentences are difficult to read and understand. Use punctuation marks properly to keep your sentences short and crisp.

Start with contact details
Provide your contact details at the beginning of your CV. After your CV is shortlisted, the first thing a recruiter wants to do is give you an interview call. If your contact details are not easily found or are embedded somewhere in the text on second page, there are high chances of you losing the opportunity to the next candidate. So, provide a phone number and e-mail address where you can be reached.

Provide a career summary
Your career summary appears on the first screen of recruiter’s computer. It should say all about you and the recruiter should be able to decide by looking at these 7-8 lines if they want to call you for an interview or not.

Work experience is more important than qualification
If you have a work experience, qualification takes a back seat. Provide information about your work experience focussing on your achievements which display your skills. If you add some numbers to the achievements, it helps you in increasing the level of interest in a recruiter.

For e.g. if you said, “Settled 4 manufacturing units in 5 states of India during 3 years” it becomes stronger than “Settled manufacturing 4 units in India”.

Educational qualifications
Provide your educational qualifications in chronologically descending order. People are more interested in finding out about your recent past. If you have not scored good marks, avoid providing the percentage of marks you scored.

Include the relevant information. Your CV may require a little bit of modification according to the type of opening you are applying for. You may need to expose different facets of your personality and work experience for different openings.

Avoid un-necessary details
It doesn’t matter to a recruiter what your father’s or mother’s name is. Similarly, he is not interested in knowing the number of children you have (until he has to bear their expenses).
Cut out these and other such unnecessary details from your CV.

Avoid abbreviations
Most of the times your CV will be screened by the HR people and they are not experts in every domain. So, avoid the use of abbreviations and jargons to make the CV easier for them to read and understand. If they do not understand and abbreviation or jargon you have used in the CV, it might cost you the opportunity, making the whole exercise futile.

Use more impactful words
Use words which display your control over things. For e.g. managed, achieved, counselled, recruited etc.

Emphasize at right place
Learn to emphasize at right place in the CV. If you think, any of your particular achievements gives you a cutting edge over other job seekers for a particular opening, emphasize on it. For e.g. if you are a fresher and you have been a topper of your college or university, it is worth mentioning and emphasizing in the CV. Similarly, if you are an experienced worker and your particular achievement has been acknowledged by your employer, which you think can add more value to your CV while applying for a particular position, emphasize on it.

Check for spellings and grammar
Try to keep your CV free of any spelling mistakes and bad grammar. They put the recruiter off and can put you in embarrassing situations at times.

Avoid using "I"," my" in your CV
The recruiter knows well that you are talking about yourself in your CV. Avoid the use of words like I, my in your CV. It makes you look egomaniac.

So, as you sit to write your CV, keep these tips in mind and prune out any unnecessary details. It should give you an effective CV.