Consider your CV as a sales brochure that should be designed to catch the eye of the employer and highlight the benefits to the employer to display your skills and offerings. Since the first impression is considered vital so your CV template should act like a sales brochure aimed to hit at the right point to create the best impression.
Some of the key professional resume styles and layouts that should be added in the CV to help build a picture of the CV that will help to point the key areas that make you stand out of the crowd.
Some of the key CV details to be included
Personal Information
Provide the employer with your key details as well as an indication of your personal circumstances. Your CV should be divided into 2 parts – Primary and Secondary details. The primary details should include the facts that employer must know when your CV is viewed in the initial 10 seconds and the secondary details contains information that bears some relevance to the position being applied for and must be interested to be discussed with you.
The primary information must be included in the first page of the CV, do not bog down your CV with irrelevant information at the beginning as it will take the eyes of the employers from the key details that want to highlight.
Personal information includes,
- Name
- Photograph (Only if asked)
- Address
- Telephone/email contact
- Date of Birth
- Marital Status/ Children
- Education Details
- Hobbies and interests
- Health
Key points to be considered under personal information,
References – You must leave references on your CV as the employer can use them as and when required. But remember to contact your referees prior to passing details to your future employer so that they are prepared to answer questions about you at any point of time.
Reasons for leaving – Do not include your reasons for leaving previous roles in your CV. The interview process is scheduled to discuss your previous job. So do not unintentionally highlight negative information and sabotage any chances you had of being invited for interview.
Salary Information – Do not include any current salary information in your CV. Employers who do not advertise a salary band in their offers either have no clear idea or wants a best fit for the cheapest price.
Profile/Banner Heading
Your profile information is one of the key pieces of information that gives an outlines crucial points that needs to be highlighted in your CV. Note it should not be more than two sentences long and is the first key piece of information that the employer will read about you.
This is the section most people struggle and perhaps makes it look irrelevant. As very often it is seen that the profile does not match with the rest of the CV format. For instance if you state in your profile that you are highly experienced then the employer should be able to to discover from your employment history.
Skills matching
So before the compilation of the CV it is very important to match your skills for a specific job profile. It is a common misconception of job-seekers to assume that once the CV is written, it adopts a “one-size fit for all”. Very often the employer encounters such complicated CV that have the key skills and achievements required scattered all around the CV making it all the more difficult for the employer to pass through the job application.
So when an employer receives your CV the employer will scan your details to ascertain whether you have necessary qualities for matching your CV with the job. Remember – The key to getting to an interview is to read the clues contained within the job description.
Illustration to match your CV with job requirements specified
| Requirement | Match |
| Live with commuting distance of central Delhi | Live in Bermingham |
| Have good standard of education | Educated to Masters in Economics |
| Have some knowledge of sales | Worked as PA to and liaised on a daily basis with the sales team on behalf of the MD |
| Pleasant and Confident | Holds a pleasant and confident leadership style |
| Good organizational skills | Managed organization of sales conferences, daily meetings etc |
| Computer Skills | Fully conversant with MS office packages |
By compiling your details against the employers whish list you can ensure that your address each area within your CV and highlight your suitability to the employer. But remember do not apply for multiple vacancies as it can invite large amount of rejection and can be disheartening for the job hunters since no two jobs can be done with the same set of skills set.
Skills matching
It is very important to choose powerful words to highlight your skills and achievements so that the employer immediately catches the eye of the employer. You can ensure this by using the same words used in the job description which the employer has used to describe the ideal candidate.
Such as, adaptable, adaptable, honest, capable, disciplined, organized, flexible, decisive, energetic, logical, reliable, cooperative, enthusiastic etc
