4 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing a CV

Ask yourself these 4 questions when writing a CV

By Selipha Kihagi

Time and again you are told that you need to write a CV that markets and sells you to the employer? You are also told that CV presentation is what will either keep the employer or recruiter glued to read on or discourage him or her from reading on. So how do you come up with a marketable document when writing a CV?

Florence Mukunya, a CV Writing expert at Corporate Staffing Services says a marketable CV should demonstrate how suitable you are for the job in the few seconds a recruiter browses through. A good CV should communicate what job you are suited for in only one glance.

In order to achieve this, when writing a CV, your work experience (which is the most important to employers when hiring) should be very clear. But that is not all, once the recruiter has seen that you have the experience, other sections of your CV are next in the evaluation process. This means that your entire CV should be without mistakes or misleading information.

So, how do you ensure that your CV is too good for the recruiter to resist? To achieve that, ask yourself these questions first.

What to Consider When Writing a CV?

1. Did I include my contact details?

One of the reasons well qualified job candidates are not called for interviews is because they didn’t leave their contact details, and if they did, they are usually out of reach.

Most recruiters confess to coming across candidates who are well qualified for a position, with the experience and skills needed, but you can’t contact them because they didn’t leave their numbers. This becomes very disappointing.

When writing a CV, you must remember to include your working phone number(s) and email address. Not one of the two, both.

2. Are my responsibilities and achievements for each position clear?

A big No when writing a CV is using paragraphs to explain your duties and responsibilities for previous roles – truth is – no recruiter will take time to read in between. Just like job adverts usually list responsibilities required for the job, make sure that your duties are in bullet form and that they are in short clear sentences.

Also, avoid being too wordy as recruiters appreciate brief and to the point information. You will have a chance to explain further during the interview. And as you include your responsibilities also remember about your achievements as these will help you stand out from the other suitably qualified candidates.

3. Is the information on my CV relevant to the jobs I want

A marketable CV demands that the information provided shows what you can do and what you cannot. It is your expertise in a document. For this reason, every single thing you write in your CV, from personal details to hobbies, must be meaningful and important for jobs you will be applying to.

Watching movies, swimming and traveling are good hobbies, but they do not add any value for that banking job.

4. Is my CV grammatically correct?

Setting your computer to UK English or using the Auto Correct feature in your Ms Word program when writing a CV does not mean your document will be free of errors. Words such as too, to and two are grammatically correct but when used wrongly, it becomes a mistake.

Humans are prone to error and anyone can make a grammatical mistake, but if done repeatedly, including detail oriented as a skill will not work out well.

Writing a CV that sells you to the employer or recruiters does not have to be complicated and tedious; just make sure you have the most important information at your fingertips.

For CV queries or to have us write your CV, send an email to cvwriting@corporatestaffing.co.ke

2 Comments

  1. Dear Madam,
    Kindly train me how to do marketing by online just basic is enough I am ready to learn.
    Regards
    Priya

  2. Informative script Selipha.Thank you for the support of well documented scripts always on hands on.

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