Chapter V.
How to write a Curriculum Vitae (CV)[1]
A.The CV (resume, in American English) is meant to introduce
you and your background to somebody who does not know you and barely has time
to get to know you. It should present you in the best possible light, in a
concise and well-structured manner.
B. A regular CV for business purposes should definitely not go
over one A4 page. If you intend to use it for academic purposes and not for a
job, the CV can pass that limit, on the condition that you use the extra space
to describe academic activities, like conferences, publications list, etc.
C. A well-written CV shows first what is most important, but
contains all relevant information. To this goal, we advise you to adapt it to
your target (specific type of job or scholarship).
D. Personal details - here you should include
your birth date, contact address, email, telephone number and nationality. In
case you have both a permanent and study address, include both, with the dates
when you can be contacted at each of them. You should write your name with a
bigger font than the rest of the text, so that the reader knows easily whose CV
is he or she reading.
E. Objective - this is a concise statement of what you actually
want to do. It's not bad if it matches the thing you are applying for. If you
apply for a job, you can be even more specific - " to obtain a position
in... , where I can use my skills in…". You can use a few lines to
describes that specifically, but keep in mind that you should show what you can
do for the company more than what the company can do for you. Writing a good
objective can be tough; take some time to think about what exactly are you
going to write there.
F. If you, the visitor of our site, are who we think we are - a
young student, or a person who has just graduated, you should start your CV
with your education. Very probably, at this age it is your most
important asset. We suggest you use the reverse chronological order, since it
is more important what master’s degree you have rather than that, very
probably, you went to high school in your native town. No matter for which
order you decide - chronological or reverse - you should keep it the same
throughout the rest of your CV. Try to give an exact account of your
accomplishments in school: grades (do not forget to write the scale if it may
differ from the one the reader of your CV is used to), standing in class (in
percent), title of your dissertation, expected graduation date if you think
this is an important aspect.
G. There is no need to write all of the above, but only those
that put you in the best light.
H. Are you not in the best 20% of your class? Better not to
mention ranking then, maybe you still have good grades, or your school is a
renowned one. In any case, do not make your results better than in reality -
you cannot know how this information may be checked and the whole application
will lose credibility. Cheating is a very serious offense in Western schools.
I. Awards received - you should introduce this header
right after the education, in order to outline all the scholarly or otherwise
distinctions you have received. Another solution is to include these awards in
the education section, but this might make the lecture difficult - the reader
wants to get from that section an impression about the schools you went to and
the overall results, not about every distinction you were awarded. Still, these
are important! Therefore, here is the place to mention them - scholarships,
stages abroad you had to compete for, prizes in contests, any kind of
distinction. Here, same as everywhere in your CV, write a detailed account of
what happened: do not just mention the year and "Prize in Physics",
but rather give the exact date (month), place, name and organizer of the
competition. For a scholarship abroad, write the time frame, name of the
University, Department, the subject of classes there - e.g. managerial
economics - name of the award-giving institution, if different from that of the
host-university.
J. Practical experience - here you should include
internships as well. Don't feel ashamed with what you did, don't try to
diminish your accomplishments! Nobody really expects you to have started a
million dollar business if you're still a student - even better if you did,
though! Accountability is an important criterion for what you write in this
section. The account should show what you improved, where, by how much, what
your responsibilities were. The idea is that when you apply for a job you have
to show growth-potential. That is, that you proved some kind of progress
from one job to another and that especially at the last one you were so good,
you could obviously do something that involves more responsibility - like the
job you are applying for now. The overall result should portray you as a
leader, a person with initiative and creativity - don't forget you have to
convince the reader of your CV that you are the best pick for that job.
K. Extracurricular activities - if you're writing a professional,
and not an academic CV, this is the place to mention conferences or any other
activities outside the school that for some reason did not fit in the CV so
far. A good section here can help a lot towards that goal of portraying you as
a leader, a person with initiative, not just a nerd with good grades.
L. Languages - list here all the languages you speak, with a
one-word description of your knowledge of that language. We suggest the
following scale: conversational, intermediate, advanced, and fluent. List any
certificates and/or results like TOEFL scores, with date.
M. Computer skills - write everything you know,
including Internet browsers and text editing skills. There is no absolute need
to know C++ unless you wanna be a programmer. List certificates and specialty
studies as well.
N. Hobbies - list them if space is left on the page. They look fine in
a CV, showing you are not a no-life workaholic, but a normal person. There is
no need to have a 20,000 pieces stamp collection, you can mention reading or
mountain tracking as well.
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