How do I write a good CV?
Your first meeting with a potential employer is often through your CV. For that reason it is vital that your CV gives a comprehensive and accurate portrayal about yourself and that it gives off a good first impression. Your aim should be to write a CV that arouses the employer's interest and that he or she invites you for an interview.
We often forget to include important facts on our CVs if they seem very obvious to ourselves. List your skills, qualifications and competence in a clear and logical way so that you are presenting your strongest qualities.
Focus on any relevant aspects of your education and work experience. Explain gaps between jobs. Make sure you describe your work history as comprehensively and precisely as possible; list tasks and responsibilities of your previous positions. Here are some key words to include in your CV.
Managerial experience
Highlight any previous experience you have of managing or training other people and mention how many people this involved. Furthermore, note that every employer focuses on results. Show the employer that you are also focused on results, in particular if you are applying for a position that is directly responsible for them.
HR responsibilities
Have you had any HR responsibilities in any of your previous roles? Include how many people you where responsible for and where they were located. Keep in mind that there is a difference between having HR responsibilities and being team leader; having HR responsibilities implies that you have done performance reviews and discussed terms of conditions with employees. You would also have had the authority to hire people and give notice.
Project management experience
If you have any project management experience then highlight the size and complexity of the project, either in number of participants, budget, number of locations or departments that were involved, etc.
Financial responsibilities
Along with management responsibilities come financial- or budgeting responsibilities. Highlight the size of the budget. Were you responsible for bringing the money in, for spending them or did you manage the spreadsheet? Explain if you where responsible for developing the budget or if someone else did it.
Fields of expertise
Describe what fields or disciplines you have worked in and if these are fields you master particularly well. Are you experienced with any IT tools?
Market experience
What markets do you know? On what level did you work towards in these companies? Specify if it was business services, volume sales, etc. The size of the budgets and the amount of customers are very clarifying, as is examples of the type of customer you had.