Curriculum Vitae or a CV is the most important document for anyone looking for a new job. A good looking CV at least helps you to get a call for the interview, rest depends on your communication and technical skills in the interview.

People generally say that they do not have enough in their CVs to woo the recruiter. This might be true, and one can do certain courses and internships to improve that. Doing that and adding substance to your CV may take time, so here is what can be done to find that next big move for you right now.

In this post we are going to look at somehygiene factors that can make your CV more presentable and increase the chances of getting a shortlist.

• Differentiate between a CV and cover letter:

Many people write quotes at the top of their CVs like:

“I am a hardworking self motivated individual working in ABC company looking for a challenging role in your company”

First, CV is to be written in third person, you should not include any such statements in it, save them for cover letter.  Avoid using terms like I, You etc.

Second, though cover letter adds a lot of weight to your application but above lines do not tell anything unique about you. You need to talk about your skills and strengths and give the company a reason to hire you.

• Be Proud of what you have done

Your CV talks to the prospective employer on your behalf, so make sure that it talks with confidence, relevance and it talks enough. Most HRs say that they take less than 5 seconds to scrutinize any CV for shortlisting. So you need to keep following points in mind:

Highlight your achievements by including numbers wherever possible. Such as “Secured rank in top 10 among a group of 250 individuals”

Use bold text for any reputed organizations or examinations that you might have been associated with in the past

• Follow the format in order of priority

Start with writing about your education. Clearly mention the degree name, University, College, year of completion, graduation marks, class rank etc. in separate columns preferably.

Next section should be about your work experience. Use chronological order, clearly mentioning the company name, duration and role you worked at. Write about the different projects that you did and the results you got in them. Include more content for recent jobs. You can also include your internships in this section.

After this comes the section which includes your projects and other courses.

Then write about significant co-curricular and extra curricular achievements

Finish it with your hobbies and interests

• How much to write

We need to make sure that we limit our CV length to one page but at the same time it should not be less than 80% of the page. Along with that don’t leave empty spaces, write complete lines. If you are using a tabular format, make sure that the boxes are not very wide with respect to the text in between. Font should also not be below 10 in any case.

Following above simple points would help you in building a good CV and getting all those interview calls that you were waiting for.