THE NITTY GRITTY OF CV WRITING
Being a summary of my speech delivered to the Graduating Brethren of the Deeper Life Campus Fellowship (DLCF), Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) Parish, Ile Ife on the 4th Day of March 2020.
I remain grossly indebted to God who has bestowed me the privilege to stand before His people to deliver this message. My unreserved gratitude goes to Mr. Olamilekan, the Church Librarian, Mr. Chris and a host of others for having me around.
Unemployment has to be a major dilemma in Nigeria over the years. To a large extent, we have blamed the government, and sincerely, I can’t deny their roles in making the situation worse. However, I stand before you today to ask if you are employable.
This is not an employability skill training. Hence, I am obliged to draw my speech around the writing of CV which is also, to a significant extent, determines your next employment.
Many graduates do not pass the stage of CV submission because companies/recruiters do not find their CV convincing nor appealing.
I would like to emphasize the nitty-gritty of a convincing and professional CV but before then, I would like to talk about the Digital CV.
Your social media page is what I call the Digital CV. Your LinkedIn Page, Facebook Profile, among others are now a serious place for prospective employers as well as prospective business partners to check out your profile.
Your LinkedIn page should not contain all details of your CV, however, it should contain all important job responsibilities and correct employment history.
Your social media pages should also contain your recent picture and your posts, to an extent, should say something constructive about you.
Summarily, here are a few things you should take cognizance of when preparing your CV;
1. Avoid Personal Details
As much as possible, avoid sharing information like matrimonial status, age, religion, name of spouse, number of children, etc in your CV. They have become obsolete.
Your next employer is looking out for your skillset, the domain of experience and level of competence, definitely, not what your personal life is about. If they need such information, they will ask!
2. Visually Attractive (Layout)
You can’t afford to present a boring CV. Can you reckon with the impact of PowerPoint on presentations and InfoGraphics on articles? Such is the impact of a visually attractive CV on your employer’s decision.
3. You may need an ‘Executive Resume’
I understand that we have gathered enough skills and experience and this automatically skyrockets our CV to 3,4 or 5 pages and it is always difficult to shrink it to 2 pages. Hence, the need for an Executive Resume.
Your executive resume is a shorter version. Between 1½ and 2 pages so that the HRM can read at a glance and then decide whether to discuss with you or ask for a detailed CV.
4. Your CV must correspond with the Job Description
A good CV should be designed to suit each job’s description. So, you need to include the kind of information that matches the Job Description.
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Check out for typo errors, spelling mistakes and errors in grammar. They are costly.
6. KISS: Keep It Short and Simple.
This does not nullify the fact that you need a comprehensive one but keep your points short and simple.
Thank you.
© OLALEKAN Olatunbosun O.
