EIGHT
STEPS TO CONSTRUCTING A PROFESSIONAL CV
By Eburuche O C Banito
Much has been written
on developing a succinct, tightly constructed and effective CV. I have written
some myself which you can find on www.bntcinternational.com.
All I want to do in this article is to make the whole story simply.
Unfortunately, many
people do not understand the undoubting relevance of having a professional CV
for their career. Many decide to settle for what they’ve found and believe
erroneously that that’s the best for them. Well, that could be madness because
in motivational psychology, man is an insatiable being therefore looks up other
greater glory when he conquers his immediate challenge. I have read about most
great men and at some point they would refer to how their CVs helped/still
helps them in their career. Some have shared equally of tragic disappointments
that resulted from not having a professional CV. Most job seekers that I have
come across in my career have also shared similar experience. I was once in a
seminar where a young man shared his experience in an interview. He was in the
interview waiting room when he saw someone’s CV and he stood up and left. When
he was quizzed, he said he couldn’t have withstood the person’s CV because it
was professionally packaged.
Believe it or yes, in
whatever you are to do in your career or whatever level you are already
occupying, whether to find job, create job, leave for another job or career or
maintain a growing stead in your industry, you still need a professional CV and
you have to learn to develop that.
So, how can you
construct a professional CV?
1. Identify and understand the
elements of a good CV.
The
elements of a CV are finite and are modifiable based on your personal or job
need.[Get
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2. Choose elements according to your
need.
You
do not have to write on everything; just pick on the most relevant elements. [Get
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3. Develop your elements.
Your
CV is not a story-telling article. You must be brief, straight to the point and
keep it professional. .[Get
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4. Career Analysis
Be
sure of what you want to do before you start else, you will prepare a confusing
CV and you can guess what that can do. Ask questions like;
What
job do I want?
What
position can I go for?
What
can I offer?
5. Personality Analysis
Who
are you?
What
are you?
Take
a moment and run an analysis on your personality; what are your strengths and
weakness?
Strategize
on how to empower your strengths and starve your weaknesses while writing the
CV.
Do not start a CV until you understand what
you can and can not do.
Perform
analysis on your skills, education, trainings, certifications and so on and find
out where you can fit in.
6. Industry Analysis
You
can only do something; you can not do all things. Having discovered what you
can do and what you can not do in (5) above, it is now important that you
research on industries and find out where you are compatible with; where you can
do those things you discovered you can do.
Research on what the needs of these companies could be; this will guide
you to fine tune your CV to meet their individual needs thus making your CV
rank high on the interview list. Make a list of the companies for this will
help you keep in mind the need of each company and eliminate the use of generic
CV. This will also help you in distribution.
7. Character analysis:
You
can not be what you are not so lying is not a remedy. Sincerely, there is
someone ready to employ you as you are. If the lame, blind, deaf and dumb among
other disabled are getting jobs, surely you can. You are a professional in your
own category so present yourself with all sincerity. Do not say what you are
not in your CV and do not be ashamed of saying who and what you are as
discovered in (5). Please, do not let your weakness overshadow your strength.
Use the right format to present your skills and not weaknesses. You will settle
the weaknesses in the interview room. For instance, do not say you are a WEB
PROGRAMMER while you know that you are not even proficient with MS WORD OR you
decide to say that you are an EXCELLENT MARKETER while you know that you can
not convince someone to buy a ball-pen form you. Do not deceive yourself.
8. Communication Analysis
The
essence of writing a CV is to communicate your skills, competencies and
suitability for a particular job (whether to be sought for or to be created)
position. If you fail to do this, you will remain a job seeker The
communication skills will include writing and oral skills. Though the computer
had changed many things, you do not have to prepare your CV by handwriting but
with the aid of word processing programs you can develop a professional CV. So,
you must be proficient with these programmes, avoid grammatical errors
especially in spellings and structure. Give
your CV the right voice. Learn to write and speak well. Always make sure that
you understand what you are writing and always use a helping hand to proofread
your CV. Do not use ambiguous and difficult-to-understand words. Let your CV be
smart, simple to understand and keep it professional. .[Get
More Hints…]
Thanks for reading. Feel free to share with your friends.
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