A resume is a personal presentation that, when done right, demonstrates how your skills, experience, and successes fit together perfectly with your dream job. This guide will teach you to write an impactful resume, to intrigue your potential employer and convince him to hire you.
Steps
Method 1 of 5: Shaping Your CV
Step 1. Choose the type of text to use:
is the first thing a potential employer will see on your resume. For this reason, it is very important that you make the right first impression. Choose a professional font in size 11 or 12. Times New Roman is the classic serif font, while Arial or Calibri are two of the best sans serif font choices.
- You can use multiple fonts for different parts of your resume, but try to limit them to two at most. Instead of changing fonts, try writing specific sections in bold or italics.
- The font for the header and for the introduction to a section could be 14 or 16 in size, but otherwise do not use large fonts.
- Your text should always be printed in black ink. Make sure you disable any links (such as your email address) or they will print in blue or another contrasting color.
Step 2. Set up the page:
it should have a 2.5 cm margin all around, with line spacing of 1, 5 or 2 points. Your resume content will be left aligned and the header should be centered at the top of the page.
Step 3. Enter your personal information; you must do this in the initial section of your resume
Include your name, address, email and phone number. You should write your name in a slightly larger size, about 14 or 16. If you have both, write down both your phone and mobile number.
Step 4. Choose a layout
There are generally three formats for writing a resume: chronological, functional, or combined. Your work experience and the type of job you are applying for will determine which layout style to use.
- The chronological resume is used to show steady growth in a particular career field. It is the most used for those applying for a job within their career path, to emphasize an increase in responsibility over time.
- The functional curriculum is focused on skills and experience rather than work history. It is the most used for those who may have holes in their work history or those who have gained experience independently for some time.
- The combined resume is, as the name suggests, a combination of a chronological and functional resume. It is used to show specific skills and how they were acquired. If you've developed a specific skill by working in a variety of related fields, then this is the best type of resume for you.
Method 2 of 5: Write a Chronological CV
Step 1. Enter your professional experiences; since it is the chronological curriculum, your experiences must be entered in chronological order starting from the last experience
Include the name of the company, its location, your title, the position and responsibilities you had while working there, and the dates your experience took place.
- It may be helpful to write down your job (the role you hold) first, to show the position you held in each job. You can also choose to write the company name first. Regardless of what you choose, stay consistent throughout the list you are writing.
- For each list, write the section "important achievements" or "achievements" and enter a brief description of the results obtained in this work and what you have achieved.
Step 2. Enter your education:
as for work experiences, write it in chronological order starting from the last school attended. Include any college degrees, vocational schools, or internships you have attended. If you have a degree, enter the degree and the year you received it. If you have not yet graduated, indicate when you started your career and put an indicative date on the date you plan to graduate.
- For each list, indicate the name of the institution, its address and the type of diploma or area of study.
- If you came out with a good average, enter it along with your graduation information.
Step 3. Enter personal qualifications or skills
Once you have listed your information, your work experience and your studies, you can choose to enter anything else that you think is important. Create a section titled "Personal Skills" or "Qualifications" with a list of these things.
- If you are fluent in several languages, enter the list of those you know in this section; also enter your proficiency level for each of these languages - e.g. beginner, intermediate, advanced, fluent, etc. -
- If you are experienced in a specific area of work where other candidates may not be - such as computer programming - be sure to include the level of experience in this section.
Step 4. Give your references
Provide about 2 or 4 professional references (family or friends do not count) by entering the names, the type of professional relationship and their contacts such as address, telephone number and email.
- You can choose a boss or a superior or a professor of a subject in which you did well as your contact person.
- The job you are applying for may contact these referrals, so remember to notify the aforementioned people by explaining to them that you have chosen them to be indicated as referrals for your resume.
Method 3 of 5: Writing a Functional CV
Step 1. Enter your education:
as for work experiences, write it in chronological order starting from the last school attended. Include any college degrees, vocational schools, or internships you have attended. If you have a degree, enter the degree and the year you received it. If you have not yet graduated, indicate when you started your career and put an indicative date on the date you plan to graduate.
- For each list, indicate the name of the institution, its address, and the type of diploma or area of study.
- If you came out with a good average, enter it along with your graduation information.
Step 2. Present your awards and accolades
If you have received any special awards or recognitions, please list them here, including your name, date and why you received them. You can write in this section if you received honors when you graduated. Make yourself successful and a hard worker by adding as many accolades as you can.
- If you have had a job where you have received any special honor, write it down in this section.
- Even if you've received a volunteer award, you can enter it here. Highlight the wonderful things you have done and earned recognition for, regardless of the circumstances in which you received them.
Step 3. Enter your skills
While the “awards and recognition” section is very specific, this one is much more general. Make a short list of the positive traits of your personality that characterize you; for example, timeliness, outgoing, enthusiastic, diligent or able to work within a team.
Step 4. Enter your professional experiences
Since this is not the strongest part of your resume, try to put it at the end, so that the recruiter sees your skills and accomplishments first.
- You can include subtitles for each type of work experience, such as "Managerial Experience", "Legal Experience" or "Financial Experience".
- For each job, include the name of the company, the city where it is located, your title, the position and responsibilities you had working there and the dates on which your experience took place.
- Under each job description, you can include a bold title, which reads “Important Achievements” or “Goals,” where you can list two or three important achievements or accomplishments for that position.
Step 5. Enter your experiences as a volunteer
If you've done a lot of volunteering in your life, write it down in this section of your resume. Enter the name of the program, the dates you served or the total hours you did and the responsibilities you had.
Step 6. Give your references
The last point on your resume should be a list of 2-4 professional references; are those people with whom you have no connection (therefore neither relatives nor friends), but with whom you have had a working relationship. You might consider a previous employer, professor, or volunteer coordinator as possible referrals.
- Include each contact's name, relationship type, postal address, email, and telephone number.
- The job you are applying for may contact these referrals, so remember to notify these people that you have chosen them to be listed as referrals for your resume.
Method 4 of 5: Write a Combined CV
Step 1. Choose the structural form you want to give to your resume; since you are writing a combined resume, you don't have to follow strict rules
Each combined resume will look different depending on who writes it, so focus on what you do best. In addition to work experience and your education, you can choose to include skills, awards and recognition, any experience as a volunteer, and qualifications.
Step 2. List your work experiences
You can do this in two ways: if your experiences are part of more than one job field, you could list your jobs by adding subtitles, which classify the skills used in each of them; if you want to show that you are pursuing a particular career by always increasing your skills, you can list your experiences in chronological order, without including subtitles.
Provide general information for each company: the name, location, your title, position and responsibilities you had while working there, and the dates on which your experience took place
Step 3. Enter your education information
The details you need to enter are the same as those listed for the other two types of resumes; the only difference is where this section is inserted. For each high school, university or vocational school you have attended, enter the name and location of the institution, the diploma or qualification you received, and the years you studied there.
If you got a good average, you might want to include that as well
Step 4. Enter other relevant information
After you have listed your professional experiences and education, add some information that you think will help you find the job you are looking for. Choose to include each of the additional sections such as qualifications, skills, awards and recognition or volunteer service.
Step 5. Give your references:
include 2-4 professional references (not family or friends) along with their information such as name, professional relationship type, email, address and telephone number.
Method 5 of 5: Make Your CV Contents Stand Out
Step 1. Create headlines that grab the recruiter's attention
Take a look at your job duties - are they interesting and descriptive? Instead of saying that you were a cashier, write that you were a customer service employee or, instead of saying that you are a secretary, put "administrative assistant". However, don't use a misleading or misleading title - just think about how to make your role more engaging, so that it is as interesting as possible.
- For example, "Director" does not describe who or what you direct: "Director of Sales Personnel" or "Executive Director" may be more descriptive and desirable titles on a resume.
- Search the Internet to find an index of all professions (for example the ISTAT website) to get an idea of how to make the job you have covered more descriptive.
Step 2. Use keywords strategically
Since many recruiters scan resumes with specific software to identify the presence of certain keywords to make a first selection before the actual interviews, make sure that your resume contains all the keywords related to the type of job you are looking for.
- Take a look at the words employers use in their ads: if, for example, they write "research" as a requirement, be sure to include "research" or "wanted" in at least one of the work experiences or skills you have put into the job. your resume.
- Use some keywords in the ad, but not all or your resume will arouse suspicion.
Step 3. Use activity verbs to describe your responsibilities and achievements:
this will highlight your skills and abilities to do the job you are applying for. Choose verbs that describe your responsibilities and then begin descriptions of your work experiences using them. For example, if you were a receptionist, use terms like “scheduled”, “assisted” and “provided”: you can say that you have “scheduled appointments”, “assisted clients” and “provided administrative support”.
Step 4. Spell check and reread the resume:
do not underestimate this step! Reread your resume several times and then have someone else reread it too. Finally, read it again by letting someone listen to you. If there are any grammar and spelling errors in your resume, you will be discarded regardless of your skills.
- Check for spelling and grammatical errors, incorrect contact information, typos and abuse of apostrophes, plurals and possessives.
- Check again to make sure the resume structure is right and that you haven't forgotten important information.
Advice
- Sell your image. Don't tell the potential employer that your job was to answer the phone. Instead, tell him that you were dealing with a five-line telephone system in a timely and courteous manner.
- Be creative. This doesn't mean you should use colored fonts or perfume your CV before mailing it, but organize your text through bold lists and keywords to grab the attention of the potential employer. On average, CVs are read for seven seconds before deciding whether they are worth keeping or throwing away, so make good use of this time.
- Don't flaunt it, be realistic.
- Slightly edit the CV for each job after reading the announcement and searching for information about the company. If a company specifies that it needs a person with three to five years of experience, this version of the resume should reflect that request. Make sure that the company's mission is reflected in your goals and training.
- Buy white paper and good quality envelopes if you decide to mail it. Make sure you print your address and that of the company on the envelopes; this is particularly important if you are applying for a position as a secretary, administrative assistant or paralegal: you will be expected to be able to handle the best of your mail.
