CV Full Form

The major prerequisite for the people entering the job markets is a CV or curriculum vitae which provide the candidate with an edge amongst the other candidates who have applied for the same job position. 

The CV is a single-page summary of all the achievements and career milestones the candidate has achieved in all the years he has been involved in that respective field. Several organisations release the requirements they look for in the prospective candidates along with the job description they post. A good CV should take into consideration all the points mentioned in the job description and should be moulded around the requirements of the organisation.  

The CV is often used synonymous with the resume, however, there exists a major difference between the two. 

CV vs Resume

• While ideally, one should usually prepare a single page summary of their personal information, career summary while preparing both CV and resume, the vital difference between a CV and a resume is the length they can exceed. 
• The CV can be a multi-page document summarising your career information, the resume should be strictly one-page highlighting the major milestones in your career which can be moulded with the job requirements posted by the organisations.
• Another vital difference between the two of them is the career role for which they are prepared. CV is usually prepared for the academic roles in the universities or the research assistant roles offered by the PhD doctoral, any academician, think tanks or the government research organisations. A CV highlights the academic experiences that the candidate has which are suitable for the job for which he/she is applying. The relevant experiences might include the degrees, academic projects undertaken, published works, and teaching assistant roles played among others. The resume is prepared by the candidates applying for the general job markets, usually in the corporate sector which highlights their degrees, relevant experience, projects undertaken and any awards of excellence received, referrals etc. 
• An important thing to be noted here is that these differences exist only in the norms set by the USA. In the UK and the European countries, the words resume and the cv exists only to be used interchangeably amongst each other.

Types of CV

Based on the objectives of the prospective job candidate, two types of CV can be identified:

1. Skill-Oriented CV: For the candidates, whose objective is to change the industry or are entering the job market after a gap, the skill-oriented CV will prove to be worthy. This type of CV highlights the skills of the candidate which gives an edge to the candidate. An important tip will be to mould your skill-set according to the requirements posed by the employer.   
2. Work Experience Oriented CV: For the people looking to apply for higher positions or promotions, the work-experience oriented CV will be more worthy. This type of CV highlights the relevant work experience of the candidate which puts him/her in a position of seniority when compared to the other candidates.  

Do’s and Don’ts in a CV

To prepare an effective Curriculum Vitae, the following things are to be added on a priority basis:

1. Name and Contact Details: Even if you’re mentioning the relevant contact details in your email or cover letter, concise contact details mentioned on the top of your CV will provide ease of accessing the information to the recruiters and might fetch you brownie points!
2. Technical and Personal Skills: To prepare an effective CV, highlight your relevant personal and technical skills and your level of expertise separately in the document. Be prepared for any technical question in the interview based on the technical skills and the level of expertise you have given in the CV, avoid exaggerating. 
3. Work Experience and Volunteering Experience: Apart from the academic degrees, having relevant work experience will get you the edge you require in getting your dream job. Relevant work experience might involve any part-time, freelancing jobs or internships that you might have undertaken in your college years or after graduation. Apart from this, highlight any volunteering and community serving experience you carry to show your sensitised side towards global causes. 
4. Education and Qualification: Should be mentioned primarily, the information regarding the education and qualification should be stated in the following order: Name of the degree/ Name of the University, School/ CGPA received.
5. Referrals: Many organisations and think tanks require strong referrals from your formal employees or someone within the organisation to make a strong application. When asking for referrals, approach the employees on professional networks such as LinkedIn or their official email. Give your brief background in the message and express your interest in the company and the role for which you are applying before asking for the referral.

Optional Information:

1. Objective and Personal Statement
2. Achievements
3. Job-Specific Interests and Hobbies
4. Link to the professional networking sites, LinkedIn

Never include the following information in your CV:

1. Photograph
2. Date of Birth, Age
3. Nationality, Religion
4. Marital Status
5. Bank Account Details
6. Irrelevant work experience
7. Informal text or spellings
8. Funny anecdotes

Additionally, make sure the information being provided in the CV is up-to-date, correct and is relevant to the job position you’re applying for. Never lie, over exaggerate or create make-beliefs in your CV. 

Proper formatting is another important area on which extra attention needs to be paid. For the proper formal formatting, follow the given guidelines:

1. Prepare your CV in word and always save it in a pdf format
2. Use the formal fonts, for eg. ‘Times New Roman’ in the document. Follow a uniform font throughout the document
3. Using appropriate and uniform font size in the document is another thing to be focused upon. Ideally, size 11-12 is used for the information in the CV, along with a slight variation in the size of the headings, size 12-14.
4. Make sure that the email address being provided is formal. Avoid using words like ‘cool’, ‘hero’ etc. in your official email address.

Conclusion

Preparing a CV is the most important step before entering the job market, as it makes or breaks your chance of getting the interview. Nowadays, organisations use AI integrated systems for CV shortlisting. In such cases, it becomes very important to use the important keywords and follow the norms set by the organisations for preparing the CV to increase chances.