Dear Job Seekers,

This is the time when there are the most number of jobs out, and people who are serious about finding new jobs, should be making every effort to get their CV’s out to Companies and Employment agencies and attend every interview offered.

We have had a lot of people contact us recently to ask who they can employ to prepare a professional CV for them and my answer is that they are the best qualified to prepare their own CV’s.  You can always get someone else to type it out and to do the layout but the information must come from you. 

Preparing a CV
A CV is the foundation of looking for a position.  Before you start applying for positions and going for interviews you should have a CV prepared.  Arriving for an interview without a neat, professional CV, printed out makes a very bad first impression and when you leave that interview, you are relying on the interviewers memory as you are leaving no information about yourself in writing form them to refer to. 

What should your CV contain?
There are a number of reasonably good CV’s in MS Office’s Templates.  Your CV should contain the following information.

1.        Personal Information – Name, Surname, Telephone number, Postal Address, Drivers License, ID Number, Home Language and other Languages.
2.       Computer Literacy – List of software packages you have worked on.
3.       Education and training – List the last school you attended and the highest grade passed, as well as any tertiary education.  List courses that you have attended, which are work related.
4.       Career History – Starting with your most recent position, list the following information – Company name, start date and end date, position, duties and reason for leaving.

If you take the time to prepare an informative, yet concise CV, it will prepare your for the interview.  You don have to try and think back as to the dates and reasons why you left a company. 

Ensure that your CV contains enough detail
There is a fine line between too much and too little detail.  If you don’t put it in your CV, to the stranger reading your CV, you never did it. Yet if you write too much, the person receiving your CV will not read it. 

Your CV must look professional
Unless you are applying for a creative position, make sure that your CV is in a neat format on plain, white paper.  Keep colours and pictures to a minimum.  A conservative approach appears more professional.  Check for typing errors and spelling mistakes.  Before submitting your CV, make sure that the corners of the pages are not scuffed, the ink is not smudged and the pages are not dirty.  Prospective employers deduce a great deal about a person by the appearance of their CV’s. 

E-mailing CV’s
When e-mailing your CV, remember that it is costing the person who is downloading it, time and money.  If your CV is a huge file, they may delete it before it is even downloaded.  E-mailed CV’s should not contain any scanned documents or pictures.  Keep it simple and keep the file small.

Faxed CV’s and One Page CV’s
When a company requests that you fax a one page CV it is because they are wanting to short list.  Once they have done this they will call you in for an interview and you can bring a longer CV with you. Fax toner and paper are expensive and receiving long CV’s is time consuming.  You will be surprised at how much shorter your CV is if you take out all the spaces and make the fonts smaller.  

Visual Layout
Keep your CV brief and to the point.  List things in point form, under the relevant headings, so it is easy for people to find the information they are looking for.  Generally people do not like reading long paragraphs. 

Covering Letters and Essay Applications
We are not big fans of long covering letters.  Rather keep it short and let the CV speak for itself.  A short covering letter is far better than one that is insincere and starts with “I have always wanted to work for a company like yours”, when you do not know the company at all. 

 A CV is the foundation of looking for a position.  Before you start applying for positions or going for interviews you should have a CV prepared.