PREPARING THE Curriculum Vitae

1. List the qualifications in the reverse order, so that your highest qualification comes first. Your prospective employer is most interested in your highest qualification. This order is better than the routine chronological order.2. List your experience also in the reverse order.3. Make sure that there is no gap of years when you were doing nothing. At least there should be some training, apprenticeship, or social work to fill any blank period.4. While mentioning your achievements, your membership in a college table-tennis team may be mentioned if you are a fresh graduate. But after 25 years of professional experience this may be irrelevant, since you will have many career achievements to be listed.5. Do not keep a standard CV to be sent to all prospective employers. The emphasis will have to be different in tune with the nature of work expected from you.6. Never send photocopies of your CV. Computers can give you any number of originals.7. Remember that the CV of a person is a constantly growing phenomenon. It grows as you grow. So it will have to be updated periodically.8. If you have long experience in jobs, emphasize what you have done during the most recent ten years.9. Do not make any dishonest claims. Be careful when you mention a hobby; you should be able to answer an in-depth question on the subject during the interview. If you fail at that stage, it may create an impression that you are dishonest. It is certain that the CV will be before the interview board, when you are being tested.10. Whatever you indicate in the CV should be as far as possible in tune with the job requirements.11. You may give the names of two references who know you well, and who would honestly report in your favour if the company makes an enquiry about you. It is preferable to have persons of repute in your own profession as the referees. Do take the permission of the referees before you send their names.12. Check and recheck your draft to confirm that there is no error in spelling. No one would like his name or the name of his company misspelt. If necessary, show your draft to a knowledgeable person to correct errors in language.13. Write a simple but elegant cover letter.
Personal details
Name, home address, college address, phone number, email address, date of birth.
Do you have your own web homepage?
If your name does not obviously show if you are male or female, include this.

Education

Give places of education where you have studied - most recent education first. Include subject options taken in each year of your course. Include any special project, thesis, or dissertation work.
Pre-college courses (high school, etc.) should then be included, including grades. Subjects taken and passed just before college will be of most interest.

Work experience

List your most recent experience first. Give the name of your employer, job title, and very important, what you actually did and achieved in that job. Part-time work should be included.

Interests

They will be particularly interested in activities where you have leadership or responsibility, or which involve you in relating to others in a team. A one-person interest, such as stamp-collecting, may be of less interest to them, unless it connects with the work you wish to do. Give only enough detail to explain. (If you were captain of a sports team, they do not want to know the exact date you started, how many games you played, and how many wins you had! They will ask at the interview, if they are interested.) If you have published any articles, jointly or by yourself, give details.
If you have been involved in any type of volunteer work, do give details.

Key Skills

Summarise the things about you that are relevant to this role. You can present the information as a list of achievements. Give as much evidence as you can to suggest that you are suited to the career that you are pursuing.

References

Usually give two names - one from your place of study, and one from any work situation you have had. Or if this does not apply, then an older family friend who has known you for some time. Make sure that referees are willing to give you a reference. Give their day and evening phone numbers if possible.

Length

Maybe all you need to say will fit onto one sheet of A4. But do not crowd it - you will probably need two sheets. Do not normally go longer than this. Put page numbers at the bottom of the pages - a little detail that may impress.

Style

There are two main styles of CV, with variations within them.

Chronological

Information is included under general headings - education, work experience, etc., with the most recent events first.

ROLE OF SELF-SELLING IN JOB SEARCH

WE ALL WANT A CAREER WHETHER IN PRIVATE, GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP ETC. TO LEAD AN AFFORDABLE AND RESPECTABLE LIFE. MOST OF US DON'T KNOW HOW TO LOOK FOR JOBS. WE ARE NEVER TAUGHT HOW TO DO THIS. OUR TRAINING AND LIFE EXPERIENCE NEVER PREPARE US FOR IT.SOME PEOPLE WITH THE SAME OR LESS QUALIFICATION & KNOWLEDGE ARE WELL PLACED AND ADVANCE IN THEIR CAREER COMPARED TO OTHERS WITH HIGHER QUALIFICATION AND KNOWLEDGE. WE LEAVE IT TO LUCK BUT IN REALITY THESE PEOPLE HAVE MASTERED THE TECHNIQUE OF SELF-SELLING IN CAREER. EACH ONE OF US CAN DO IT AND THE NEED IS ONLY TO BE WELL AWARE OF THE CHANGING SCENARIOS OF THE JOB MARKET AND MASTER THE ART OF SELF-SELLING ALONG WITH ACQUIRING THE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE.IN THE WORLD OF JOB-HUNTING, YOU HAVE TO SELL YOURSELF BECAUSE THAT WILL (A) GET YOU IN FOR THE INTERVIEW AND (B) IT WILL ENABLE YOU TO PREVAIL OVER THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT YOU'RE COMPETING AGAINST. SELLING ONESELF IS BASIC TO ACTIVITIES SUCH AS WRITING A "KILLER" RESUME, WRITING GOOD COVER LETTER, NETWORKING SUCCESSFULLY, INTERVIEWING SO YOU GET THE JOB, AND NEGOTIATING THE BEST SALARY AND BENEFITS PACKAGE. ALL OF THESE ACTIVITIES INVOLVE SOME MEASURE OF PERSUASION, SOME MEASURE OF SELLING YOURSELF.SOME OF THE PEOPLE INITIALLY PUT OFF BY THE IDEA OF SELF-SELLING/MARKETING, IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. THEY HATE THE IDEA OF BEING PERSUADED; THEY FEEL THAT THERE IS SOMETHING INTRINSICALLY BAD ABOUT BEING INVOLVED IN ANY ACTIVITY THAT EMPLOYS PERSUASION AS A MEANS TO GAIN AN END.IN CONTRAST, WE NEED TO CONSIDER "GOOD" SELLING, WHICH IS A SKILL THAT CAN BE PRACTICED WITH INTEGRITY, SINCERITY AND NO LOSS OF PERSONAL WORTH OR ESTEEM. "GOOD" SELLING DOES NOT INVOLVE SLEAZY PRACTICES, OR LYING, OR UNDERHANDED METHODS. MOST PEOPLE EQUATE SELLING OR PERSUADING WITH THE WORD "BAD", WHICH IS A PREJUDICE IN ITSELF. IF IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE GOOD MARKETING MATERIALS THAT SUPPORTED THE SALESPERSON AND POSSESSING THE SKILLS TO USE THEM IN ORDER TO FINDING ENOUGH PROSPECTS TO HAVE A REASONABLE CLOSING RATIO, IT IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT HOW TO SELL TO GET A JOB.SOME POINTS OF SELF-SELLING PRACTICE ARE SUMMARIZED HERE AS:IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE SELF ESTEEMl & CONFIDENCEIT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN A POSITIVE, FORWARD-LOOKING FRAME OF MINDlTO HAVE AN EXCELLENT AND PERSUASIVE RESUME THAT SELLS YOU AS BETTERl QUALIFIED THAN THE NEXT PERSON, BEING ABLE TO WRITE GOOD COVER LETTERS, DEVELOPING A COLLECTION OF EXCELLENT PERSONAL MATERIALS AND STORIES THAT DESCRIBE YOUR ACHIEVEMENTSKNOWING HOW TO GIVE AN "ELEVATOR" SPEECH THAT EVOKES WHAT YOU WANT IT TOlTHE SELF-AWARENESS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE IMPRESSION YOU'RE MAKING ON OTHERS IS A FIRST STEP IN REVERSING THE TRENDlHAVING THE BASIC SKILLS TO INTERVIEW WELL (I.E., TO BE ABLE TOl DETERMINE WHAT THEIR "PROBLEM" IS AND HOW TO SELL YOURSELF AS THE FIXER OF IT)PROSPECTING BY NETWORKING FOR THESE "PROSPECTS" AND/OR VIA Al PRO-ACTIVE BROADCAST LETTER. STRIKING THE RIGHT CHORD EITHER THROUGH PERSONAL INTERACTION OR THROUGH E-MAIL OR THROUGH POST WITH THE EMPLOYER ALWAYS PAYSNETWORKING BY JOINING PROFE-SSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND GETTINGl INVOLVED WITH THEM, YOU MEET OTHERS WHO WORK AT OTHER COMPANIES AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.KNOWING HOW TO NEGOTIATE THE BENEFITS/SALARY PACKAGElIT OBVIOUSLY PAYS TO BE CREATIVE AND FLEXIBLElUNDERSTANDING THAT REJECTION WILL OCCUR REGULARLY IN THE JOB-HUNTING PROCESS AND NOT DE-MOTIVATE YOUlIT'S POSSIBLE TO LIMIT YOUR RANGE OF OPTIONS, AND BY THINKING THISl WAY, YOU CONSEQUENTLY LIMIT THE RANGE OF ACTIONS YOU TAKE. THAT, IN SHORT, LIMITS YOUR CHANCES OF FINDING A NEW JOBTAKING AN EARLY BREAK IS BETTER INSTEAD OF GOING ON FOR GETTINGl HIGHER QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE. PEOPLE ARE JOINING SERVICES AT THE INITIAL STAGE OF THEIR EDUCATION AND THEN MAKING BEST USE OF FACILITIES AVAILABLE IN THE ORGANIZATIONS TO IMPROVE THEIR QUALIFICATIONS AND TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE WITH ALL THE SERVICE BENEFITSTHERE IS NO USE OF STICKING TO ONE ORGANIZATION AND SWITCH OVER CAN BE MADE WHENEVER BETTER OPPORTUNITY COMES IN THE WAY.