Guidelines to write a CV

It happens all the time- you discover a job and apply, but you never get a response. Why? It's possible that it's a result of your resume. Furthermore, your CV may not meet the required standard.

A curriculum vitae (CV) is a one-page description of your qualifications and accomplishments. It's a document you'll almost certainly require when applying for jobs or internships.

For many people, writing a CV is a difficult task. You may improve your professional abilities and produce a CV that displays your main qualifications with a little practice and some helpful tips.

What is a CV?

Curriculum Vitae is the full version of CV, which means' course of life' (Latin phrase). A CV is a written overview of a person's career, qualifications, and education, according to Wikipedia. It's known as a resume in Canada and the United States. You can create an academic CV in the United Kingdom if you follow specific guidelines.

How to write a CV:

A decent student CV is a one-page document in which you define yourself, including your education, employment experience, languages you know, and hobbies.

If you want to create the ideal CV for university students, you may need to pay close attention to every last element.

Because your CV shows what you are capable of, you must write a perfect CV. You must make a positive first impression.

  • Focus on your academic strengths and achievements.

  • Should be well formatted

  • The content and length should not be ignored.

  • Avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes.

  • Use active verb and present tense.

  • Use professional email and contact details.

  • Don’t use any amplification words or sentences.

  • Online doesn’t need to post your house number or details.

Length of a CV:

A typical CV will never be overly long. The CVs of a high school student and a graduate student, for example, are not the same. However, you must use formal language to summarize your CV. If you're feeling secure, you should aim for two pages in your CV. You may find it challenging to summarize yourself on a single page. So keep this in mind and don't squander your valuable CV by including too much material; no one will read it!

Page setup:

You must concentrate on the font size (it should be 14-16pt for section titles, 11-12pt for normal text). To make it look formal, make sure there are enough margins and space between the words. Maintain a professional background color, uniform font size and colors, and consistent headings to demonstrate that you are preparing a comprehensive CV. Don't make it too colorful because it will be difficult to read. Can be used with Ubuntu, Roboto, Overpass, and other similar programs; however, it cannot be used with comic sense.

The applicant submits a curriculum vitae (CV) to the university. It must be simple to read, with proper spelling and grammar, a clear aim, necessary contact information, and relevant hobbies and talents.

An applicant’s CV should necessarily have the follow

  • First and second name –

  • Use your full name without any spelling mistakes, and don’t make it too short or too long.

  • Personal statement –

  • Try to give your personal statement about yourself, future plan, motive, and working plan shortly.

  • Full address –

  • While posting, mention your full address, if they have any quarries, they can send you a letter easily. However, online don’t give your full address, you can be targeted by frauds.

  • Email addresses –

  • Use your professional ID.

  • Phone numbers –

  • Mention your professional number not personal.

  • Date and place of birth –

  • An accurate birth date justifies your real age so don’t use fake.

  • Nationality –

  • If you are an international student or worker mention your own nationality, if you have another citizenship, do not forget to mention both.



  • Languages known –

  • If you know multiple languages, mention on your CV that you are a multi-lingual.

  • Education details –

  • The most important part of a CV is to give full educational details correctly, including schooling, college and graduation or post-graduation with your CGPA and year.

  • Work experience, if any-

  • If you have any part-time job experience or full-time experience, mention it with information. List your relevant work experience if any.

  • Additional skills and interests-

  • Your additional details like, you have IT skills, know different languages, design skills etc. mentioned on your CV.

  • Hobbies –

  • Reading, writing, travelling if you have any hobbies, you can shortly mention them.

  • Reference –

  • You can add some professional’s references to make a standard CV.

An Academic CV demands publications and presentations to be included along with the general information that all CVs contain. If you follow the steps, you can easily create a cv for the university application in the UK.

An Undergraduate CV depends on the individual applicant’s skills and experience. Don’t forget to follow the reverse chronological order while including any accomplishments. In other words, the most recent ones must be on the top. It will guide you on how to write an academic cv for undergraduates.

A Post-graduate CV should essentially have a personal statement, education details, your work experience, interests and any other additional information such as computer skills and languages are known to you.

Appropriate words:

Some appropriate words that should use in a CV, are-

  • Responsible

  • Hard-working

  • Reliable

  • Innovative

  • Confident

  • Accurate

  • Acceptable

Avoidable words:

Some words you should never use in a CV, such as-

  • Excellent communication skills

  • Good relation

  • Goal-driven

  • Multi-tasker

  • Highly expected

  • Self-motivated

  • Details oriented

  • Motivated

  • Followed

A Chronological Standard CV requires you to give the information under the headings such as education, work etc. and it should be in chronological order, the most recent ones to be listed first.

Format:

  • Don’t use any title in the CV, it is just a waste of space, your name can be your title.

  • All information should be in bold so that during the interview, the interviewer can pick up the information quickly.

  • While saving your CV on your CPU/laptop, don’t save it as ‘document -1/2’ or ‘my cv’, just use your name – ‘Christopher-CV’.

  • Sometimes, the company wishes to CV with cover later. In that case, the cover letter should be given with the CV, not separately.

  • If you print your CV, print on A4 size white paper, don’t use colour paper.

A CV at glance should look impressive. The presentation should be neat without any errors in spelling or language. Clearly mention your name and contact information.

Your most recent qualifications and experience should be mentioned first. Add your skills and accomplishments relevant to the course you have applied for.

A Perfect CV catches the attention of the reader at the first glance!