What is a Curriculum Vitae (CV)?

A CV is a brief account of a person's education, qualifications, and previous occupations, typically sent with a job application. (Source: Lexico) It's usually only one to two pages long.

It's your first chance to sell yourself as THE person to hire for a job. It's your first chance to stand out and make a great impression.

**another word for CV is resume. It's usually used in America, but is used in NZL as well.

***This is a Level 2 standard, worth 2 credits.

Why do a CV?

CVs are useful to help introduce yourself to a prospective employer (someone who might give you a job). It highlights:

• Your skills
• Your experiences
• Your education
• People who will say you are a great person to do the job

How do we do one?

Section One: Figuring out the job we're writing a CV for

The best CVs are specifically rewritten for specific job ads.

I am not joking when I tell you that I've read CVs for jobs at Waitara High School that say the wrong school or the wrong job. It's really important to tailor your CV to the job you are applying for - this is shown in the standard title "targeted CV".

It's important because it shows that you are paying attention to the details and that you are thinking about what you can bring specifically to the job.

So your first task is to find a job on Seek.co.nz that you might like to apply for and identify what skills they're looking for. Take a look at this video to help you understand what to do at this point.

TASK:

1. Use Seek.co.nz to find a job ad that you want to apply for. Save a copy of the ad as this is part of your assessment.
2. Highlight the key skills and attributes that the company is looking for in the advertisement.

** For this, it is probably best to copy and paste the ad into a Google Doc and then write the key skills and attributes that they're looking for as bullet points underneath the ad.

Task:

1. After watching the two YouTube videos, use your MyMahi to write your CV - there is a great template to help you and all you need to do is fill in the boxes.

2. Go back through what you've written and make sure that you have mentioned how you have the key skills and attributes that they are looking for in the job ad. **Be sure to give some examples of how you have those skills and attributes.

Section Three: Referees

Referees are people that your potential employer (the person who might hire you) ring to check to make sure that you are as awesome as you say you are in your CV.

You must ask the person before you put their name and number down and it's really important that you think carefully who you choose.

Who it can't be:

• a family member - everyone's mum is going to say nice things about them

Who it can be:

• a current boss - even if you're just babysitting the kids down the road , their parents are your boss.
• a teacher that you've had at school
• a sports coach

TASK:

1. Brainstorm who could be a possible referee for you

2. Ask at least TWO to be your referee for your CV

3. Write down their name, how they know you & their job title as well as their mobile number and email address.

Section Four: Editing

Editing is one of the keys to success - you want to show you can spell and use full stops and capital letters in the right places. All you can do is take the time to check that you've got everything right.

Task:

1. Use the tips on editing from this part of our English website to help perfect your CV.

Section Five: Layout and Formatting

This bit is about thinking about how stuff looks on the page. Remember that this is about first impressions so you want to think about how your layout and formatting looks. If you're using a template, as we are here, that takes care of the formatting so you won't have to worry about this too much.

Task:

1. MyMahi will take care of the layout and formatting for you, but it is important to check that the formatting looks good on the page and that nothing has spilled over to another page and split information that should actually be together.

Summary

• A CV's main job is to introduce you and your many great qualities to a prospective employer (someone who might give you a job) - it's your first impression and they will decide if they want to interview you based on your CV.
• The best CVs are written specifically for each job as that they are applying for - this is called targeting (or tailoring) your CV and shows that you're interested enough to do some homework and that you really want the job.
• CVs contain personal contact info, a personal statement, your educational and work experience histories as well as the names and contact details for at least TWO referees.
• Because CVs are a first impression, having accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar is important as well as having a great format and layout.

Assessment

• As you've gone through this website, you will have completed all the work needed for your CV. Here is a checklist to make sure that you email your teacher everything that is needed to achieve this standard:
  • Job ad
  • What skills and attributes the job is asking for
  • Your CV with:
    • Your personal contact details
    • Your personal statement that clearly uses some of those key word skills and attributes from the job ad
    • Your experience - especially how you meet the key skills and attributes from the job ad
    • Your education
    • Your skills and attributes and how they relate to the job ad
    • At least TWO referees
    • Correct spelling, punctuation and grammar
    • Consistent layout and format