Arina Butorina

A good CV is the first step to a new professional life. It brings new opportunities and opens new horizons. A well written, customized CV can help you to get a job you’ve always craved for and bring you to heights you have never dreamed about. You might be thinking ”What can be easier than writing a CV?” Sitting down for an hour listing your education, work experience, contact details, adding a picture on it, sending it to a couple of companies, and done!

Let’s be honest and admit that it’s quite annoying and even boring to sit for hours and hours improving your CV. Does it really make sense if you already have a Master’s degree, wide-ranging work experience and you speak five languages? It definitely does. Even the most perfect thing has to be sold in a right way. As a person who receives quite a lot of CVs on a daily basis, I would like to share five simple tips which will help you to write the CV of your dreams.

Prepare a cup of coffee, sit down, log out from Facebook and open a Word document. Imagine that you are writing an exam: stay focused and try not to let your thoughts wander. Your CV is you, expressed on paper. The time you dedicate to writing a CV will bring you greater success in the end.

Take some time for deciding the format and the layout of your CV. I’m not saying that you need to put sparkles on it but try to make it look visually beautiful. At least it should be well organized and structured that the person receiving it won’t have any difficulties with reading it.

Don’t forget that a CV is an official document. When choosing your photo, don´t cut your face off from a group picture with friends while someone is hugging you; it will make you look very strange. Take a formal picture wearing a shirt or a suit. You should look as professional as possible.

Spend some time reading the website of the company you want to send your CV to. Google is a great help as well. Try to customize your CV to the company profile. The person who will read it will take notice and appreciate your effort, which will increase your chances of getting the job of your dreams.

The cover letter is the first impression you give to a recruiter. Write about your strengths and skills; exactly why you should be chosen for the position. And don´t forget to provide proof of everything you say in the cover letter!

Personally, last time I applied for a job I spent hours writing and formatting my CV. What was the result? The desired outcome, of course:  I´m now working for Talent Search People and extremely happy about it!