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If you are used to applying for jobs or even very short term contracts like translation jobs, you will doubtlessly be aware of having to compose a resume, which is also called a curriculum vitae (CV). Many people have a difficult time with composing their CV and this is not surprising because there are many different methods of composing one. In this piece, we will take a look at composing a CV

All we employees have a history. We all went to school and we all have had jobs, the disparity being how long we went to school, how long we have been working and what we have been working at. The art of writing a winning CV is how best to present that history so that you put yourself in the best possible light without misrepresenting yourself.

The first thing to do, even before you start looking for a job, is to write down everything you have done of any importance in the best date order that you can remember. This is obviously easier for some than for others but it is important to get the time line as accurate as possible, because future mistakes might be seen by prospective employers as fibs and that is the last thing that you want.

Now you can start searching for a job, although you have not written your CV yet. But you are prepared. The thing is, you cannot write a good CV unless you know who is going to be reading it. Your CV is the story of your working and educational life and you are not able to compose a good one until you know what your target audience is.

You would not write a steamy novel for children and you would not write a fairytale for adults. Try to look at it from the employer’s point of view. If you are 45 years old, most employers would think it irrelevant that you went grape picking in France in the autumn when you were 16.

However, it may not be irrelevant if you were displaying a longterm interest in the French language so that you could get work as a translator. Similarly, it is better for a young person to put that fact in than an older person, because it shows a willingness to work on behalf of the younger person.

They say that there are about 28 people applying for every job in the UK now and I bet it is far more if the job is a decent one, so you can imagine the boss sitting there, the phone ringing every ten minutes, people asking questions, routine tasks needing to be done AND he or she is short staffed (hence the vacancy) AND there is a stack of job application forms (CV’s) to read through.

You would like yours to stand out for the right reasons. You want the boss to be able to scan down the page and think that was clear and simple. Luckily, the days are gone when handwriting was an an issue, although for some jobs an extremely well hand-written CV would still be very striking, but I have not seen beautiful hand-writing for decades, so stick with the word-processor.

A very short covering letter should introduce your CV, only to make it obvious what you are applying for. I would attach that to the CV with a paper clip, so that it may be easily discarded. Then the CV:

Name Address Tel No Email

Relevant Qualifications:

Previous Work Experience:

Leave white space to render the page easily readable, perhaps one blank line between data in a section and two between sections. Use a clear font of readable size (10-12). I like 12 because I am able to read it without my specs.. Begin qualifications with the highest most relevant and experience from the last job and work down.

Try to keep everything on one page, but do not cheat to do it by squashing lines up and decreasing the font. Try not to make the boss curse you before you have even met each other!

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on quite a number of topics, but is at present concerned with Professional Translation Services. If you want to know more go to our web site at Real Translator Jobs Advice.