It’s time to find a job. Hundreds of candidates applying for the same job offer as you. It seems almost impossible to move on to the next phase and get hired. What is the solution?
A resume that leaves behind to any other applicant. I know what you think: “It is said easy, but it is not so simple with so many prepared people competing for the same position.”
Stay until the end, and you will learn how to make a superior resume that of most competitors, regardless of your profile, the company, and the position you apply for. You will get more interviews, and you will be closer to being part of the workforce.
With this guide, you will see step by step how to make a CV that really gets you a job. Do you want to go directly to what you are looking for? See the menu below to go to the section you need:
- What a resume is and why you need to make a perfect CV
- Example of how to make a curriculum vitae
- Types of CV
- Tips before you start writing
- How to make a curriculum vitae step by step:
- Name and profession
- Contact information
- Excerpt: professional profile or professional objective
- Work experience
- Academic training
- Skills and aptitudes
- Languages
- Additional information
What a resume is and why You Need to Make a Perfect CV
The curriculum vitae, also known as a CV, is a document in which the professional trajectory and the most important data about the job to be applied are summarized. The goal of a resume is to show that we are the most suitable person for the job and go to the interview.
And why is it so important that it be perfect?
Think about how saturated the job market is.
Human resources departments receive so many CVs that they don’t even know where to start.
But there is good news.
Most candidates keep making the same mistakes when it comes to writing a resume:
- Misspellings
- Do not customize the resume
- Lack of objectives
- Bad organization
- Lack or excess of information
To name a few.
You don’t need to show that you are a superhuman. Just follow the basic rules, avoid the above mistakes, and you will go from being among hundreds of candidates to being the candidate.
To get started, let’s look at an example of a perfect resume from a normal candidate. What do you think makes it so good?
Example of How to Make a Curriculum Vitae
Francisco Ávalos Viela
Administrative Receptionist
Contact Information
Extramuros, 15
28440 Guadarrama
Phone
712 487 915
Administrative professional with experience in telephone attention and general organization between different departments. I seek to develop myself in a consolidated company such as Meditempus and contribute to an efficient follow-up of the orders for the office.
Work Experience
Administrative Receptionist
Schmidt Cocinas – Madrid
March 2017 – November 2019
- Administrative and organizational support of 7 departments
- Face-to-face and telephone service to more than 40 clients per week
- Communication with suppliers of material and equipment for the office
- Advice to more than 10 new employees
Key Achievements
- Team travel management, reducing costs by 15%
- Reduction of the time needed for administrative tasks in a 20%
Receptionist
Liberty Work – Madrid
January 2015 – February 2017
- Attention and reception of 30 clients per week
- Preparation of invoices over €500
- Daily communication by telephone with clients employees and workers
- Management of orders by email
- Positive evaluation of clients with an average of 4.6 out of 5
Academic Training
Training cycle in administrative management
IES Ángel Corella, Madrid
September 2013 – June 2015
Compulsory Secondary Education
IES Clara del Rey, Madrid
September 2009 – June 2013
Skills
- Communication skills
- Accounting
- Troubleshooting
- Coordination
- Proactivity
- Mastery of the Google suite
- Flexibility
Languages
Additional Information
Availability to work from January.
CV types
Decision-making begins. Depending on how your career has been so far, you can order the parts of your resume differently. The order of the factors does alter the product.
| CV Chronological | Functional CV | Combined CV |
|
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Skills and Achievements
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What is the big difference between them? The focus.
It is essential to know what the focus or strengths of our profile are so that they occupy a large part of the body in the curriculum.
- The CV Chronological focuses on the career path and the most relevant education for the job offer.
- The functional CV focuses on the extract with your professional goals, added to your skills at the time of work.
- The combined CV will focus on professional skills and achievements, in addition to work experience.
Depending on your strengths and weaknesses with your career you can choose one or the other. Basically, for most cases, the most common is to use a chronological resume.
If you’re going through a long period of inactivity, you want to change your professional field or your career path is difficult to explain in the curriculum, you can opt for the functional or combined curriculum.
On the other hand, if your profile is more like a student, someone with a basic level, or a worker with a medium level of experience, the chronological curriculum will be the best option. Do you want to know more about the different CV formats? Take a look at our guide curriculum vitae types: practical examples and templates.
Tips before you start writing
Patience little grasshopper. We don’t want to spend time on a resume and then have to completely redo it. Before to start creating your CV, you must take into account the following details:
- Size matters: Adjust the letter of your CV around 11 for the text, for the titles or sections you can increase it to 14. 2.5 cm spacing, leaving additional space between sections.
- Take care of the letter: Use clear fonts such as Arial, Change, or Garamond. These will be easy to read, not only by recruiters but also by recruiters.
- Size does not matter so much: Ideally, your resume should not take up more than one page. However, if you have a lot of experience and information that you consider really relevant for the position you are looking for, do not hesitate to expand your CV as you need.
- Do not forget the photo in your CV: Go to a study photographic and take a photo in conditions. Avoid photos taken with the mobile or in informal situations.
- Use Keywords: Also known as Keywords among the most modern. These are specific terms that are strongly related to our professional field, sector, or requirements established by the company. They are essential, both to get the recruiter’s attention and to pass automatic selection scanners (ATS). 75% of CVs fail this test, according to Lee Hecht Harrison.
- Clear, uncluttered, and easy to read: Try to make your CV easy to understand. Think that the recruiter may not have a very broad knowledge of your professional field. Make him understand. Avoid paragraphs saturated with information and summarize your data with diagrams or by points.
Pro Tip: Try not to repeat data in the curriculum. Each section should focus on different aspects of your profile.
How to make a curriculum vitae step by step
Everything has a method. To make a CV that makes us stand out above any candidate and go to the interview, we must pay attention to the details and follow the following tips for your curriculum.
Name and Profession
As if a part of you outside, the name of your profession will follow your name and surname. Ideally, your profession and the position to which you are going to apply should be the same.
If you are changing your profession, have no experience, or have a complicated career, you can use the formula “applying for the position of… (name of a job offer)”.
Pro Tip: Avoid writing “Resume” at the beginning of it. Obviously, from the context and design of the CV, the recruiter will know that it is a CV and not a Telepizza brochure.
CORRECT
Julio Delgado Torres
Applying for the Hygiene Technician position
INCORRECT
Julio Delgado Torres
Applying for the cleaner position
Avoid wearing a casual style and try to use the technical name of the profession.
Contact information
Be easy to locate. You do not need to send a key to your house attached. However, your email, telephone, and address are essential.
Contact information in a resume: example
INCORRECT
Address
Rúa de San Pedro, 71
377 95 Pizarral
Telephone
604 247 064
Alex_elcrack @ hotmail.com
Your email address is a detail that can make the difference between looking professional or looking pitiful. Your email can have your name, acronym, year of birth… but avoid colloquial words.
Do you have experience in the position you are looking for? Write a brief description of your professional profile, with your most important achievements. Don’t you have experience in the position you are applying for? Start by talking about what your goals are within the company. Read our guide on the personal description in the resume.
How to make a resume: examples of professional objectives
If you’re looking to take a step up in the hospitality industry, you shouldn’t settle for a summer-only job. Look for ambitious goals that can also benefit the company.
Work experience
Time to put all the meat on the grill. When explaining your professional history, try to comply with the following points:
- Each job title that you include must have the name of your position, company, city, start, and end date. In that order.
- Add 4-6 points explaining your most relevant tasks, responsibilities, and achievements within each company.
- Use numbers. Try to count your most relevant responsibilities, tasks, and achievements. The recruiter has to get an idea of what you are capable of.
How to make a resume: examples of work experience
Waiter
Eurofirms – Valencia
2015 – 2019
- Responsible for serving 50 tables with A group of 10 waiters
- Taking 100 weekly orders
- Charging from customers, both in cash and by card
- Customer service in English and German
Key achievements
- Successful training of 5 waiters
- Improvement of Tripadvisor ratings up to 4.6 points
Try adding more information to each point. Using numbers, the recruiter will be able to better understand your level as a professional.
According to studies by the Michael Page agency, one of the most undervalued data by job candidates is the name of the different positions reached within a company. So don’t forget this, in addition to any other information that may be of interest to the recruiter.
Academic training
“Titulitis” is still the order of the day. If you have a relevant title for your profession, don’t forget to include it. If in the job description they ask for minimum requirements such as ESO or a degree, do not forget to include them.
How to put Education in the Curriculum
CORRECT
Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering
UAM – Madrid
2014 – 2018
INCORRECT
Degree in computer engineering
UAM – Madrid
2014 – 2018
Bachelor of Science
La Inmaculada – Madrid
2016 – 2018
Secondary education
IES San Mateo – Madrid
2012 – 2016
If you have a university degree or another type of higher education, data such as secondary education or high school is no longer relevant. On the other hand, if your training is basic and the requirements include high school or an intermediate degree, feel free to add it.
Skills and aptitudes
There are two types of skills: hard and soft. Hard skills would be the skills and technical knowledge related to our particular profession.
On the other hand, soft skills could be known as the more generic personal skills and professional qualities (but also necessary) that can be related to many professions. Communication, teamwork, or proactivity would be some examples.
Examples of skills and aptitudes in the CV
CORRECT
- Programming in Java, Python, C
- Photoshop, Adobe FX
- Project management with Clarizen, Celoxis
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Proactivity
INCORRECT
- Programming in Java, Python, C
- Photoshop, Adobe FX
- Project management with Clarizen, Celoxis
Although general skills may seem less important, more and more companies are looking to profiles that have them, since the use of a program or a tool can be learned relatively easily, while other skills such as teamwork or initiative are not so easy to transmit.
Try to include both technical skills of your profession and more personal skills. If you don’t know what to put in a CV, take a look at our list of skills and abilities according to your profile.
Languages
Sarcasm does not count as a language. You have to speak more languages and know how to translate them into your CV.
How to put your language level on the curriculum: examples
Some people speak languages and others that “speak languages”. Don’t forget to define your level in each language that you are going to include instead of just naming them.
Additional information (optional)
The finishing touch. Is there anything else that the company needs to know about you and you don’t know how to include in the CV?
This is the time to put data of interest such as your level of availability (by dates or time), certificates or cards (driver’s license, food handler), volunteers, hobbies or include any other data that may be relevant to the position.
How to add additional information to the resume
CORRECT
- Immediate availability.
- Possibility of working from Monday to Saturday
- Driving license B1
INCORRECT
- Member of political party X
- Volunteer in religious association Y
Try to keep private aspects like religion and politics off your resume.
Pro Tip: If you don’t have any additional information important or relevant to the position, you can skip this section, explain it later during the interview or through a cover letter.
In Summary
- A curriculum vitae is a summary of our essential professional career when looking for a job.
- When making a CV, we can choose between a chronological, functional, or combined structure.
- We must take care of all aspects of the letter:
- Size 11 (14 for titles)
- Recommended font: Arial, Change or Garamond
- Line spacing of 2’5 cm
- The information must be clear, orderly, and easy to read.
- The fields that we can include in our CV are the following:
- Name and position
- Contact information
- Extract
- Work experience
- Academic training
- Skills
- Languages
- Additional information
