Giving Your CV the Final Touch

CV is valuable and important because it is your first and maybe only direct communication with a potential employer, In order to help you make a good impression here we have brought some CV Tips to help you achieve the goal.

Those who have missed our previous blogs can read them below

1. Writing a Winning CV Headline

2. Core Competencies and Career Synopsis

3. Work Experience

4. Education

5. Training and Development

6. Short Term Jobs and Gaps in your CV

7. Formatting Your CV

Today we move into the finale of our CV Writing Series with our final topic

“Giving the Finishing touches to your CV”

No Need for References

Share when asked. This goes for your interview(unless it is a Selling point USP) or in this subheading. There is no need to give information when not required. If the hiring manager is interested, he/ she will ask you. If it always good to have 2-3 professional references ready. Your reference must be your reporting manager, hiring manager / HR person with access to your information, your head of department, or top management. References of family, friends, or colleagues are not professional references. A client or in certain cases a vendor or supplier may be a reference depending on your job.

Read your CV Thoroughly

Read your CV multiple times. You may want to get feedback from your HR network or recruiter or even have a family member or friend proofread it. No need to change unless you feel so and if there is consistent feedback on the same point. Thoroughly check for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

If you feel your CV is too long then read this.

Use a PDF

Once you have completed your CV, save it as a PDF file. Also, email it to yourself and your friends to see how it appears before using it professionally. Sometimes saving a Word doc in PDF or Google Doc to  PDF causes chaos in CV formatting and you do not want this to be sent to prospective employers. Always email or present your CV in PDF format.

Smart Name your CV

I have seen so many CVs saved as CV.doc or CV.pdf or XYZresume.pdf. Very ordinary naming style. Use your name to save your CV or even the month and year you prepared it e.g “Dinesh Dsouza” or “The CV of Dinesh Dsouza” OR “Dinesh Dsouza - September 2020” OR “Dinesh Dsouza – Recruitment Manager”. These can be more meaningful CV names.

Keep Updating your CV

Your CV must be constantly updated. Every time you change your job, have a new work responsibility added, attend a seminar or training or upgrade your skills and educations, you must update your CV. You show initiative and activity and you can promptly send it when required rather than wasting time when urgently required.

This completes our CV Writing Blog Series. Join me next as we begin a series on

"How to Prepare for Interviews".