Getting the most out of your CV

Personals details

Make it easy to contact you: clearly state your email address and phone number.

These are personal details, not intimate: no National or Foreigner ID card numbers, no marital status, no children, no age etc.

If you have them, include your social network profiles in order to expand the information.

A photo is optional.

Training and education

Highlight your skills.

The title of any training can be in bold so it's easier to see it at first glance. Start with what you have studied and then the centre where you studied and the city.

You can use links to extend the information.

The year can go either at the beginning or at the end.

Structure the training according to your goal.

Do not forget about complementary training related to your goal, such as congresses, conferences, workshops, short courses, etc. In this case, it is advisable to indicate the length in hours.

It is not necessary to make a complete and exhaustive list: select the key and most relevant skills for the place of work where you are applying.

Experience

Highlight what you know how to do.

Prioritise that which relates to the future workplace.

Detail your experience: describe the tasks and functions of each job.

Some tips:

• You can include work experience in organizations, paid or otherwise, related to the profession.
• Mark the work position in bold and/or underlined and not the company.
• Describe real tasks and functions from your day to day experience. Choose the 3 or 4 most relevant ones.
• Use action verbs and/or nouns; do not write in first person.
• You can incorporate outstanding achievements and projects, etc.

Languages

List the languages in which you can work.

Some tips:

• Be honest, as they might make you take a test.
• Make use of knowledge levels and type of use: fluent, advanced, medium, basic.
• Include times spent abroad or whether you have used the language in previous jobs.
• State any official qualifications if you have them.
• This does not necessarily have to go after training and/or experience.

IT

Show your skills.

Indicate work tools.

Some tips:

• You can list the tools, software, and devices you use frequently and which are most relevant to the job vacancy.
• Avoid concepts like "user level": it is preferable that you use "initial, middle or advanced level".
• If your job requires digital skills, group your knowledge by area.

• The order of the CV may vary
  Do you want to highlight your experience? Put it before your training. You can structure the CV in the way you want, as long as your professional profile is well presented.
• Use a consistent format
  If you organise the information from most current to the oldest, do the same in all sections.
• You can have different CV
  They will represent the different professional goals that you have set yourself.
• Use graphic resources
  Highlight the information and make reading easier using bold, bullet points, pictures and icons.
• Take care with spelling
  State the information in a specific and orderly way.
• Try not to exceed two pages
  Brevity is a virtue that makes reading easier and gives impact.
• Adapt your CV
  Review the job vacancy you want to apply for and highlight those things that add more value to your application.

Professional objective

Indicate what it is that you want to do.

The professional objective must be specific, motivating and consistent with the rest of your CV.

It can be placed in the header just below your personal details. This allows your profile to be located quickly.

Competences

Demonstrate how you work by explaining your abilities, attitudes and aptitudes when it comes to carrying out a professional activity.

Your skills provide information about what type of person you are and how you work.

Interests

These are the areas or fields of knowledge which you are interested in.

They say a lot about what you like and what motivates you.

Do not confuse them with your professional objective; this is a different section that adds to your profile.

Other

Here you can put non-work experiences or place them in the experience section if they are in line with your professional objective.

You can include hobbies, associations, voluntary activities, achievements and personal projects.