Things that your CV should contain!

To tailor what you might call a 'perfect' curriculum vitae (CV), or rather resume (a more concise version of a CV), there is a lot of hassle involved in the articulation process. And no matter how aesthetically or prolifically you design, it can never meet to be the best for every HR that it meets and is bound to be subject to negotiable remarks for certain aspects of it might feel revolting, while certain so very exaggerating for the recruiter. It is difficult to find an intermediate, or rather what must be said, is that there is no intermediate a stage. But a resume must be made! Therefore, let me allow you to help surf through these considerations and build a prototype for what you might call a nearly perfect resume. 

Format: Your resume must look formal. That's it. Formal is the word. It must not look like a scrapbook or an engineering encyclopedia. It must be very strictly maintained that the font is properly readable and the text is aligned with respect to points. Use an alignment system wherever necessary. If you use MS Word on Windows 10 you will find proper resume formats inbuilt which you can use. You can also find other very appealing formats across the web on Google search SEO lists. 

Things that should be included: 

1. Nicely articulated profile 

The profile on your resume is the most important thing as it is the first thing that catches the attention of the supervisor leading to form an impression about you, therefore, it must be so precisely built as to create just the perfect impression of you for the supervisor. Starting with your name (better highlighted), address and contact details, your profile must also contain a short bio reflecting a minor impression of yourself for the recruiter. It must be short, limited to three or four lines at max, and must be written in very simple terms. Plagiarism check must be applied. A bio can also be a quote from some famous personalities or author or speaker, if that quote is able to describe about you elaborately, but you must keep in mind to apply credit to the concerned. 

Your address must be the full address of where you live, including PinCode number and the name of the district and state as well. Your contact details must contain a contact number and a mail ID. If you happen to have a blog or website where you are fairly active and it has quality-effecient posts then you can add a section for it and include the link to it below your contact details. No social media profile links must be attached in here. 

You can add another section below your profile as hobbies where you can put the things you have a very good understanding of and exhibit them carefully. You can add things like sports, reading, writing, gaming, etc in here. 

A picture of you at the very top, not very big, neither very small, is very helpful. 

2. Education 

The next piece of the puzzle is your educational qualifications that basically covers your entire academic profile. Enter your secondary, higher secondary and then graduation status. You must give the name of your institution and major subjects of study (commerce, arts, science for school level while your topic of graduation in college level), followed by your CGPA/Percentage. Mention your passing year and duration of study (college). For the degree you are currently pursuing you must give your average GPA uptil now. Indenting and highlighting can be very useful in presenting this section in relative parts. 

3. Skills

The next section you can allot to your skills and how very advanced you are in them respectively. You can add all the things you excel at, including distinctive applications on a computer, naming them individually. You can start by those (DBMS, SQL, MS Office, Coding) and then enter slowly into the freelance qualities you happen to have which includes the likes of content management, graphic designing, Android App development, Web Dev, ethical hacking, etc. You can add elaborative qualities about you as well that any project manager will want in thier teams, like teamwork, leadership, etc. 

To know more about the top 5 freelancing departments in demand, click here. 

If you haven't gotten a real go at any of these you should try out these sites that basically teach you these courses for free: 

1. Great Learning 

2. Devsnest

You can check out other platforms as well which are extremely good but will charge a little amount from you: 

1. Internshala

2. Udemy

You can add, after these, your most fervent subject(s) of study. It can be quantum physics, astrophysics, thermodynamics, or other esteems from other lines of study. Remember this is to set up the HR to get to know more of how avid you are academically. Also know that you might be asked a greàt deal from this subject, especially if it happens to be a part of your syllabus. You can ignore this bit if you do not wish to be invigilated. 

After these, you could add your athletic skills: cricket, football, any outdoor sport or athletic event you are avid about, and skilled as well. You can add your extra-curricular hobbies in here as well which includes the likes of painting, sketching, gaming, writing, YouTube video creation, other video creations, etc. 

This section is clearly designed to show the HR that you know about the outside world as well and are not just another product of 'Kota Factory', i.e., In Jeetu bhaiya's words: you know who won IPL and which celebrity is getting married to whom. No one likes a Newton unless you're actually 'Newton'. Do not pull this list too long as it shouldn't overshadow your relevent skills in what the HR actually came here to look for. 

4. Internships 

This area contains all the internships you have done during your time; paid, unpaid, whatever. You must only include those internships for which you have a signed certificate from the company you worked under, otherwise the entry is invalid. All these certifcates must go behind your resume. Your internships must be listed (numbering format in ascending order of date is preferred). A single section must contain the name of the company, it's address, the duration of time you worked, your role as an intern and what experience you gained if it. Inclusions such as stipend, etc are optional. 

5. Work Experience

This should not be a very friendly section for us, because as a college student you cannot be expected to have quite a good experience at any sort of work; but if you have, then in this section you can add all the places you have worked as a part-timer, irrespective of your time involvement or subject. If you have done any half-internships you can very well include it here (provided you must be having an offer letter from the respective company). 

Your projects does not fit in here: there must be a special category for it. You can exclude this section if you have nothing to show for. Do not exaggerate about anything: that's what turn down most HRs. 

6. Projects 

This is a very important part of your CV. Your projects include any kind of artistic (hobby or otherwise) or educational/academic assessment you have completed solely or been an integral part of. By simple definition, a project stands out to be an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. That's all that it is. Show in description what the project was about after you have included the title, subject and your co-workers' names (if any). Briefly describe the aim and objectives of the thing as you would do in a report. State what experience you gained of it and howsoever it profited you to grow. Mention your mentor (if any) and outlay how they helped you in the process. List all projects in ascending of date, preferably, or otherwise. 

7. Relevant Certificates. 

Yeah, the title of this point really speaks for itself, now doesn't it?! 🙂 So, yeah, include all your certificates, relevant so, into the back of your CV. And there's your CV ready! 

What's the difference between a CV and a resume? 

A CV is basically everything that you can talk about yourself, and in the back of it you must include all files and documents that you can that avouches for your CV, like certificates, letters, important documents, grade cards, etc. A resume on the other hand is a very short, very concise and precise manifestation of your CV highlighting mainly the main points. Often the two are used in place of each other, implying mostly a CV as we now know it. 

How are projects different from internships? 

A project is very different from an internship. You may want to call an internship as a project you have done on yourself to improvise your skills at a particular work. When you imply those skills to perform a work, that is your aim is to directly and infallibly provide the objectives rather than learn about how to do so, that's when it becomes a project. 

Image Credits: Google 

Written by: Dibyendu Maji