Constructing a CV

Part 2.

1. Make sure you know the following words and word expressions:

To contravene; equal opportunity legislation; to reject a candidate; on grounds of ethnicity; a head and shoulders shot; to skim a ré sumé; degree subject; to provide a quality service to customers; to deal tactfully with complaints; routine, non-people tasks; to relate the skills to the job; analytical and problem solving skills; passive, solitary hobbies; a range of interests; to come across as narrow; a little out of the ordinary; to stand out from the crowd; evidence of leadership; to show evidence of employability skills; to summarise one’s career history; to leave out important items; to put yourself across concisely; bulleted lists.

2. Read and translate the text B:

Constructing a CV

The survey of employers found that the following aspects were most looked for:

Personal details.

Normally these would be your name, address, date of birth (although with age discrimination laws now in force this isn't essential), telephone number and email.

British CVs don't usually include a photograph unless you are an actor. In European countries such as France, Belgium and Germany it’s common for CVs to include a a passport-sized photograph in the top right-hand corner whereas in the UK and the USA photographs are frowned upon as this may contravene equal opportunity legislation - a photograph makes it easier to reject a candidate on grounds of ethnicity, sex or age. If you do include a photograph it should be a head and shoulders shot, you should be dressed suitably and smiling: it's not for a passport!

Education and qualifications. Some employers may spend as little as 45 seconds skimming a ré sumé before branding it “not of interest”, “maybe” or “of interest. Your degree subject and university, plus A levels and GCSEs or equivalents.

Work experience. Use action words such as developed, planned and organised.

Even work in a shop, bar or restaurant will involve working in a team, providing a quality service to customers, and dealing tactfully with complaints. Don't mention the routine, non-people tasks (cleaning the tables) unless you are applying for a casual summer job in a restaurant or similar.

Try to relate the skills to the job. A finance job will involve numeracy, analytical and problem solving skills so focus on these whereas for a marketing role you would place a bit more emphasis on persuading and negotiating skills.

Don't use the old boring cliches here: " socialising with friends". Don't put many passive, solitary hobbies (reading, watching TV, stamp collecting) or you may be perceived as lacking people skills. If you do put these, then say what you read or watch: " I particularly enjoy Dickens, for the vivid insights you get into life in Victorian times".

Show a range of interests to avoid coming across as narrow: if everything centres around sport they may wonder if you could hold a conversation with a client who wasn't interested in sport. Hobbies that are a little out of the ordinary can help you to stand out from the crowd: skydiving or mountaineering can show a sense of wanting to stretch yourself and an ability to rely on yourself in demanding situations.

Any evidence of leadership is important to mention: captain or coach of a sports team, course representative, chair of a student society, scout leader. Anything showing evidence of employability skills such as team working, organising, planning, persuading, negotiating etc.

Skills. The usual ones to mention are languages (good conversational French, basic Spanish), computing (e. g. " good working knowledge of MS Access and Excel, plus basic web page design skills" ) and driving (" full current clean driving license" ).

References. Normally two referees are sufficient: one academic (perhaps your tutor or a project supervisor) and one from an employer (perhaps your last part-time or summer job).

How long should a CV be? There are no absolute rules but, in general, a new graduate's CV should cover no more than two sides of A4 paper. If you can summarise your career history comfortably on a single side, this is fine and has advantages when you are making speculative applications and need to put yourself across concisely. However, you should not leave out important items, or crowd your text too closely together in order to fit it onto that single side. Academic and technical CVs may be much longer: up to 4 or 5 sides.

Our brains love lists: they create a reading experience with more easily acquired information. We process lists more efficiently, and retain information with less effort. Bulleted lists appeal to our tendency to categorize things since they divide information into short, distinct items.

But don't bullet everything on your CV or it will look boring! Bulleted lists are great for lists of skills or interests but are necessarily limited in content and nuance, and so contain less depth than paragraphs. Use tables with two or three columns for your academic results and references.

3. Make up proper sentences using the words from the table:

1.	A photo	to be put	on a single side
2.	Degree subject and university	to be divided	in a top right-hand corner
3.	Working in a team	must be included	into short, distinct items by bullets
4.	Non-people tasks	must be related	in a CV
5.	Skills	must be mentioned	even in work in a shop
6.	For a marketing role a bit more emphasis	to be included	unless you are applying for a casual summer job
7.	Your career history	to be involved	to the job
8.	Information	should be summarised	on persuading and negotiating skills

4. Match the English words with their Russian equivalents:

1.	To skim a resume	Случайная работа на лето
2.	Working in a team	Навыки решения проблем
3.	Casual summer job	Быть воспринятым как
4.	To focus on numeracy	Сделать немного больше акцента на чем-либо
5.	Problem solving skills	Работа в команде
6.	To place a bit more emphasis on sth	Сложные ситуации
7.	Old boring cliché s	Сосредоточиться на способности к количественному мышлению
8.	To be perceived as	Достаточные ссылки
9.	To center around sport	Просматривать резюме
10.	To hold a conversation with a client	Проявить некое желание к саморазвитию
11.	To show a sense of wanting to stretch oneself	Способность полагаться на себя
12.	An ability to rely on yourself	Вести разговор с клиентом
13.	Demanding situations	Старые скучные клише
14.	Sufficient references	Сосредоточиться вокруг спорта

 

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