Your CV in Your CV in EnglishEnglish

“Experience is not what happens to a man, but what he does with what has happened to him.”

Aldous Huxley: Brave New World

ObjectivesObjectives• To underscore the importance of having a CV in

English in the international context;

• To give students the ability to analyze their own technical and generic skills, using specific past instances and details.

• To give students the ability to analyze situations in the future where their skills can be transferred.

• To write appropriately structured CVs which best matches the student’s skills and accomplishments to the employer.

What the CV should What the CV should showshow

• It shows you working

o Provide a picture of how you work and get things done

• It shows the problems you have dealt with

o How you handle problems which may be similar to those faced by the employer

• It shows your involvement

o Details of working, solving problems and reaching results which conveys your commitment to the job

 • It shows results you have reached

o Outcomes are important to show the employer personal growth has occurred, rather than “marking time.”

• It shows skills that will produce benefits

o Skills are not easy to identify. Your accomplishments and outcomes should make your skills stand out

• It shows that you can work internationally

o Demonstrate you can work and interact with many different cultures and nationalities

Adjectives that Adjectives that Describe the Person Describe the Person

you Areyou AreDetermined Precise

Diligent Ready and willing

Easy-going ResourcefulEffective ResponsibleEfficient Risk-takingEnergetic Self-confidentEnterprising Self-starting Fast SensitiveFlexible Sincere Friendly

Goal-oriented

Go-getting Street-smart Hard-workingSupportiveHelpful Thorough

Thoughtful

What are Skills?What are Skills?• Abilities you have developed through living

o sports, clubs, charity activities, traveling, scouts, hobbies, writing etc.

• Abilities you have developed through working

o Not just technical skills but human relations and problem solving skills

• Abilities you have developed through studying

o Documentary research, synthesizing data, structuring reports and working in teams.

Thinking SituationallyThinking SituationallyChecklist to analyze your generic skills to determine what you are particularly good at

• Solving problems

• On your own

• Communicating

• On the computer

• On the telephone

• Interacting with others

• At meetings

• On the team

• Heading the team

Create a Skill Create a Skill SummarySummary

• EXAMPLE

• ✔Playing as a team member

• ✔Acting tactfully

• ✔Being thought of as highly reliable and ‘somebody you can count on

• ✔Building on others’ ideas

• ✔Originating ideas

• ✔Seeing the value in older ways of doing things

• ✔Anticipating reactions of people and sensing whether they will

support a proposal

• ✔Showing patience with difficult or demanding people

• ✔Sensing on people’s feelings, reactions, and attitudes

Skill Discovery BoxSkill Discovery BoxMy Skill:

____________________________________________

Situations where I have already used this skill Situations in the future where I

might apply this skill

• ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Skill Discovery Box - Skill Discovery Box - ExampleExample

Situations in the future where I might apply this skill

• Quickly fitting in with a multinational team launching a hypermarket in Central Europe.

• Shifting from one project team to another without slowing down the new team.

• Taking over from an experienced team member and quickly learning his role.

Situations where I have already used this skill

• When enrolling as a member of the local Telethon Drive.

• When successfully taking part in a business school consulting project although I had come in from another school.

• Taking over for a salesman who was on summer vacation. Worked well with the other salesmen

Your AccomplishmentsYour Accomplishments

• 1. What was the challenge or the

problem to overcome?

• 2. What exactly did you do that you

are proud of?

• 3. What skills did you use?

• 4. What benefits were produced?

Job and Non-job Job and Non-job

AccomplishmentsAccomplishments• Bilingual medical interpreter at a two-day conference on the installation of a new research scanner at

the district hospital

• Carried out start-to-finish market research for variety of companies through our student-run

Marketing Service

• Designed a promotion leaflet, contacted professional magazines and planned an advertising campaign

• Designed the layout for and word-processed a student-published guide of the region

• Founded a student investment club at my school

• Raised sufficient funding to finance a short subject film festival

• Oversaw the organization of a series of conferences given by local business leaders at my

university

• Set up 3 local branches of the national Hunger Project in our region for collecting and distributing

free take-away meals to needy people

Job BreakdownJob Breakdown

• Summer 2005 COLA BOTTLING, INC.

Youngin, South Korea

Bottle Cleaning Machine Operator:

Supervised part of a bottling line to ensure smooth bottle flow. Ran checks on machine and reported faulty operation. Reduced breakdown rate.

Company Title and Field

Your own Job Title

Your general assignment

Your resultsProblem solving

Job BreakdownJob Breakdown• WORK EXPERIENCE

• Accounting Assistant: classified papers, worked on computers, entering

data about the customers

• Wine store summer manager and saleswoman: Co-managed a store:

assumed responsibility for summer operations.

• Bank clerk: Worked at the cash desk: keyed in withdrawals and deposits.

• Hostess and Organizer of yearly Theater Festival: Answered phone

calls and planned the appointments of the school director.

NOT ENOUGH D

ETAIL !

Action VerbsAction Verbs• Verbs dealing with information and analyzing

• Verbs dealing with obtaining and preserving resources

• Verbs dealing with operating and transforming, having to do with ‘roles’ or ‘functions’

• Verbs with ensuring outcomes, decisions, ‘deliveries’

• Verbs showing inventiveness, initiative and leadership

• Verbs dealing with working with people

Job Breakdown - Job Breakdown - Practice SheetsPractice Sheets

• General Assignment: ____________________________

• Main tasks carried out under this assignment:• ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________• The objectives involved in this assignment were to:• ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________• Problems and issues faced:• ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________• Outcomes and solutions:• ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

CV Structures ICV Structures I

CV Structures IICV Structures II

Four Basic CV Four Basic CV StructuresStructures

1. The Chronological CVUse - Jobs limited and in the same field – shows stabilityDon’t Use – Many jobs / Different Fields

2. The Skills or Experience Areas CVUse – To stress skills/experience directly – good for career starters or changers

3. The Abilities and Achievements CVUse – To stress abilities/achievements directly – good for candidates with great experience/technical skills in one field

4. The Letter/CV CombinationAlternative to the CV/Letter Package – Direct offer of services – IT/Internet Applications

CV Typing / CV Typing / Formatting / EffectsFormatting / Effects

NO YES

• Avoid italics • Avoid complex

punctuation • No parentheses• No photos or images • Avoid graphics, charts,

graphs

• Use simple sentences with present/past tenses

• Use periods and commas and colons

• Use Times/Serif Fonts or Arial/Helvetica Fonts

• Keep bullets as squares or circles

• Bold type for key words – Use in moderation

• Balance word density

An Unscannable CVAn Unscannable CVKeep the page

background white

Reduce the word density

Use Serif or Arial Fonts instead of

Handwriting

All CVs are typed

What to Include? IWhat to Include? IEducation

How do I make somebody in another country understand my qualifications?

• Write it in English!

• More interested in level of education and content rather than the

education system in your country.

• Always put the start and finish dates

• Avoid obscure abbreviations such as CAAE, IAE, ASG etc.

• Add “majors” to indicate specializations

What to Include? IIWhat to Include? IIWork Experience

o Paid work

What if I haven’t done any paid work experience?

Include any useful work that is relevant

Show start and finish dates

o Internships

o Voluntary work

o Part-time work

o Other non-job specific work experience

What to Include? IIIWhat to Include? IIILANGUAGES - Very important skill to work internationally

Not Enough Detail Great• LANGUAGES

• Korean: mother tongue

• English: fluent

• Japanese: excellent command

• Chinese: good command

• LANGUAGES

• Korean: Mother tongue

• English: Fluent. One year of study in an American High School. 90% of university reading in English-language textbooks. Many lectures in English in Korea.

• Japanese: Excellent command. Now studying in Japanese Business School, following all courses and writing reports in Japanese.

• Chinese: Good command. Many pleasure trips to China. Understand TV and radio. Can write simple letters.

What to Include? IVWhat to Include? IVSkills and Accomplishments

Special technical Skills

Microsoft Office, Desktop Publishing: Pagemaker, Photoshop. Research project for our Marketing Department carried out on Internet.

Accomplishments

Set up at data base to follow up the graduates from our Engineering School. Designed base and ran a team of volunteers to key in data.

Founded a sailing association. Organized and conducted training meetings.

Awards and Prizes

What to Include? VWhat to Include? VReferences

• Include referee’s current contact details such as address and telephone number.

• Include referee’s company name, job description and title.

• Referees should have known you for a lengthy period of time, generally for one-year or more.

What NOT to IncludeWhat NOT to Include• Only include ONE e-mail and mailing address

• Be aware of Political Correctness

• Avoid putting your age

• Avoid putting your birthday

• Avoid putting your birthplace

• Avoid Nationality

• Avoid Politics and Religion

• Avoid trying to say everything

• Avoid other family information

A CV is an ‘offering of skills to solve a company’s problems’