The dos and don’t when preparing your CV

A CV is a marketing tool to market yourself. It is important for job seekers to continue updating their CVs to reflect the skills employers are looking for now.

Peter Kriel, General Manager at The Independent Institute of Education, outlines these skills and explains how job seekers can demonstrate that some of the challenges they overcame while working or studying through lockdown correspond with employers’ new requirements.

“The logistics of the workplace during Covid has cast a spotlight on a number of skills which previously were nice-to-have, but now have become very important to keep the ship moving despite disruption and upheaval,” says Kriel.

He says some of the skills that employers will be looking for in future, include a candidate’s ability to be resilient and work under pressure, to work independently, and to be comfortable in the online environment in terms of submitting work, responding to feedback, and participating effectively in meetings.

For people already working who want to make a change or apply for a promotion, they can try to find concrete examples of how they managed during lockdown.

“A very important consideration now is also to look toward the future, to identify any skills shortages you might have given the new environment, or which additional skills will make you more attractive in a tough jobs market,” says Kriel.

Bizcraft.co.za shares a few simple dos and don’ts when preparing your CV:

• Do send a cover letter with your CV.

• Do make sure your CV is free of grammar and spelling mistakes.

• Do make you CV very easy to skim read.

• Do make sure your CV’s sections are clearly labelled.

• Do keep you CV up to date.

• Do customise your CV to each and every vacancy.

• Do not write long sentences/paragraphs. Keep it short and in bullet format if possible.

This period of history continues to be an unsettling one on many fronts, but adds that for the individual and society there is no choice but to keep moving forward, Kriel concludes.