CV Guidelines
A CV is a marketing tool, and we, at MD Selection believe that it is a reflection of the person, and gives some indication, albeit superficial, of character, personality and presentation skills. For this reason, at MD Selection we do not rewrite CV’s.
Some pointers:
- Make your CV succint and user friendly- two pages is a ball park. Introductory paragraphs describing your personality and profile such as: ‘I am an emotionally mature, independent thinker, resilient…’ are time wasting and gratuitous. Who you really are will come through at the various stages of the interviewing process and will be reinforced by your referees.
- Know your audience and make sure that what you say is relevant to them.
- Never write in the third person! You’re writing about yourself!
- Legislation may recognise the right to privacy in terms of your age, your domestic situation and your health. But we all know that at least at senior and executive level, given that, invariably we spend more hours in the office with our colleagues than with our partners and families, compatibility and chemistry play an important role in ensuring fit. So a short paragraph in point form as to your full name, nationality, marital status and number of children, their ages, your ID number, your physical address and contact details is suggested. Remember that ultimately we will need most of this information because we have to investigate the ‘hygiene factors’ such as your consumer credit and criminal records.
- A summary of your schooling and tertiary education should be given, which will include dates, the names of the school and tertiary institution you attended, and special achievements at each - academic or otherwise. Remember that we will be independently verifying these facts, so don’t obfuscate!
- Your working life should be summarised in chronological sequence, with your most recent job appearing first. Be sure to state dates, the full name of the company, a one-sentence summary of its operations, your position and two or three lines listing your general accountabilities and your most important achievements in each role.
- Make sure that you have dealt with gaps in your education and work history.
- Never disclose package or expected package. This is sensitive and should remain confidential.
- Referees should be supplied only on request. You don’t want referees being phoned without your knowledge. You need to own the process.
- Ending off your CV with a short paragraph relating to interests and hobbies will reflect your roundedness.
- A covering note should be a two-liner stating the reason for submitting your CV and requesting a face to face meeting.
- No advanced technology nor fancy colours, photographs, graphics or fonts…please!