Writing a CV

No had and fast rule to or in writing a CV. But like i said earlier it must contain what can describe or represent you in your absence.
It is unproffesional and i would say sucidal to write a CV without a form of personalisation. i.e. Your CV should carry your person. Most preferable 3rd person singular; which is simple present.

While introducing yourself in your CV apart from your name etc, the part normally called the PROFILE, you re-present yourself in the simple present. This is advisable because the CV is speaking in your absence.
An unpersonified example is "I swim" - "he swims"
A personified Example in the context of a CV would be:
Instead of saying
"I am a graduate of Biochemistry" I would say "Segun is a graduate of Biochemistry".

This gives the reader or recruiter a personality view of you, a time to think and get to know who you are even from the pages of you CV.

Below is a copy of CV

Victor Abu
127, Queen road, London. QU1 0AB
Tel: 0791 123 1111
Email: victor_abu@yahoo.com.uk

PROFILE
Victor is a self motivated and ambitious responsible young man with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from one of the leading Nigerian Universities. He has got industrial trainee working experience in professional laboratory and skilled in using the computer, Microsoft office suit and the Internet.

Career Experience
February, 2007 to March, 2008;
Teacher; Tadem College, Imo State Nigeria. (National Youth Service Corp.)

Responsibilities;
- Biology Teacher for Senior Secondary classes.
- Chemistry Teacher for Senior Secondary Classes.
- Science student Mentor

Achievements;
- Recorded the most successful distinction in Biology in the history of the school at the senior secondary school examination level.
- Formed the Science club, a forum which brings science students together to share ideas and findings.
- Motivated the school authority and parent teachers association to construct a computer laboratory with internet access.

October, 2003 to March, 2004;
Industrial Trainee, UsaT Laboratory.
(Owned by Foremost Professor Tunde Usadime)

Responsibilities;
- Preparing the laboratory for daily research procedures and activates.
- Recording research proceedings during research.
- Assisting researcher during research.
- Carrying out online research by browsing the internet for updates.
- Reporting day to day research activities to senior research fellows using Microsoft office tools.

Acheivements;
- Devised a new way of reporting which was adopted and recommended for all departments.
- Found from internet researching a major clue that completed a research finding.
- Was Project assistant to the award winning research findings on malaria therapy.

Qualifications;
2001 – 2006 B.Sc Biochemistry University of Wonders, Nigeria.
1994 – 2000 West Africa School Certificate.
Member International Institutes of Biochemistry.

PERSONAL;
- Playing basket ball and meeting people.
- Referees available upon request.



Note; this is not a CV template but can be used as a CV template if you so wish.


Disclaimer; this is not compulsry and does not mean that when your CV is written in this format you automatically get a job instead I would say it puts you ahead during recruiting processes. Experiential content (activities and achievements) is what the recruiter is looking for.

Information; we shall use the CV as a case study with time.

Passion & "Money"

Dear readers,
This week we would deviate a little with respect to previous posts about CVs ...etc.
We shall be talking about Passion & "Money"..... as the title refers.
While chatting with a friend during the week, we got talking about careers when i got the title Passion & "Money".
The fight between Passion & "Money" has being a great conflict for young graduates whose intentions are "now i have finished school, i need to make all the money". Yes we need to make all the money and that we shall do. But the question is where are we making the money? Is it where our passion lies? I have seen instance where law graduates and medical graduates just to mentioned a few have diverted from practising to become cashiers in banks or customer service representatives for telecoms companies or banks as it were , just because of the money. I have seen people who have sold there passion for a pot of portage (salary pack) because all they are after is just to get the money. If the reason was not money, my question would be what would it have being to make you leave your passion? I wont erase the fact that most of us did not study what we wanted or probably should i say what our passion is but, i can assure even at that, no body's passion would out rightly be to become a cashier etc.

Did i hear you say passion can die? Yes i agree and sure so in a country like Nigeria where we are praying things starts to work the way they should.

I remember while i was still in the University as an undergraduate in my third year as a biochemist thinking of what the world had in-stock for my future. I practically could not see anything clearly but then loved using the Internet, which later became a thing of passion. I loved it so much I help people browse over night to get project topics and material for seminar and projects. (Let me not forget to add, i got paid for it). This is no time became a passion and landed me my first job before i finally graduated in ISP. As a graduate i was happy and when i opened up my employment letter, my remuneration was six thousand Nigerian Naira (N6,000) per month. This was June 2002. At this point i was cut in-between, should i reject this offer or i should go for it, because weighing all my options it was not the best for me. The major question was "is it going to pay my bills"? of which after transportation for the month i had little below one thousand Nigerian Naira (N1,000) left. Some weeks after one of the senior staff who i was looking upto said to my face a a local dilate called yoruba "sebi o wa ko se ni" meaning "I taught you came here to learn" which in actual terms it means "shut up, i am talking, do what i told you, at least you came here to learn". This was because i noticed some wrong in what she did. At this point i felt disappointed, i told myself, as a graduate something told me "you should not be getting like this" but something kept me going. This is what i would call passion (not trying to be in-modest).
At a point in 2003 when the salary was increased to sixteen thousand Nigerian Naira (N16,000), i was owed salary for about seven months (7months), but i went to work everyday including weekends. (was able to survive because the passion was bringing me PP...lol)
My staying back in that company then, taught me all i have used in my entire career so far. Its being the bed rock of all the technology i know of which i have worked with in different companies. I remembered the first day a Linux server was installed in my presence, i had a notebook and i was jotting down every single thing my boss was doing. Today i still work on Linux servers but as a platform for Telecom companies. Then it was just a proxy server, cache or bandwidth limier/manager.

The reward of passion might not be immediate just as we have seen from the last US election where a black man is now the president elect of the most power country. One of the reasons for this achievement i tell you is the passion Barack Obama has, which is to bring change to the United States. He could have called it quite because of his skin colour and because of the records. This also being a passion of the entire black race since the 19th century or beyond and it paid dividend in the 21st century.

I have two questions for you...this you can apply in your career and in your life as a whole.
1. have you considered what your passions is?
2. are you following you passion?

Passion is what keeps you when the "money" stop coming on that job
Passion is what keeps you when the money in the "money" is not enough even though it comes.
Passion is what keeps you when you are insulted on the job
Passion is what keeps you when you are tired, worn out and rejected
Passion is what tells you the next step to take
Passion is what tells you when to leave and when to stay back i.e. when to quit.
Passion is from the heart.
Passion is rewarding no matter how long.

In conclusion, i would like to submit to you, its not too late to harness your passion. ......
.........................Go for it.... Just do it.

Someone asked; can your choice for "money" later become your passion? This we would talk about soon.

Cheers

Segun.

WHAT A CV IS!

The word CV was coined out from the Latin word "Curriculum Vita" which means "course of one's life." But in simple terms, i would call a CV a re-presentation of an individual, stating the "important". By "important" i mean a much greater accounting of what one has done with one’s life in the most recent past.

I would like to say at this point that there is a difference between a resume and a CV.

CVs are usually longer and more detailed. Not only will it include education, and former jobs, but it will also include details like specialized classes one has taken, publications, special licenses or affiliations, grants one has received, and any other relevant details to a position for which one is applying.

A CV can also be said to be a record of your personal, educational and work details, which emphasises the experience, knowledge and skills relevant to the type of job / course of study for which you are applying.

The Key word is relevance or relevant. i.e Your CV has to be relevant to the positions for which you are applying for. Hence there is nothing as such as a general CV.

Now, i am sure someone out there can figure out why he/she did not get "that" job or "the" job of there choice.

Is someone checking his/her CVs now?

Next we shall be talking about content of a CV.