Writing a professionally looking CV could prove tasking. With the constantly changing requirements of employers, crafting a CV that sparks their interest is vital. Whatever format you chose to write yours, there are 10 things to put on your CV.
Your CV is your selling point. It is a short document listing who you are, your education, skills, achievement, and working experience. Considering, it’s the first contact employers have with you, these 10 things must be present in your resume.
Writing a good CV speaks a lot about you, professionally. A meticulously written CV can get you closer to an appointment. The more brilliant your CV is, the closer your chances are of reaching the interview stage.
10 Things to Put Your CV
1. Your Contact Information Should Be In Your CV
The first thing to put on a CV is your contact information. Your contact information should be included at the top of your CV. It includes your name, your job title, your phone number, and email address. Placing it at the top makes it easy for employers to identify and contact you.
Your name should be accompanied by your job title so that employers can know what you do, closely followed by your active number and your email address. Make sure your email address is a professional one without weird nicknames attached to it. For example, [email protected] is better than [email protected].
Your address can be limited to your state and the country you live in. You can also include your online portfolio, Linkedin profile, and your relevant social media handle only if you discuss matters relevant to the job you’re applying for.
2. A Profile/ Personal Statement is Needed in Your Resume
Your CV is meant to introduce you to your potential employer. Considering that they review tons of resumes, you must impress them quickly and your profile statement can help you achieve that.
Your profile statement is usually a short paragraph at the top of your CV that gives a brief overview of your career qualities, your goals, and your relevance to the organization.
Remember that your profile says a lot about you. It is vital that you professionally outline your qualities to leave a good impression.
If your CV doesn’t contain one of these 10 things to put on a CV, then consider rewriting it.
3. Your Work Experience is an Important Section of Your CV
Your work experience is a required section you must include in your CV.
This section should include where you worked, starting from your most recent. It should also contain the position you held, the company’s name, the time frame of employment, and bullet points explaining your skills, your role, and what you achieved while working there. It should look something like this-
Digital Content Creator.
Techpro Institute, Abuja, Nigeria
2015-2021
•Created engaging advertising content for 10 different brands ranging from food, technology, and Business.
•Trained over 30+ content interns.
•Developed a step-by-step content course for beginners in digital content creation.
Achievements- Awarded best Tech Content Creator at the Digital Content Awards 2017 and 2020.
Detailing your work experience enables employers to know what you did where you worked. It also shows how competent and relevant you’re for the job you’re applying for.
4. Your Education Details are Another Important Part of Your CV
How detailed the education section of your CV depends on your level of experience.
If you have substantial work experience, your education section should begin with your recent degree, the name of the institution, your year of graduation. With this experience, emphasis should be more on your skills and work experience.
However, if you’re writing an entry-level CV or just starting your career, your education is an important selling point of your CV. In addition to the basic details of your education, you should include bullet points detailing your achievements, projects you worked on, relevant coursework, and assignments.
5. Your Skills Set Must Be Included in Your CV
This is one of the 10 things to put on a CV. Employers are always on the lookout for skilful persons that are fitting for the job requirements.
In this section, you should identify your core skills using bullet points and tailoring them to the job you’re applying for. Your soft skills should also be included as they speak of how resourceful you’re. Assuming you’re applying for a Content Creation post, your skills section could look like,
MS Office Suite Specialist
SEO- expert
Advanced Photography skills
Team player
You may have countless skills to your name, but remember to only list those related to the job you’re applying for.
6. Your Certifications Can Improve Your CV Outlook
Adding your certifications to your CV can boost your CV outlook.
Certifications are credentials you earn which affirm your competence and ability to handle a task. It is usually professional, stating that you’ve been tutored, tested, and certified to perform a particular role.
The benefit of certifications to your CV is that it asserts your ability to undertake a task or role. Earning certifications shows recruiters your dedication to your profession and shows your commitment to self-development.
When writing your certifications in your CV, write the official title of the certificate, the body awarding the certificate, and the date it was obtained. For example, “TechHub Technical Certification Course 2021”.
7. An Outline of Your Awards is Vital in Your Resume
A good way of improving your CV’s outlook is by including your awards.
Awards are an official recognition of your accomplishments. It could be an academic, work, or voluntary award that can be given by the company you work for, the school you attended, or a professional outfit that relates to your profession.
To include your awards in your CV, write the name of the award, the hear it was awarded, who gave the award, and the purpose of the award. For example, 2021 Storyteller Of the year for ” The Nigerian Culture”, a synopsis of Nigerian History.
8. Your Volunteering Experience is a Good Feature in Your CV
This section of your CV is essential, especially if it suits the role you’re applying for. It is very important if your CV is an entry-level CV.
It is that part of your resume where you include any volunteering work you participated in. You can create a separate section for volunteering experience or you can add it to your work experience.
To include your volunteer experience, add your role, the name of the organization, the time frame of participation, and bullet points identifying your main duties and achievements. Remember, that whatever volunteer experience you’re including, make sure you tailor it to the job you’re applying for.
9. Outlining Your Professional Network and Affiliations Is Recommended in Your CV
This is also one of the 10 things to put on a CV.
If you’re a member of any professional body, you must indicate it in your CV. It helps highlight your commitment and dedication to your profession.
Being a member of recognized bodies illustrates your professionalism in the field of your choice. Include the name of your organization and the type of membership that you have. This could be student, fellow, associate, or professional membership. For example, you may be a member of the Young Africa Leadership Initiative which you could write as “Young Africa Leaders Initiative(YALI), Member”.
10. A-List Of Your Hobbies and Interests Can Add to The Viability of Your CV
Your hobbies and interest is an optional section in your CV. It is best considered in an entry-level CV.
Identifying a hobby that is related to the job you’re applying for is highly recommended. For example, if you love travelling, you can include it in your CV if you’re applying for the post of Air Hostess.
Conclusion
Having a well-crafted CV has the potential of leaving a good impression about you to recruiters.
When writing your resume, your profile statement is key to grabbing the attention of recruiters. Highlight the headings of each section in bold so that they can be easily identified. Your profile should be followed up with a skills section to create a view of your ability.
Finally, include your work experience, education, and any relevant section that is tailored to the job you’re applying for. When next you are applying for a job, make sure these 10 things are included in your CV.
Do you want to make a good impression at a job interview? Simple steps to know are the basics of impressing your potential employers.
And at a job interview, you need to make a good impression. Why? Because you need to nail the interview to get the job.
So, what are you going to look out for if you want to make a good impression at a job interview?
We will be sharing with you 10 steps to make a good impression at a job interview.
1. Conduct Research on the company
A successful job interview starts with a solid foundation of knowledge you have of the company. So, it is always advised to conduct research regarding the employer or the company. The more research you make, the more you will understand the company and be able to provide answers to some questions that would be asked.
Why I said that was because, an interviewer may choose to, or may decide to ask you some of the external problems the company is facing which you think is hindering it from moving more forward, is it the brand? The price? The quality? The quality? Etc., And how would you intend to fill the space when you are given the chance to.
Having a good research knowledge about the company helps, And what needs to be put in place to move the company or the employer forward, you might not be opportune to know.
Therefore, it is advisable to know more about the company or the employer before you present yourself for the interview.
2. Plan Your Dressing
Plan out the kind of dress to wear at least a day to the interview. I suggest this because you might be thinking that the cloth is in good shape or good enough, however it may be of a surprise to you that there might be a certain flop in the clothes which might likely hinder your burst of glee.
The flop may be in the form of a stain, wrinkles, tear, oversized, etc. Moreover, in a situation when the company does not have a dress code, you should wear business casual. So remember it is better to be overdressed than to be underdressed.
3. Arrive On Time For The Interview
First impressions matter because there may not be a second chance to redeem yourself.
Most companies count the time you show up at the interview venue as part of the interview process. Therefore, you need to be very punctual to the venue, at least 10 minutes before the commencement of the interview.
4. Enter With Full Confidence
Wait a minute, if you truly want to make a good impression at a job interview, before you enter the room you are going to be interviewed in, you need to take a step back, take a deep breath, relax and enter the room with full confidence.
This is important because you need to be able to express yourself confidently, lest you might be forgetful about what you can do and help the company achieve.
Okay? Then you put on a big smile. Because when you enter the room, you can be confident that you wouldn’t only have the best smile that your interviewer has probably seen, but you will appear so much more confident.
What else would you do to appear confident while entering to be interviewed?
When you enter, the way you do could make a lot of difference, which means you need to realign your posture. Therefore, you need to keep your back straight; don’t slouch while walking. Because when you keep your head down, you would look like a nervous wreck and it would show underconfidence.
But you should want to enter confidently without showing your nervousness or underconfidence in any way.
5. Extend Handshake Back And Maintain Eye Contact
On approaching your potential interviewers, as the case may be, you need to extend back a handshake if they offered but maintain proper eye contact. Mind you, since you have succeeded in establishing that confidence, don’t spoil it by giving a weak or strong handshake. And also for no reason should you withdrawing your eyes contact with theirs.
According to a psychological study, when you look the person in the face or maintain eye contact, it shows that you are hiding nothing. Furthermore, it shows that you are a person who is ready for feedback.
6. Maintain Good Body Postures
This means you sit erect, you don’t slouch. You could practice this in front of a bathroom mirror in advance before the interview.
This is simply referring to your hands and legs’ movement. No unnecessary shaking of your hands and legs. Make sure to not clutch your hands or arms altogether. It would show you are either nervous, afraid, or not ready for the job.
8. Matching Frequency
This depends on how the interviewer interviews you. If he is enthusiastic, then you should as well match an enthusiastic tone in responding. But if he is more sobber, then you adopt little of the mode in responding to questions. In short, you should either be aping or mirroring.
Moreso, matching the frequency could also be in the way the interview is sitting.
9. Ask Relevant Questions After the interview
Most employers are always looking up to an employee who has the best interest of the company at heart, no matter how hard they are to approach. They are always happy when employers ask what are the things they can do in other to move the company forward, or how to get it out of its hole.
So at the end of the interview, you can as well toss some questions which would feed you more about the company and the things which could be done to improve them in one aspect or the other.
10. Thank Your Interviewer
Thisisanothermostimportant interview tip most people forget about. At the end of the interview, don’t just dash out through the door without sparing few seconds in thanking your interviewer or to every member of the employer’s staff who interviewed you.
Forgetting to do this simple act may speak volumes about your manner, and you do not want them doubting your communication skill and ability to have healthy work relationships with other team members.
Conclusion
Remember, first impression matters. If you stick to these basics, certainly you would make a good first impression at your interview. So go ahead and make a good impression and don’t forget to comment on how it went.
There is a connection between your happiness and your passion. Therefore, passion is an unquenchable longing and determination for something, either positive or negative. Discovering one’s interest at an earlier stage enhances a successful future profession. In addition, bring the feeling of joy and satisfaction to the soul. However, it’s the responsibility of every parent to discover their kid’s passion. Similarly, it’s beneficial to learn about how to find your child’s interest.
This serves as a guide to secure your kid’s future.
How to Discover Your Kid’s Passion
1. Observe Your Kids Critically
There is an inborn strength and abilities in everyone. These abilities are natural and performed with fewer struggles. Therefore, through observation, you can denote the natural strength of your kids. Ensure you keep a close watch on their behaviours, their shopping choice, and how they relate with their peers.
In addition, the things that make them happy and are easy for them to carry out. Perhaps, your child finds it fun to assist in preparing the meal. This attitude is a pointer to your child’s interest in catering.
2. Get Closer to Your Kids
Certain kinds of interest are not visible to detect easily. However, as a parent, you can find your child’s hidden interests by drawing closer to your kids. In other words, a healthy relationship with your kids aids you to discover their passion effortlessly. You must have a conducive atmosphere for communication with your child.
Oftentimes, a spark of creativityin your kids reveals their hidden interests. That’s why you shouldn’t wait until they are much older to find out about their interest. Instead, engage them with activities that enhance their creativity.
When your kids have a high emotional and intellectual quotient they become equipped to go for the things that make them happy and fulfilled.
4. Explore With Your Kids
Are you a parent, who is Keen on how to find your child’s interest? If yes, then you must be ready to go on adventures with your children. Locking them up within the four walls of your house wouldn’t reveal their interest. Rather, it restricts their passion. Our world is vast and filled with lots of exciting places. Therefore, allow your kids to view the beauty of the world they live in and feel the joy it brings.
During the adventure, your kids are exposed to a variety of things that can make them happy. In their happiness lies their passion. This activity includes camping, swimming, visiting wildlife parks, festivals, fishing among others.
5. Get Involved in Their Academic Activities
Furthermore, your kid’s academic performance influences their interest. This is because, beyond the scope of learning to read and write, they are exposed to various perspectives of life through the different topics taught. They learn about the lifestyle and cultural practices of others. Gradually, they start to develop an interest in the things they read about.
As a parent, how to find your child’s interest wouldn’t be stressful for you if you cherish your child’s academic performance. Ensure you select the right school for your child and assist in doing their homework. Furthermore, read informative books together with your kids. In addition, employ the help of a private tutor if need be to enhance their academic performance.
6. Random Selection
While you wait to discover your child’s natural interest. You should get them engaged with activities that may later turn out to be their interest or activities that the majority of children find fun doing. Your kids get to try lots of options and develop interest for any. This activity includes
Sports
Sporting activities enhance the immune systemand keep the brain alert. Therefore, it’s not compulsory for your child to have an interest in the sport before you enrol him/her in sporting activities. However, go for a sport that is suitable for their age and keep a close watch on them not to go extreme.
Music/Musical Instruments
Music is food to the soul. Music goes beyond the production of sound. Rather, it awakens a dormant passion in one’s life. Similarly, you can employ this method to discover your child’s interest. Although music may not be their passion it will guide them into their passion by inspiring them.
Vocational Skills
Academic knowledge may not be sufficient to discover your kid’s passion if it’s not visible. However, when they learn certain vocational skills it begins to surface gradually, as they pick interest in a certain skill such as tailoring, art, and craft, interior design, hairdressing, and its sort.
7. Allow Your Kid to Mingle With Their Peers
Most parents are scared of their kids being influenced negatively by their peers. However, peer group relationships also have their advantages and benefits, such as inspiring your child to become creative. As your child sees their peers excelling at a particular thing. They are inspired to try.
In addition, kids are free among their peers to express their real selves. Hence, among their peers, they begin to showcase their strength.
Conclusion
Having learned about how to find your child’s interest. What matters most is the amount of support you give to their interest. Your support enhances the growth of their interest. Whereas, little support kills their interest. Always, ignore your child’s weaknesses and give more attention to their strengths. Therefore, if your kid’s happiness matters to you, then don’t hesitate to find their interest.
Finally, share with us how you’ve been able to discover your kid’s passion.
One thing I will always cherish about photography is the way it de-stresses me. It can be used to stabilize emotional and mental health – just like every other art. To follow the steps to learn photography can start from it being a hobby and it is self-taught, however, the passion and creativity for it must come from you.
Being behind the camera teaches one focus, patience and perseverance. But first, are you interested in photography? Do you take great pictures with your phone? Do you love the idea of capturing moments and making people smile?
If your answer is yes!
Then I think you have what it takes to be a good photographer, just keep reading and we’ll show you 6 easy steps on how to learn photography for free online.
1. Enrol yourself in a photography workshop
I facilitated a photography workshop sometime last year, we talked about the basics of photography, did exams and there were a lot of practicals. The workshop was interactive and there were testimonies from people – sharing the things they’ve learnt and how the workshop had helped them.
Check around, there are photography workshops around. Check online, you’ll find them there. Register and join. Sometimes, google gets it done for you, just type “photography workshops near you”.
There is always something around; online or offline.
2. Take Free Online Photography Courses
When I mentioned passion, I meant a strong and energetic will that makes one be in a “doing” state. You are passionate about photography, what then do you do to learn or even advance the skills?
Surf the net and take online courses. There are many resources online as there are sites that are willing to teach you photography for free.
There are sites that you don’t even have to login or actively register for a course, they produce you with relevant articles and “how to” for photography and even post processing.
Online courses are flexible and self-paced, just think of it as scrolling through social media with attention and notes. This is an effective way on learning photography for free online.
3. Watch YouTube videos
I was talking to someone last week and I said, “online is the new world”. You can literally find anything, I repeat- anything you are seeking for online.
Well curated videos draws attention, our brain engage with videos.
As of 2020, there was an estimate of 2.1 billion YouTube users worldwide. The streaming service is particularly popular with younger internet users.
YouTube is a space where you can learn everything you need to know about photography for free online, just make the search and start watching.
It is most likely that you have seen YouTube videos where the onscreen tutor talks about the parts of camera and mastering the art of camera.
Now, you have gotten the knowledge, put it to use.
You have a DSLR (Digital single lens reflex), check for the settings online and how to use it. Master the parts and manipulate the controls.
If you don’t have a DSLR but have a smartphone, maximize the potential of the camera and master the camera settings.
Hands on deck and be practical.
This is another video is a sure bet of you mastering photography with just your mobile phone. But for DSLR it is more professional, watch this video that talks about how the buttons and controls work.
Like a wise person said, “you should understand the parts before you use the whole”.
5. Take a Picture of Everything and Anything
The practicality you are employing after mastering the camera settings has to do with using what you’ve learnt to create a captivating image. Be random or intentional, just take pictures – everything and anything. There is no mastering without practicals.
Theory is useless without practicals. You can search Instagram for photoshoot inspiration.
6. Challenge Yourself
This is fun once you start. The moment you start beating the standards you set for yourself, the more you want to keep challenging yourself.
Create list of things you want to photograph and how you want to photograph them. Make time to try new photography hacks out. Play around with your shutter speed or exposure to bring an image to life.
In my own case, I created a list that included every kind of photo shoot I want to have when the month ends.
That was my own spice. Learn, build and find yours.
Listening is the act of concentrating and paying attention to action or sound. As simple as this might sound, how good are we at listening? Do we only hear what we choose to hear or do we listen actively with our ears, mind, and body while deciphering and comprehending information? At the end of the article, you should be learning five new tips to improve your listening skills.
The act of active listening can be the solution to so many communication errors in all phases of our lives. Imagine a world where parents actively listened to their children, children listened to their parents, leaders listened to their followers, couples mastering the act of active listening, or individuals like you and me being taught active listening in school. More than half of the problems of the world will be solved, if only we mind to know how to improve our listening skills. In addition, there will be less divorce rate, community conflict, and possibly fewer or no wars at all. The world will be a far safer place.
Mastering the skill of listening will not only help you communicate effectively professionally but also transform your relationships, friendships, and marriages.
Tips to Help You Improve Your Listening Skills
1. Practice Silence and Sound Exercise
With so much noise around us, paying attention to every single sound or concentrating during a long conversation has proven difficult. Practising listening to the silence and sound exercise every morning for five minutes will help sharpen your listening concentration before you start the day.
Silence Exercise
Get a quiet spot. Sit calmly and listen to the silence. Listen to yourself. Reset your ears to hear the quiet and stillness.
Sound Exercise
Every day, for a minimum of five minutes, pay attention to the sounds around you. Pick individual sounds out. This can be the sound of water running from the tap or the wind blowing or even the sound of you brushing your hair. This is a great way to start the day especially if you look forward to having a conversation or meeting. This will help you concentrate better during the session.
2. Face the Speaker and Maintain Eye Contact
Paying attention during a conversation can be very tiring, particularly if you have a short attention span, you might drift off easily. To curb this challenging situation, you should look straight at the speaker with your whole body and maintain straight eye contact throughout the conversation.
Following their body movements and eye contact will keep you at the moment thereby, enhancing your concentration to listen actively.
3. Visualize What the Speaker Is Saying
Listening is the missing half of communication. We have two ears and a mouth solemnly for this reason; we cannot communicate effectively when we are not fully listening to the person talking. While listening, look deeper into what the party is listening to. Try to feel what the speaker feels. Listen to the real message that he/she is trying to communicate but is not saying out. Put yourself in their shoes and picture every word they are saying and every circumstance or situation they are describing.
Also, pay attention to the nonverbal cues.
4. Ask Questions Only to Ensure Understanding
While you are supposed to be paying attention all through the conversation, make some gestures at short intervals to indicate you are listening. In fact, listening will demonstrate to the speaker you are in reality listening and present. When the speaker pauses during the conversation, ask clarifying questions only to ensure understanding. This will encourage the speaker to simplify further, thereby achieving the main aim of communication.
5. Don’t Impose Your Solutions
According to a research by Roland Barthes,
Listening can be understood on three levels: alerting, deciphering, and an understanding of how the sound is produced and how the sound affects the listener.
Roland Barthes
These stages of interpreting information while listening can differ from person to person. As a listener, you must keep a very open mind during a conversation. Do not interrupt or impose your judgments. Be attentive and relaxed even if you do not agree with the opinion of the speaker.
Taking a moment to decipher, understand and comprehend the message might shade more light on the matter. If you seem to have a different opinion after analyzing the message, give constructive feedback instead.
Conclusion
Listening, as straightforward as it might sound, is a skill most of us lack. We live in a world where listening will help us understand the other person and message, connect and build rapport, trust, and care.
Listening can be a useful skill for different problems, but it is essential to solving conflict, poor listening can lead to misinterpretations thus causing conflict or a dispute.
Wikipedia 2019
Make it a habit to actively listen. When you listen to yourself, you can listen to people better. True communication is listening. Finally, what method helps you listen better? Tell me in the comments section below. Thank you.
