Your personal information
Welcome to part 2 of our best practices in the recruiting business. We see a lot of resumes and we decided to share our experience with you. This week we'll dive into the personal section of your CV.
First of all: decide carefully which information you want to share.
In most countries it is not an obligation to add a photo, in some countries it is even prohibited.
So make sure you do not hurt the legal requirements of your area.
Be careful with information regarding your family.
You can mention your children if you want to- but consider whether this information is helpful or not.
In case you apply for a job as a product manager for kids bikes it might be a plus.
For jobs that require a lot of travelling, you could consider to leave out that information.
Whatever you decide, remember that you spend a lot of your time at work, and that your work environment is key to a long lasting relationship.
Double check that you added the correct contact information, especially email and phone.
You should always use your personal mobile number to make sure the call goes always through to yourself directly.
Never use your company’s email address!
Make sure communication always takes place via your personal accounts- you don’t want other people within your company to know about your ongoing applications.
Some people deny their age- probably because they are afraid they could be considered either too young or too old.
You are who you are, so do not deny it.
Furthermore you have put information about your educational background- from the year you graduated from school people can tell almost exactly how old you are anyway.
Organize your personal data at the beginning of your CV; here you introduce yourself.
You can either add your contact information here as well or
you put it into the header or footer.
Also think about writing a short text- just a couple of lines- where you present your most important skills and talents you think you have and why you would be of benefit for the hiring company.
You can also give a short overview in terms of keywords, however this is rather recommendable for more experienced applicants as you must have something to show here. You could mention information such as:
10 years of experience in International Sales
7 years of experience in Marketing
5 years of experience as a Social Media Manager
3 years of experience in Brand Management
Anti-chronological order
A modern CV usually uses an antichronological order wherein your last (or current) position is mentioned first.
Then you work your way down into your past.
So naturally you start with your professional experience rather than your educational background.
Also consider that your educational background becomes less important the more working experience you have.
Mention your responsibilities
Some job descriptions sound really fancy, but don't say anything about your responsibilities on the job.
If it is relevant for the current application: write your responsibilities down in detail.
If you have qualifications of something you don't like to do. Don't mention them.
Generally: if you think that something would be helpful to get the job, then mention it.
If you consider it irrelevant, then drop it.
We'd love to here from experiences you have made and what has worked well for you so far.
