How to write a Curriculum Vitae (CV)

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The CV (resume, in American English) is meant to introduce you and yourbackground to somebody who does not know you and barely has time to getto know you. It should present you in the best possible light, in aconcise and well-structured manner. There are plenty of resume-writingguides out there, that can teach you to the smallest details how towrite one. Their regular problem is that they do not agree with eachother when it comes to details. This is why we have put here together anumber of generally agreed guide-lines, plus some specific details thatcould help EE students.

A regular CV for business purposes shoulddefinitely not go over one A4 page. If you intend to use it foracademic purposes and not for a job, the CV can pass that limit, on thecondition that you use the extra space to describe academic activities,like conferences, publications list, etc. A well-written CV shows firstwhat is most important, but contains all relevant information. To thisgoal, we advise you to adapt it to your target (specific type of job orscholarship). Cut information from your CV only as a solution of lastresort, but pay attention to the order in which you present it in yourCV.

Print the CV on plain-white A4 paper, save some of the same type forthe cover letter – did we say that you should never, but never! send aCV without a cover letter – and find matching A4 envelopes. If theannouncement does not say anything about a cover letter, you stillshould send one. It introduces your CV to the reader, attractsattention to certain parts of it that you want to bring to light, ormentions aspects that for some reason could not be listed in your CV.

To make it look neat, we suggest you use one of the Word pre-madeformats, unless you are a computer-savvy and feel confident that youcan produce an even better-structured and easier-to-read format. Youwill be able to introduce you own headers in that format; below we havea word of advice for those most-often met in a CV.

Personal details – here you should include your birth date, contactaddress, email, telephone number and nationality. In case you have botha permanent and study address, include both, with the dates when youcan be contacted at each of them. Personal details can be written withsmaller fonts than the rest of your CV, if you want to save space. Theydo not have to jump in the reader? attention – you will never convincesomebody to hire you because you have a nice email alias! If your CVmanaged to awaken the reader’s interest, he or she will look aftercontact details – it is important that they be there, but not that theyare the first thing somebody reads in your CV. You should write yourname with a bigger font than the rest of the text, so that the readerknows easily whose CV is he or she reading. If you need to save space,you can delete the Curriculum Vitae line on the top of your CV. Afterall, if you have done a good job writing it, it should be obvious thatthat piece of paper is a CV, no need to spell it out loud.

Objective – this is a concise statement of what you actually want todo. It’s not bad if it matches the thing you are applying for. Don’trestrict it too much “to get this scholarship”, but rather “to developa career in… ” the thing that you’re going to study if you get thescholarship. If you apply for a job, you can be even more specific – “to obtain a position in… , where I can use my skills in?. You can usea few lines to describes that specifically, but keep in mind that youshould show what you can do for the company more than what the companycan do for you. Writing a good objective can be tough; take some timeto think about what exactly are you going to write there.

If you, the visitor of our site, are who we think we are – a youngstudent, or a person who has just graduated, you should start your CVwith your education. Very probably, at this age it is your mostimportant asset. We suggest you use the reverse chronological order,since it is more important what master? degree you have rather thanthat, very probably, you went to high school in your native town. Nomatter for which order you decide – chronological or reverse – youshould keep it the same throughout the rest of your CV. Try to give anexact account of your accomplishments in school: grades (do not forgetto write the scale if it may differ from the one the reader of your CVis used to), standing in class (in percent), title of yourdissertation, expected graduation date if you think this is animportant aspect. There is no need to write all of the above, but onlythose that put you in the best light. Are you not in the best 20% ofyour class? Better not to mention ranking then, maybe you still havegood grades, or your school is a renowned one. In any case, do not makeyour results better than in reality – you cannot know how thisinformation may be checked and the whole application will losecredibility. Cheating is a very serious offense in Western schools.

Awards received – you should introduce this header right after theeducation, in order to outline all the scholarly or otherwisedistinctions you have received. Another solution is to include theseawards in the education section, but this might make the lecturedifficult – the reader wants to get from that section an impressionabout the schools you went to and the overall results, not about everydistinction you were awarded. Still, these are important! Therefore,here is the place to mention them – scholarships, stages abroad you hadto compete for, prizes in contests, any kind of distinction. Here, sameas everywhere in your CV, write a detailed account of what happened: donot just mention the year and “Prize in Physics”, but rather give theexact date (month), place, name and organiser of the competition. For ascholarship abroad, write the time frame, name of the University,Department, the subject of classes there – e.g. managerial economics -name of the award-giving institution, if different from that of thehost-university.

Practical experience – here you should include internships as well.Don’t feel ashamed with what you did, don’t try to diminish youraccomplishments! Nobody really expects you to have started a milliondollar business if you’re still a student – even better if you did,though! Accountability is an important criterion for what you write inthis section. The account should show what you improved, where, by howmuch, what your responsibilities were. The idea is that when you applyfor a job you have to show growth-potential. That is, that you provedsome kind of progress from one job to another and that especially atthe last one you were so good, you could obviously do something thatinvolves more responsibility – like the job you are applying for now.The overall result should portray you as a leader, a person withinitiative and creativity – don’t forget you have to convince thereader of your CV that you are the best pick for that job.

Extracurricular activities – if you’re writing a professional, and notan academic CV, this is the place to mention conferences or any otheractivities outside the school that for some reason did not fit in theCV so far. A good section here can help a lot towards that goal ofportraying you as a leader, a person with initiative, not just a nerdwith good grades.

Languages – list here all the languages you speak, with a one-worddescription of your knowledge of that language. We suggest thefollowing scale: conversational, intermediate, advanced, and fluent.List any certificates and/or results like TOEFL scores, with date.

Computer skills – write everything you know, including Internetbrowsers and text editing skills. There is no absolute need to know C++unless you wanna be a programmer or something. List certificates andspecialty studies as well.

Hobbies – list them if space is left on the page. They look fine in aCV, showing you are not a no-life workaholic, but a normal person.There is no need to have a 20,000 pieces stamp collection, you canmention reading or mountain tracking as well.

You can introduce other headers that suit your needs. Some CV’s, forexample, have a summary heading, that brings in front what the authorconsiders to be the most important stuff in his/her CV. A referencessection, where you can list with contact details persons ready torecommend you can be added as well. If it misses, the recruiters willassume they are available on request.

Source: http://www.eastchance.com/howto/cv-index.asp

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 4:44 am and is filed under Beasiswa S1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Getting a scholarship for an overseas study is a competitive process. This is because many people like you want the scholarship, but not all can be awarded. The cholarship money is simply not enough to fund all at once. Also, the scholarship providers want to ensure that only the best, well prepared applicants are selected and so the money is spent rightly and efficiently to what it is intended for. So, you have to be a winner!

Lots of people have won scholarship. You hear this every time. But how have they done this good job? Are they luckier or more superior or intelligent than others? No, they are not! If you ask them about the winning secrets are, they may simply give you the following lists: things to prepare or consider before applying a scholarship.

Soon after graduation, do not wait. Obtain your original academic certificate and transcript, and make some copies of them. You need to certify them and, remember, that people at university are some times going somewhere when you need their signatures. More importantly, you need to translate both your academic certificate and transcript. Check around, there maybe some people have done the same. This will ease the task. If not, they are yours anyway. When you are done, it is wise to get other people to see them. They may give you valuable inputs, even correcting misspelled course names. Again, you need signatures of dean and rector on the translated version of your academic certificate and record.

You need to decide earlier which study route you are going to undertake – course or research or both. If you prefer a course-based study, you do not need a proposal. But if you are going to do a research, you definitely need a research proposal.

Good research proposal require time and energy to construct. So it is always better to prepare it earlier. Basically, the proposal will not be much different to the one you have done previously in your research as part of your undergraduate study. This will include background, objective, problems or questions to answer, hypothesis, methodology, and references. These are the essences of a proposal. For more on research proposal, read here and here

When you are done with those basic requirements, ask suggestions from others. When the application is open, check if the scholarship provider requires a bit more to what you have prepared.

Download application form from the university website and fill it before send it back to the university. The university will respond you and issue you with a letter of acceptance. You may indicate in the form that you will begin your study next year, waiting for a scholarship which you are now struggling for. Most likely they will issue you with a conditional acceptance. They will keep reissuing this until you succeed with your scholarship application.

While your are in the website, go to your targeted department or school to find your potential supervisor. Even, this needs to be done first before filling in a admission form. The reason you will not studying in this university unless you have got an academic staff willing to supervise you. So get their email address, and make contacts with them. In the first time, you just need to introduce yourself, mention your academic background and your research proposal, and ask if he/she is available to supervise you. If they are busy because there are many students already under their responsibilities, don’t panic. Ask him/her if they know people around there who are still able to take additional students.

The good with the letter from university and supervisor when you have them at hand is that you can attach them to your application form and present them to the interviewers. These letters will increase your chances of winning the scholarship because the interviewers will so impressed that you are better prepared and have taken more advanced steps compared to other candidates. Read more..

Try and have your application arrive EARLY as possible, absolutely not after the deadline date! I like to send applications with a “return receipt requested” or “registered” to make sure they get there. I think that this also conveys a positive characteristic about the sender.

This letter is an introduction of myself, (your name), and my desire to participate in the (whatever it is called) Scholarship Program. I have been accepted to (Name of your College) for the 1999 fall term.

I would like to thank you and the (whatever) Scholarship Committee for supporting college bound students with an opportunity for financial assistance through your scholarship program. Enclosed you will find my application form, high school transcript, ACT results, letters of recommendation, and other pertinent information. Again, thank you for your interest on my behalf and for the youth of our state.

While this seems obvious, you must construct your application to make it EASY for the committee to see that you have provided every thing that was required. I like to provide items in the order that they are listed in the application. If possible, do not mix items on the same page. In another tip I am going to tell you to add extra items that were not requested to give your application that something extra. However, DO NOT add extra items if you are specifically told not to add anything extra. This means that you can not follow directions if you add items when your are forbidden to do so.

This is where you get to be creative to find ways and things that present you in a positive light to the selection committee. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Write a short essay on MY EDUCATION/CAREER GOALS. Try to keep to one page but no more than two.

2. Write a paragraph or two on how this scholarship award will help you reach your education/career goals.

3. My son’s guidance counselor gave him a paper that congratulated him on being in the top 10% of his class and acknowledged his hard work to get there. We included this because it put him in a “positive light” and his hard work at his academics was recognized.

4. Before my son reached his 18th birthday, he registered for the Military Draft as required for all males when they reach the age of 18. He received a letter from the draft board congratulating him for doing his civic duty prior to his 18th birthday. You guessed it, this was also one of our “extra items”. A lot of scholarship committee members have military backgrounds or see this as good citizenship for this applicant.

5. One of the best extra items is a letter of acceptance for admission to “any” college. If the scholarship application is not for a specific college, you will be able to use the award at “any” college. You do not have to use it at the college you used in your application. Later you can get more college acceptance letters and when your make your selection you can notify the scholarship award committee of where to send the award. Therefore, any letter of acceptance shows that your are serious but it does not “lock” you into using the award at that college.

These are just a few examples to get you thinking. I would limit my extras to three or four at the most. Too many and you “sour” your application. Again, MAKE SURE you are not forbidden to add extra items before you do so.

Be creative to find things that make you look good and share them with the committee.

SUB TIP #5a Offer to do the work for the writer of your letter of recommendation. For example, you want to apply to twenty scholarship programs. When you ask someone to write you “1″ letter of recommendation they say sure. When you say you need twenty letters they say “sorry” I don’t have the time. Once they write you one letter, ask if you can put it on the computer so the TO ADDRESSEE can be personalized for each application and your writer only has to “sign their name twenty times”. Now your writer is happy to help you because you have done the work and make it easy for them to help you. If they have nice letter head, ask for blank copies to be used in this process.

SUB TIP #5b This is an “ADD EXTRA ITEM/s” when the application does not require a letter of recommendation.

SUB TIP #5c Try and get three to five letters of recommendation in your files. This will let you pick and choose which one or ones to send in for a specific application. I would never send more than three for an application unless the directions ask for more. I will cover some tips to give your recommendation writer in a later TIP.

TIP #6 – PROOF READ ALL MATERIALS and NEATNESS IS A MUST When you write anything you must use correct grammar and spelling. If you have a problem in this area ask your English teacher to help you with proofreading your essay, cover letter, extra items you have included, and even letters of recommendation prepared by others. When there are hundreds or thousands of applications to review, correctness and neatness become the first screen out factor. Only when the “pile” is smaller does the content of your application start to become a factor in the selection process.

Now that your application is complete, the final “presentation” tip is to place all of your items in a clear plastic folder, with a slide locking binder. I like the cheap clear ones so that your “Thank You Cover Letter” (Tip #2) is on top. For that final “touch” I also like to include a wallet size picture of the student in the lower left side of your packet. The next item/s in you application packet are those required in the application (Tip #3 Answer the mail). Next I add any extra items (if not forbidden) and finally I place any letter(s) of recommendations.

If “extras” are forbidden, you should consider NOT using a plastic folder, however, this can be a judgement call on your part. Read the application carefully again regarding extras. Some judges feel the plastic folders “give them more work” (to remove the applications from the plastic folder) while others have no problem with it, even though they may forbid extras. I know, this can be confusing!

Your application packet is a great looking presentation of YOU, don’t mess it up by folding it to fit a small envelope. Use an 8X10 type envelope so your application arrives looking great. Consider sending it “Return Receipt Requested” so you know it arrived!

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