CV Help

Your CV is an employer's first impression of you and it must leave a favourable and lasting impact. A successful CV is one that will appear in the most searches and generate the most interviews.

Horizon's CV Builder will guide you through the CV building process step-by-step providing you with tips and examples along the way. We have also provided you with a list of action verbs that we recommend you refer to and use to ensure the strongest, most concise delivery.

Position Sought

Here is where you define who you are in relation to skills and experience. This is a critical part of your CV as it is the first section a potential employer reads and it should portray you in the most relevant and professional light.

Examples:

• Marketing Manager
• Senior Corporate Tax Accountant
• Advertising Executive
• Financial Analyst
• Pediatric Nurse
• Sales Representative
• Concierge

Tips:

• Include words that highlight your skills and area of expertise
• Include keywords of the actual position you are seeking

Objective

This should be a brief and focused statement of what you can do and what you are looking for. Employers will look here first before proceeding onto your resume.

Examples:

• Seeking new challenges in (occupation) which effectively utilizes (professional experience).
• Looking to join a progressive organization that has the need for (a type of occupation) and offers opportunities for advancement.
• To gain first hand (type of experience), using my analytical skills and commitment to perform quality work.
• To obtain a position in a (type of target company) using my administrative and programming skills.
• To secure an internship with a (type of organization) specializing in (area of expertise)
• (Title) with (background) and a passion for (type) pursuing acareer with (target company). Skilled at building strong teamenvironments and developing open communications.

Tips:

• Describe the job you are seeking. You can include yourexperience and skill level.
• Be focused - vague objectives are less likely to attractan employer.
• Emphasize what you can bring to your prospectiveemployer.
• The Objective should be one sentence - two sentences ifneeded, but not longer.

Work Experience

Unless you are a fresh graduate, your Work Experience is the most importantpart of the CV. Highlight your skills and assigned responsibilities in eachprevious job.

Examples:

• Managed a team of (number) that established (name of projectgoal or result).
• Successfully launched and marketed (name of project).
• Participated in the creation of a (name of product orproduction) that resulted in (a positive outcome).
• Extensive involvement managing client relationships at alllevels.
• Wrote feature stories and conducted interviews for (type ofpress); edited copy of other writers.
• Trained new interns in (type of department).
• (Number of years) of (system) integration experience andimplementing solutions to help clients succeed.
• Successfully managed and staffed not only business start-ups,but also periods of rapid, sustained corporate growth.
• (Number of years) of management experience on industrialprojects.
• Installed different operating systems, software andhardware.
• Compiled and edited comprehensive quality controlreports.

Tips:

• For each position describe your responsibilities, duties, thechallenges faced and accomplishments achieved. Use specificexamples eg. Increased car sales turnover by 200%or saved department $100,000 by redesigning performancemeasurement system.
• If you had multiple positions with the same company, rememberto list dates of positions to show the prospective employer ofyour rapid progress and quick learning abilities.
• If you have not had much work experience, try includingtemporary, holiday or voluntary jobs.
• Remember to keep it short, positive and use action verbs.

Education

List your academic background; degrees, certifications andtraining received.

Examples:

• Continuing education classes in (Name of courses).
• Licensed (name of certification), (City/Year).
• Thesis: (Title of Thesis).
• Additional course work in Computational Mathematics, Kuwait University.
• Work towards CPA qualification.
• Series 7 and series 63 registered.

Tips:

• Include your Grade Point Average or General Ranking if it isimpressive (Excellent, Very Good).
• Mention any Honors, Awards, Scholarships, Internships, andDissertations received.
• Include any information that might be appropriate to your jobsearch. Fresh graduates should include relevant courses,extracurricular activities, scholarships, honors, and GPA (if itis good).
• Allow your educational credentials to emphasise yourstrengths and qualifications. Do not be misleading, as employerswill check. It could be awkward and quite difficult to verify afalse educational statement made on your CV.

Memberships

List any professional affiliations, associations ormemberships of interest to employers.

Examples:

• Active member (name of association).
• Speaker/Treasurer (name of association).
• Appointed to serve as (position).
• Past Chairman/President.
• Elected to serve as (position).

Tips:

• Being part of any association shows a potential employer yourinterest and involvement in a related professional field.
• Adding this information is completely optional, but it mayhelp show a potential employer things about you that may not beclear from the rest of your CV such as your hobbies and youreagerness to participate in contributing to and developing yoursociety.
• This is particularly relevant and important for freshgraduates or candidates seeking to make a career switch.
• Use action verbs.

Skills

Use this section to show a potential employer your overallwork-related skills and abilities including languages and technical skills. Please note that your skills are one of the KEY search criteria in Employer searches so make sure you include all technical, analytical, professional and other skills.

Examples:

• German- Intermediate.
• Microsoft Office software & the Internet- Expert.
• MS Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, MSProject, Project Workbench and Lotus Notes- Expert.
• C, Cobol, Fortran and SQL- Expert.
• Quantitative Analysis- Expert.
• Creative Skills- Expert.

Tips:

• Focus on skills that match your target job and target company.
• Use this section to include industry keywords that match an employer's keyword search. For example: Knowledge of encryption theory
• Describe your interpersonal skills, (an experienced presenter/ public speaker / sales person, organizer or teacher).
• Use action verbs

References

Listing references is optional but it is always a good idea to include them. List the name and contact information of references.

Tips:

• List the contact information of your last employer. If youhave been out of the work force for a while, list the name of anold family friend or physician.
• If you would rather not include any references, make it clearthat the potential employer can obtain a reference if required byadding References available upon request.

Action Verbs

A
Abstracted
Achieved
Acquired
Acted
Adapted
Addressed
Administered
Advised
Aided
Allocated
Analyzed
Anticipated
Approved
Arbitrated
Arranged
Assembled
Assessed
Assigned
Assisted
Attained
Attended
Audited
Authored

B
Balanced
Built
Budgeted

C
Calculated
Centralized
Chaired
Changed
Checked
Clarified
Classified
Coached
Collaborated
Collated
Collected
Communicated
Compared
Compiled
Composed
Computed
Conceived
Conceptualized
Condensed
Conducted
Consolidated
Constructed
Consulted
Contracted
Contributed
Controlled
Converted
Convinced
Cooperated
Coordinated
Correlated
Corresponded
Counseled
Created
Critiqued
Cultivated
Customized

D
Debated
Decided
Defined
Delegated
Delivered
Demonstrated
Designed
Detailed
Determined
Developed
Devised
Diagnosed
Directed
Discovered
Documented
Doubled
Drafted
Drove

E
Earned
Educated
Edited
Effected
Eliminated
Enabled
Enforced
Engineered
Established
Evaluated
Examined
Executed
Expanded
Expedited
Experienced
Experimented
Explained
Extrapolated

F
Facilitated
Figured
Financed
Followed through
Forecasted
Formed
Formulated
Founded

G
Gathered
Generated
Guided

H
Handled
Headed
Helped
Hired

I
Identified
Illustrated
Imagined
Implemented
Improved
Improvised
Increased
Influenced
Informed
Initiated
Innovated
Inspected
Inspired
Installed
Instituted
Instructed
Insured
Integrated
Interpreted
Interviewed
Introduced
Invented
Investigated
Issued

J
Justified

K
Keynoted

L
Launched
Lectured
Led
Licensed

M
Maintained
Managed
Marketed
Mastered
Mediated
Mentored
Merged
Met deadlines
Minimized
Moderated
Monitored
Motivated

N
Negotiated
Nominated

O
Observed
Obtained
Operated
Organized
Originated
Overhauled
Oversaw

P
Participated
Performed
Persuaded
Pioneered
Planned
Prepared
Prevented
Prioritized
Problem solved
Processed
Produced
Programmed
Projected
Promoted
Proved
Provided
Publicized

R
Recommended
Reconciled
Recruited
Reduced
Referred
Reorganized
Repaired
Reported
Represented
Researched
Resolved
Retrieved
Reviewed
Revitalized

S
Scheduled
Selected
Separated
Served
Set goals
Setup
Shaped
Simplified
Solved
Sparked
Specified
Spoke
Staffed
Strengthened
Submitted
Succeeded
Summarized
Supervised
Surveyed
Systemized

T
Tabulated
Tailored
Taught
Tested
Tracked
Trained

U
Upgraded
Utilized

V
Validated

W
Wrote