The curriculum vitae is a living breathing document used all over the world to gauge a candidate's experience and communication skills. The content, structure, and layout all tell a story and help give an employer a picture of the candidate. This picture allows employers to vette candidates by comparing your attributes against the job requirements (Acceptance criteria) and other candidates.
When applying for different roles especially if across different markets you will need to adjust your resume accordingly (e.g., In Japan resumes are very short, concise and contain a headshot of the candidate while companies in Australia are often happy for you to apply with a LinkedIn profile).
While the document will need customizing for each employer and recruiter the core will remain.
Core structure
Introduction
Name, contact information, portfolio link, profiles (e.g., Linked-In)
Specialty/ Objective
Professional value proposition
Experience
(Experiences that endorses your value proposition)
Job title
Company name
Duration (Year start-year end)
Company synopsis - Short sentence/ paragraph
Achievements - No more than four points
Responsibilities - No more than four points
Links - To company website or related project work
Education
Qualification
Institution
Year acquired
Core competencies (Endorses value proposition)
Tools
A list of core tools used that endorse your experience).
Other projects
Projects that endorses the value proposition, experience and helps design a holistic image of the candidate.
Interests
Factors which help design a holistic image of the candidate.
Writing your CV for beginners
When you are starting your career, you will intentionally or unintentionally pad your resume which generally does more harm than good.
Let's look at what areas we can focus on to avoid padding and add value to your CV.
Experience
If you are young and just starting list your employment history and map your experience to your value proposition through your writing. Also list any other substantial experience which you can back up with evidence such as a prototype, video, documentation, etc.
Tell a story
Each section of your resume should tell a story in itself framing what you did without becoming Lord of the rings. Each one of these stories should form part of your entire story which core lies in your value proposition.
Unless metrics
Don't, I repeat don't use metrics in your resume to measure your skill or knowledge in a particular area (e.g., Infographics, star rating, etc.). What is the criteria? What is being measured? How does it translate? I have found many times people rating themselves highly in one area fell well short of being competent by another's measure and vice versa.
Time
Be mindful of the user. The person reading this most likely has less time than you think, make sure your writing is concise, on point, be ruthless in cutting fat.
Tools of the trade
Basic writing tools and tactics
Stick it on the cloud
It's 2019! Your resume and alike should be accessible and editable from any device anywhere in the world 24/7. Use a cloud-based system that will allow you to edit and export your documents as needed.
Writing Tools
Google Docs (Google drive)
MS Office (One drive)
Grammarly
Both the free & paid versions can save you from silly writing mistakes such as grammar and illogical writing. Grammarly is available on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.