17+ Free Curriculum Vitae (CV) Templates and Examples [Word, PDF]

When applying for an available vacancy, scholarship slot, or other advanced placements, you have to showcase your suitability for the aid vacancy accordingly. To do this, you have to furnish information concerning your competence, academic qualifications, and work experiences. All these details are encapsulated in a document called the curriculum vitae.

Given its critical role to your overall success and career growth, you must know how to draft and present this document to a would-be institution or job evaluator. We devote the entire length and breadth of the discussions hereunder to look into how to do great work.

The purpose of this document is to convey to a panelist how you fit the vacancy you are applying to. For this to happen well, you have to incorporate some vital pieces of information in that document. In this segment, we take a look at these pieces for your consideration and know-how:

• Official Name – You have to furnish your official name as is displayed in official documents like driving licenses, passports, birth certificates, state-issued IDs, and student IDs.
• Date of Birth and Age – Next should come, your age, and the date of birth. Use the right format, which in most cases, is the mm/dd/yyyy.
• Contact Details – How would you wish that the recruiting firm or panelists reach you? Show them every detail via which they may get to you. These could take the forms of email addresses, postal addresses, telephone contacts, and personal blogs.
• Educational Qualifications – Follow the above with a listing of all the schools you have attended and the qualifications you garnered there. Start with the most recent and finish off with the earliest.
• Work Experience/Employment History – Enter all the companies you have worked for from time immemorial to date. Start with the latest and go all the way to the first one. Identify the company then explain the capacity in which you worked for it. Finish off with the roles you played in the firm and the timelines within which you worked for it.
• Skills – Which professional skills do you possess, which in your opinion, may place you above the other candidates. These skills must match the position you are applying for and be backed by hard evidence.
• Referees/References – These are people whom you have worked under, know you well, and are hence better placed at vouching for your competence and professional attributes. As a standard practice, you need three referees. You have to show their names, designations, and contacts.
• Personal Details – Round it up with a listing of your details that may not necessarily match the position you are applying for but are nonetheless important in creating a larger picture about yourself. They include religious affiliations, marital status, nationality, sexual orientations, hobbies, and any other special accomplishments.

You need some help when drafting these wonderful documents. We have some templates and examples which you may rely on to make yours stand the levels and standards laid out. Going through some sample CVs will help you to do a great job.

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What is the best format for CV?

For one, there are three main formats for the CV. These are:

• Chronological. This is by far the most common curriculum vitae format available. It is just a listing of all your achievements and personal details in chronological order.
• Functional. In this format, you lay special emphasis on your awards, competence, honors, and skills. It is mainly used for professional job-hunting that requires a great deal of experience.
• Combination. As its name implies, this one merges the chronological and the functional formats in one. This is the format that comes in handy when letting potential employers know about your existence while not necessarily applying for a specific position.

All factors considered, the combination is the best format for an active job-seeker as it incorporates every detail that a prospective employer may be seeking.

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How does a 15-year old write a CV?

A typical 15-year old lacks professional work experience and is still studying (most probably at high school level). As such, the format used should be chronological and ought to comprise the following pieces of information:

• Personal details
• Personal statement
• Skills
• Education
• Hobbies & interests
• References

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Even though an employer will skim the entire CV for all the pertinent details, it is the relevant work experience that tops the charts. That is because it forms the core of any recruitment exercise as it is the one that vouches for the ability of the candidate to carry out the necessary task.

The 7 soft skills are as follows:

• Leadership skills
• Teamwork
• Communication skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Work ethics
• Flexibility/adaptability
• Interpersonal skills

To be able to do a great job, you have to adhere to some tips and best practices. Here below, we identify and explain some of the hot tips you may consider adhering to for the best possible outcomes attainable:

• Customize your CV – You should always make a curriculum vitae that is exclusively suited for the role to which you are applying. Everything, ranging from the academic qualifications to the professional work experience, have to match the specific vacancy.
• Keep it Short – Keep this document as short as can be. As a general rule, it should never exceed three a4 pages. You do not want to strain the reader when attempting to make meaning of it, do you?
• Be Truthful – It is essential that you maintain the utmost truthfulness when furnishing the relevant details. All the various pieces of information you incorporate have to be backed by facts and verifiable as well.
• Utilize the right Format – Like the case with the customization above, you should also utilize the right format when drafting this document. Check up with the firm or position you intend to apply for to find its requirements and the format it favors.

• Check for Spelling and Grammar – Needless to say; you have to check the document for any spelling or grammatical mistakes to see to it that none exist before finally submitting it. Remember, you are just one of the thousands who are jostling for the position, and so, you do not want to leave anything to chance.

Just like you have to incorporate some critical details, you should also avoid some unnecessary or unwarranted pieces of information. We identify and explain a couple of them here below for your knowledge:

• Passport Photograph – You need not incorporate your passport photograph in your curriculum vitae, not unless you are asked to. Leave it out unless requested to hand it in.
• Salary History and Expectations – Even though you have to state where exactly you worked, in what capacity, the roles you played therein, and the timelines affected, you need not state how much you earned. On the same note, you should not also state your salary expectations.
• Reasons for leaving past Jobs – Also, you need not explain exactly why you left your various posts and workstations. Those pieces of information are completely uncalled for. You may have to explain to them at the interview stages.

Drafting a qualified curriculum vitae is a critical step to stand a better chance of getting employed. You can never gamble with this procedure hence. To guarantee better outcomes, we urge you to read the explanations we have given against each aspect of the document above.

Using templates is, by all means, strongly recommended, especially if you have never attempted to draft one on your own. Alright! What more could you ask of us? Is it not fair for you to proceed with haste and implement the insight you have received? Please share the insights far and wide as well!