The common structure of a resume/cv

Personal details

Name

Date of birth

Address

Education: This section primarily implies post-secondary education, yet you should state the name of the high school you went to. Then you can in­clude special seminars, summer schools, or night schools, as well as college and university. List degrees and month/year obtained or expected, names and locations of schools, major and minor subjects, grade point average. A brief summary of important courses you have taken might be helpful. Chro­nology is backwards, from present to past.

Work experience: Enumerate full-time paid jobs, academic research pro­jects, cooperative positions, part-time jobs, or volunteer work. List the month/years you worked, position, name and location of employer or place, and responsibilities you had.

Here you can use one of two formats:

Functional: To emphasise skills and talents, cluster your experience under headings that highlight these skills, for example: leadership, research, com­puters, etc. This format can be helpful if you have little relevant job experi­ence.

Chronological: To emphasise work experience, list jobs beginning with the most recent.

Honours: State any academic awards (scholarships, fellowships), profes­sional awards or recognition, or community awards. Again, the chronologi­cal order is reverse.

Skills: List computer languages and software, research, laboratory, teaching or tutoring, communication, languages that you speak and to what degree of proficiency, leadership.

Activities: Refer to academic, professional, or community organisations in which you hold office or are currently a member.

Hobbies and interests (often optional): Enumerate the ones that best pre­sent your personality.

References: State the names, positions, and contact addresses of the people who wrote you the references.

Helpful tips considering cv style

In a resume, you need to sound positive and confident, neither aggres­sive, nor modest. Therefore, think truly carefully what information about yourself you convey through your choice of words. However, what­ever your final word choices are, they should accurately describe you, your skills, talents, experience.

Chose active verbs that describe your skills and accomplishments. For example:

I can contribute, enjoy creating, have experience in organising, ... Here are some other verbs that can help:

accomplish, achieve, analyse, adapt, balance, collaborate, coordinate, communicate, compile, conduct, contribute, complete, create, delegate, di­rect, establish, expand, improve, implement, invent, increase, initiate, in­struct, lead, organise, participate, perform, present, propose, reorganise, research, set up, supervise, support, train, work (effectively, with others).

In order to better describe yourself, use adjectives, adverbs, or nouns, that have positive connotations, such as:

able to, administrative, analytical, fluently bilingual, broad scope, capable, communication skills, collaboration, collaborative, consistent, competent, complete, creative, dedicated, diversified, effective, experienced, efficient, extensive, exceptional, flexible, global, handle stress, imaginative, intensive, in-depth, innovative, integrated, able to listen, motivated, multilingual, multi-disciplinary, a negotiator, other cultures, reliable, responsible, a su­pervisor, teamwork, well-traveled, work well with ...