Many people create a resume without taking the time to reflect on their professional project. Perspiration is not synonymous with success. You should take your time when preparing your resume, so that the result will be a CV that is clear and visually appealing to the recruiter.

In continuation, we will present a few elements and key factors to explain you how to make a resume.

What is a Resume (CV)?

A Resume, also known as “Curriculum Vitae“, is a document that presents the major stages of a professional and personal career. It is divided into different parts: Personal information, professional experience, education and fields of interest.

A quality resume should reflect your personality and capture the attention of the recruiter. You only have a few moments to convince the recruiter and be selected for an interview. Your CV is like a sales brochure. It must be clear, contain the rules of presentation and convey a message.

General Presentation of a resume

Basic presentation rules to do a resume original and professional:

The resume constitutes as your professional business card
A CV bears no signature and is not given a fixed date
It should be easy to read and follow chronological order
Avoid spelling and grammatical errors
Highlight the key points of your resume
Use short and simple phrases (a recruiter takes less than 5 minutes to go over your CV)
Be creative and distribute your information strategically
Include only the information you feel is important and useful
Everything you write in your curriculum vitae may be used during the interview. Therefore, avoid lies.
Avoid being redundant. Keep the information clear and focused.

Main categories to include within your resume are:

Your personal information and contact information
Your competence (operating systems you’ve used, spoken languages, etc…)
Your professional experience in chronological order
Academic Studies/Education
Your personal interests (sports, activities, hobbies, charity work, etc…)

Main Categories of your resume

1. Contact information

This information should be located in the upper part of the resume. It is the introduction to your CV and the first thing the recruiter will read. In this section is found all the information about the identity of the candidate and all the contact information that will enable the recruiter to contact you, if needed:

Name and lastname
Personal address
Phone number (home and mobile if possible)
Email
Age
Photo (optional)

2. Skills

In this section you can include all the information that will catch the attention of a recruiter. Write every word strategically. These skills should make you stand out from the rest of the candidates (languages, software used, forums, prizes received, etc…)

3. Professional experience

You should mention every job, position, internship, etc. that you have occupied in the past few years. If you have a lot of professional experience, sift the information and only save the information that is the most relevant and corresponding to the position for which you are applying.

Don’t forget to indicate in every one of your experiences the name of the company, the amount of time you worked with them, your position, main tasks, results and the objectives. This will give the recruiter a general idea of your resume.

4. Education

In this section of your resume, mention any academic studies you’ve completed and indicate: The schools, colleges, universities; along with the dates, diplomas and awards you received while studying.

5. Fields of interest

In the lower section of your CV you can indicate any sports you’ve played, hobbies, associative activities in which you have participated, travels, etc. This is an added value to your resume in that it shows your inclination towards other activities besides work and studies.

Final advice for making a good resume

Print it before sending and see how it looks on paper. Things often look different on the computer versus after they’ve been printed.
Re-read your resume after it’s been printed. Then, ask a family member or someone you know to edit it. That way you will know if your CV is focused and easy to follow.
Be sure to clearly detail all the information written in your resume.
Ask yourself if your CV reflects your personality and if it’s convincing (“Would you hire this person?”)

Use our resume templates Word for free.