What Does Your CV Look Like?
To impress the recruiters and bag your dream job, you need to be careful about how your Resume/CV looks. Initially when you are applying for a job, it’s your CV which will do the talking on your behalf and taking care to make it stand out will enhance your chances of getting the interview call. We are all familiar with the fact that we require a CV as we step into professional life but many of us approach the task of putting it together rather carelessly and have to face rejection at the initial screening as a result.
It is therefore advisable to do some reading and find out how to make your CV more prominent. Many candidates, including you, will be apply and companies will try to shortlist those who have the right skills and experience for the vacant profiles they are looking to fill. Therefore when you have a particular opening in mind, make sure you highlight all that you have done so far that satisfy the company’s requirements. Some organizations will ask for a cover letter in addition to your CV for information which a CV can’t provide.Time spent on knowing what companies look for from candidates when they apply is a good investment and will surely enable you to get ahead.
You can take a look at this article on monster.com for some good tips on how to prepare a CV and cover letter.
Fast and Accurate:The Keywords of Typing
In this post, I would like to focus on a skill which i feel is somewhat neglected by trainers and trainees alike. When you talk of job training or improving employability, the first few things that come to your mind are communication, organization, writing etc. However, several positions in the industry require you to possess efficient and fast typing skills in addition to the obvious ones. It will definitely add to your credentials if you work on your typing speed and accuracy.
Practicing typing is largely similar to practicing writing, with the difference being you can choose not to be imaginative and just copy text from a book or article. While typing, keep a watch handy so that you can calculate how many words you are typing in a minute. Most companies which are keen on your typing speed would want to know your WPM (Words Per Minute) count. As you go along, pay attention to accuracy as well. It won’t do to have your fingers flying all over the keyboard at lightning speed only to create content which is full of typos. Try to stay away from the “delete” and “backspace” buttons as much as possible and hit each key only once to form words.
Start slow and with practice, you will surely pick up pace.
Outside the Classroom:A Different Take on Creative Learning.
In the academic fields of literature and language, a creative writer is highly appreciated. Several universities and colleges both in India and abroad offer courses on creative writing. If you are an acclaimed creative writer, your proficiency in the language can hardly be called into question. It is taken for granted that you have mastered the language and are able to play with it as per your wishes. You can compose poetry, write stories, argue convincingly and so on. Armed with such abilities, you may think that a job in the industry that involves writing will be a piece of cake for you. Pause here and think again.
Lucrative opportunities like technical writing and blogging require extensive writing from you but not the kind that you have been producing so far in your classrooms. I once attended an interview for the post of technical writer in a reputed company where I was asked why I want this job. I confidently replied that creative writing is one of my skills and I would love to apply that skill in my job. My interviewer smiled and told me “creative” writing is not what is expected out of me. The focus should be to keep the language as simple as possible and be straightforward. The writing thus has to stem from an entirely different attitude and perspective.
You need to keep in mind that a company is hiring you to write about itself, its objectives, its products etc. Through your writing, existing and prospective clients will form an idea about your company and what it is all about. It is up to you to make this idea as clear to them as possible. So you need to free your writing from veiled references and images to make it clear and comprehensible. When you are writing about a product, you have to make all specifications easy to understand and when you are blogging about the company and its services, your style needs to be simple so that your writing is understood by everybody. A poet or novelist can get away by saying he/she writes for a specific target audience, but you won’t usually have that excuse. So does that mean there is absolutely no creativity? Not at all; you need to be creative to make your writing simple, comprehensible, yet eye-catching.