Prepare your CV

You spotted a great internship/business opportunity, but you don't have a prepared CV? You came across a student competition or scholarship, but you need to send a CV to apply?

Somehow you have realized by now that a CV in the student world is like an identity card. Stand out. Prepare your personalized ID card – your CV.

Today, one-page CVs are increasingly popular. In the sea of all the applications, sometimes it is difficult to stand out if the CV is written on several pages. It is preferably short and clear. So, try to say everything on one page and don't forget – CV should be true.

Every quality CV must have a head and a tail. Below we will give you tips on what you should take care of!

CV should have the following sections: personal data, data on formal education, additional / informal education, work experience, foreign languages and computer applications, activities, awards and recognitions, and hobbies.

Personal data

In the first part of your CV, write your personal information. Name and surname, date of birth, residential address, e-mail (personal) and mobile phone number. Also, add a link to your LinkedIn profile! This information is important so that a potential employer can contact you for the next step of the selection process. Be sure to write a few sentences about yourself, use keywords, and write your current title and in which direction you see yourself in the future. You can add a photo, or not. There is no exact definition of whether a photo is desirable, but it definitely depends on the culture where you are applying. Our recommendation is to attach a photo to your CV, and let it be a formal, serious photo.

Education

The employer will focus on your education the most, if you do not have any work experience.

This section includes your high school, faculty/university, but also all additional schools/academies/summer schools or other educational institutions (you can also separate them into additional education). Be sure to write the title you acquired after graduation (or will acquire). It is important that the review order is reverse chronological, so the most recent education will be listed first. Next to each item, write the year you started/ended the program.

Work experience

Work experience is perhaps the most important part of any CV. The employer will spend the most time looking at this section, so make it brilliant. Just like education, it is written in reverse chronological order with the written year (and month) of the start/end of work. If you have several work experiences in different fields, write all of them that are relevant to the position you are applying for. Bold the information you want to highlight. Describe your work and several tasks you performed in that position. If you haven't had work experience so far, don't worry, work/volunteering in student associations counts as work experience, so be sure to write that down.

Skills

Skills or achievements you list in your CV should be relevant to the job you're applying for or give insight into you as an employee. And it goes without saying that these skills must be ones that you truly possess.

Broadly speaking, there are two categories that most skills fall into – hard skills and soft skills.

Hard skills are skills related to your area of expertise. They are considered skills that can be learned. Some examples of hard skills are database management, network security, programming languages, statistical analysis, etc.

Soft skills are those that you possess as an individual and that describe how you work. Communication, decision making, leadership, integrity, teamwork and time management are some of the skills that fall under the soft skills umbrella.

Languages

It is recommended to use the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, according to which you can list the languages you speak and their classification.

Be honest because the company can check your language level at any time. :)

Hobbies and interests

Recruiters like to find out a little more about candidates, so it is definitely welcome to mention your hobbies (especially if they are close to the job you are applying for). The point is to leave the impression of an interesting and dynamic person. Be careful, choose what to highlight! As a hobby, list only those activities that you do more than 2 times a week and be precise. For example, write what genre of book you read or what author. In that way, you may also touch on a more casual topic during the interview.

Awards, projects, conferences, workshops, volunteering

If you participated in student competitions, projects or organized conferences and workshops through student associations - kudos to you! You have something to write in this section (don't forget to write the year of participation). Volunteering is a very important item in any CV and is doubly valued from the employer's perspective. By volunteering and setting aside our time for others, we make it known that we are solidary, empathetic and committed to the task. You can also mention volunteering in the Work experience section.

Don’t forget to take care of:

Legibility and spelling

You want to present yourself in the best light with your CV, and you definitely want to show off your excellent spelling! Web tools such as Ispravi.me for the Croatian CV or Grammarly for the English version of the CV can help you with this. In addition, you probably have a friend who always corrects you in the chat - he or she will surely be a good second eye for checking your spelling.

Design

The layout of your CV can be that little difference that sets you apart from others. Still, you think you're not a designer and don't know how to create a unique design? Today it is easier than ever! The Internet is full of free design tools that offer you various examples that you can easily fill in, one of them is Canva. In addition to being free, it provides you with over 30 different examples. However, be careful and don't play with the design, make sure that the CV is professional. And - save it in PDF format!

Don't forget the Europass CV - the most famous CV format in Europe!

The Europass CV is one of the most popular CV formats in Europe. It is easy to use and is internationally recognized among employers and educational institutions. Read all the information on the link.

Keep in mind that the average time a recruiter looks at your CV is 7 seconds!

Therefore, clearly mark the sections in your CV, highlight your LinkedIn profile, have a high-quality professional summary (3 sentences about you in which you emphasize your values), remember to use the words that were used in the job ad itself and adapt them to your values, and finally highlight your successes!

Good luck!

If you need help or want us to look at your CV - contact us at careers@net.efzg.hr. :)