CV guidelines

Attach only one document to your email, preferably an MS Word attachment

Ensure there are no pictures, no graphics, keep it short (ideally 2, maybe 3 pages)

Leave out your references, payslips, transcripts of qualifications etc, unless asked for at a later stage

Include the following, in this order:

  1. Your name, ID No, Gender, EE status, residential suburb, contact numbers
  2. State geographic areas where you want and/or don´t want to work
  3. State a career objective, i.e. 3 or 4 job titles that interest you
  4. State your current salary, and salary required. State whether its cost to company, gross (before tax/deductions), or nett (in your pocket)
  5. List your qualifications (including school and year completed), state if any are incomplete, else it could be construed as fraud
  6. List your courses, most recent first, state length of course, and when completed. If you are running into space constraints only list courses in the last 10 years.
  7. Technical people - include a technical skills table showing for each technology a columns for a) Years of experience, b) Month/year last used, c) Skill level from 1 (junior) to 5 (senior)
  8. List your previous employers, starting with your current and work backwards. Preferably state a reason for leaving each job. State whether the job was permanent or contract.
  9. Don’t run down previous employers, unnecessarily ;)
  10. Don’t forget your contact details, phone and email addresses. Believe it or not, some people do!
  11. Dates: A CV without dates is, without a doubt, the quickest way to get your application declined. Preferably use month and year for start and end dates of jobs.
  12. DON’T send the CV more than once – it does NOT increase your chances, on the contrary it may just annoy the recipient.
  13. Reasons for Leaving: Specifying why you left each company you´ve worked for leaves no room for questions and makes you look more professional
  14. No gaps – if there are gaps in your work experience, explain them briefly in your CV, otherwise it could seem that you were either negligent in putting your CV together, or that you were unemployable, unambitious or worse, lazy and are too scared to admit it.
  15. Leave out the fancy graphics, borders or anything else that detracts from that which agencies / employers are really interested – the vacancy at hand and your suitability

Finally… Keep it in point form, use bullet points, don´t write long wordy paragraphs like this one would be if I carried on and on writing indefinitely, going around in circles, ultimately leading the reader astray  and detracting from the main aim...   which is to market yourself as accurately and succinctly as possible in as short and readable form as possible...