Brushing up your CV: What fresh graduates need to know

Completing undergraduate studies is a mixed bag for most. It is a feeling of great pleasure that they have completed a significant degree, while it is also a feeling of stress now that they have to start a new journey altogether in a workplace.

Landing the first job upon graduating is a difficult task for many. Unfortunately, many fresh graduates do not even make it to the interview phase of job recruitment. This is where CVs are most important because it allows one to showcase your profile in the best way possible to get that coveted job interview.

In this second part of our three-series article, we will share insights to help enhance CVs, so that employers would be interested in interviewing the applicants.

Read the job description thoroughly

A CV that is tailored and fits the job description precisely is a huge plus. However, since fresh graduates tend to bulk apply to places in the hope of getting in somewhere, they often do not put in the extra effort to thoroughly read through each Job Description (JD).

"Always read the job description before applying to maximise your possibility of getting called for an interview," says Mahin Nur, IWS Process Lead at a leading multinational corporation in Bangladesh. "Job description is all the information and guidance you need to make a fitting CV," he adds.

By reading through the JD, they can figure out who an ideal individual for the role is and can present themselves through the CV in a similar light. As employers wish to interview only those who are a good fit for the concerned vacancy, this will increase the possibility of the CV being considered a better fit.

Be descriptive!

Contextualise as much as you put in your CV to your advantage. It should be done on all parts of a CV, including but not limited to previous experience, skills, extracurriculars, and other activities.

For instance, if you have an internship experience, describe what you did and learned in that position instead of just putting up the experience. If you were in a leadership role at a university club, explain how many people were under you and what events you completed. It helps the employer picture your profile better if you worked on a project, including the number of people involved and its significance.

Plan ahead

It is always helpful to plan your career path before your application time comes in. You can utilise this time to develop relevant skills and do more research on the industry to make a solid choice.

"A fresher or a sophomore student who starts preparing to join a certain industry ahead of their graduation period will get an edge because they can plan and utilise the remaining years to develop themselves accordingly," says Ashraful Shabab, Management Trainee at a country's leading multinational corporation.

But planning and working hard towards a dream should never come at additional stress as one can still be eligible and a great fit without this. "Plan early but please do things that you like," adds Shabab.

Segmentation is crucial

While structuring the CV, proper distinction and coherence are crucial factors. Overlapping in segmentation puts the CV at a disadvantage.

For instance, the academic background should not include an online generated short course certificate. If you think they are essential, they can be added under a certification/courses section. Formal education should be kept distinct in a CV.

Again, under professional experience, you should only include work done at a professional level. Extracurriculars or voluntary work are not professional experiences. As many candidates do not know the distinction well, they mix the segments. This puts them at a disadvantage because the weightage of the holistic resume is impacted as evaluation gets mixed up.

By crafting a CV using the pointers given above, fresh graduates can present a better profile of themselves through their CVs to kickstart their professional careers!