May 9, 2010

Key points

1. Planning your application

2. Creating your CV – Do‟s and Don‟ts
• Common structure
• Good first impression
• Do‟s and Don‟ts
3. CV Contest 2010 - some observations

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A CV is a selling document

• Don't just sell what you have, sell what the buyer needs! So it is important to
look for the information about the company and position you are applying for.

• Be selective about who you send your CV to;

• The employers are looking for the most suitable candidates, not the best;

• Do understand yourself so that you can match your strengths with employers‟s
requirements
‒ Managerial qualities: leadership, planning and organizing, persuasiveness
‒ Professional qualities: Specialist knowledge, problem solving, analytical skills,
communication skill, writing skill
‒ Entrepreneurial qualities: commercial awareness, creativity, strategic thinking
‒ Personal qualities: interpersonal sensitivities, flexibility, resilience, personal
motivation, trustworthy

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Understand the employer’ expectations

Skills

Knowledge

Attitude

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Understand the selection process

Offer

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Objective at each selection stage

Screening Test Interview

To identify candidates
To identify candidates To identify candidates
with suitable knowledge
with relevant skills with right attitude
and skills
By checking if: By checking if: By checking if:
• Educational • The applicant can apply • The applicant has
background is relevant theories to solve real life suitable appearance,
to the role; cases; gesture, emotion etc.
• Applicant has logical • The applicant „s English • Knowledge, skills and
thinking; level is correct as attitude are tested at the
assumed from the first same time
• Applicant‟s English is round;
acceptable ; • Note: Requirements will
• The applicant has be different depending on
• Applicant understands appropriate IQ and EQ each role‟s requirements
about the company and indices.
the job requirements.

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© 2008 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
• Cover letter:
‒ A letter sent to Human Resources Department if not otherwise specified in the
recruitment notification
‒ Subject line: indicating the position you are applying for
‒ Content: showing your interest in the company and the position as well as
your career objective

• CV:
‒ Part I: Personal information
‒ Part II: Education and Training
• Including achievements and professional training, if any
‒ Part III: Working experience
• Including achievements (if applicable)
‒ Part IV: Additional skills and competences
• Any other skills (computer, research, design, etc.)
• Language proficiency: only include if highly developed
• References: do not list too many
‒ Part V: Declaration
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Creating a good “first impression”

• Cover letter: should be concise, straight to the point and short

‒ Key words and phrases relating to the job need to be included

‒ Try to get inside the mind of the reader by the tone of your writing
‒ Remember: Many recruiters will look for reasons to screen you out, so the
objective of cover letter is to keep yourself in within the first 30 seconds.

• CV: should be presentable, reader's friendly

‒ Information: ranked from essential to additional

in accordance with reader's priority
‒ Length: be mindful of cultural characteristic (US,
UK, Europe, Vietnam, etc.)
‒ Experienced recruiters can tell a lot about you
after just 1 minutes of scanning though your CV.

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What can recruiters tell about you by reading your CV?

Your CV Personality interpretation

Good quality paper Business-like,

Clear layout organized

Easy, readable Communication and

written English writing skills

Explain complicated
Concise thinker
subjects simply

Showing respect to
No spelling mistakes
reader

Relevant
Good judgement
information

Appropriate Qualified to do the

qualifications job
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Describing yourself

• Be yourself:
‒ Remember that you may be asked about anything or everything you have
included in your CV.
‒ All employers are looking for trustworthy employees, so misleading
information is dangerous for your future career path

• Develop your personal style: it's not what you say, but the way that you say it will
differentiate you from the crowd.

• Contact information:
‒ Essential to inform which contact is the most reliable to reach you
‒ Full address is useful
‒ E-mail address should be as business-like as possible

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1. Ask yourself:
‒ Does this CV sound like me?
‒ Is my English clear and easy to understand?
‒ Have I provided all the information required for that
position?
‒ If I were the reader, would I feel like selecting this CV?
2. Check carefully, word by word
3. Ask for reviewer‟s opinions
4. Print out, using good quality papers and proper,
presentable A4 envelope
5. Check address on the envelope and send out.

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Some Do’s and Don’ts for fresh graduates
DO’S
 Identify your short-term and long-term
career objectives;
 Be honest when analyzing your skills;
 Identify key achievements which are
relevant to your application;
 Be creative in your approach in your CV,
but follow the basic structure;
 List the latest events first (parts II & III);
 Run grammar and spell check function
but remember that not all mistakes will
be eliminated;
 Ask some experienced friends or
lecturers to review your CV and cover
letter and advise on word usage.
15
DON’TS
Set unrealistic targets
Include unnecessary details about
temporary jobs, unless really relevant
Undervaluate or over valuate your
achievements
Use too many specialist terms or overly
formal language in your CVs
Use lengthy and complex sentences
Use fancy typeface unless it‟s a design
position
Waste space – it‟s OK if your CV is only
one page long
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 Irrelevant information or experience
 Wrong concept about HR, such as “reducing labor cost by contract
negotiation” (?)
 Experienced in marketing, media, IT => HRE?

 Career aspiration was not shown clearly in many CVs

 Some focused too much on academic achievements without highlighting
career objective
 Majority, both in HR and Auditor applications, did not show which career
path they would want to pursuit,

 Presentation problems
 Background color
 Usage of paragraphs and spacing
 Inconsistent format: Margin, alignment, font size, layout
 Most of applications for Auditor position have problem of non-user friendly
or unclear format
 English: spelling and grammatical mistakes
 Remember: CV is NOT an essay
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• All CVs showed great efforts – some are
really good and thoughtful

• Majority of CVs had clear structure

• Many have spent time decorating their CVs

and some were very impressive

• Remember:

1. This is only a students' contest – more

for learning purpose. So failing the
contest does not mean that you would
be unsuccessful candidate in real life
2. Practice makes perfect – this is the
chance to improve your CVs before real
submission
3. All of you are the winners today!

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