How to Make a Professional CV? Part I
Applying for the postgraduate degree of your dreams is a personal and professional challenge that must be supported by a strong candidacy, this means that all the requirements must be linked in a coherent and attractive way, so that the admissions committee has a comprehensive and correct perspective of your profile as an applicant. To achieve the above, it is essential to present an impressive Curriculum Vitae (CV), since this, in a certain sense, is the backbone of your application, which gives order and consistency to all the elements that will be part of your admission portfolio.
The CV is a document whose length is usually 1 or maximum 2 pages, in which you will show your professional and academic career in an organized and chronological way. Presenting a professional and sober appearance will make you stand out from the rest of the candidates with whom you compete, so avoid overly complimentary adjectives since with this, instead of making you look more professional or more experienced, you run the risk of giving a negative impression appearing insecure or presumptuous. Just as important is being clear about what should be included and what is not important, thus complying with what the evaluators expect to know from your CV, avoiding a greater effort than is already required for them to understand what is intended to be captured., thus preventing that the CV is not read in its entirety since the period available to the committee is short to analyze this document.
What should I NOT mention in my CV?
As stated above, it is essential to avoid an excess of personal information in the CV, which turns out to be one of the most frequent errors among postgraduate candidates. Below is a list of the items that should be omitted :
- Personal data:It is not necessary to repeat that personal information or qualifications that are already included in other documents of your application, nor references such as height, weight, personal identification number or social security, results of personality tests.
- Information about high school and previous studies, especially when they are not linked to the direction you want to take. Likewise, it is suggested that in terms of extracurricular activities you limit yourself to mentioning those that happened in the last five years, since otherwise there is room to think that you have nothing to show that you have done recently.
- Unnecessary descriptions about positions where the activities carried out in it are obvious.
- Certificates or diplomas that are not relevant or timely for the program you apply for.
- Photographs:Although it is true that in some Latin American countries it is a common practice to include it, in countries with more demanding labor rules it is politically incorrect since physical appearance should not influence a decision when making a judgment about the candidate.
- Contact details of past employers or teachers.
- When addressing work experience, do not include salaries or bank details, unless required by the university. In the same way, care must be taken when handling information that may be confidential talking about projects or plans that have not been made known to the public as well as financial data of the companies in which you have worked, since this speaks of respect for the privacy and confidentiality that are reflected in your responsibility with these facts.
Once the guideline for the preparation of a clear, concise and relevant CV is given, it is also necessary to mention those elements that should not be missing in this important document to allow the evaluators to know information about the aptitudes, quantitative abilities, capacities and experience of the candidate. It should be noted that it is not recommended to include the same CV presented to a potential employer in the admission portfolio, since the information requirements may not necessarily be the same.In the application to a graduate degree, information is examined that reflects academic and professional clarity, the kind of student you will be, as well as leadership, passion, action and focus faculties that are expected from the future student’s execution in the most prestigious universities to world level.
What YES should I include in the CV?
You can start with a brief introduction, only if it is essential, where it translates into no more than 5 or 7 sentences. A professional summary that generally simplifies experiences in your area of ​​discipline, research findings, publications, and key achievements.
Professional objective
Before submitting this in your CV, you should clarify what your future project is (personal and professional projection) and what skills and experience you need to achieve it, highlighting the intermediate step involved in entering a postgraduate degree of excellence. Your direction should be communicated to the admissions committee, which should be clear, through transferable experiences, demonstrating your future potential.