Definition of Curriculum Vitae

What does curriculum vitae mean?

The words come from the Latin and mean literally ‘the course of your life’ or the brief story of your career. The term is often abbreviated to CV, and these two letters are used to represent the term in this book. In some countries a CV is known as a résumé (pronounced ‘rez-ume-ay’). This is a French word which means ‘summary’.

Therefore, given the individual nature of this document, there is no such thing as the right way to construct a CV. Every careers adviser has different ideas about the best way to design and fill in the document. Every employer will like to see this style or that layout. Each thinks that this or that should be included, in this or that manner. This book outlines the way I have found employers to be most impressed, and uses three basic rules that you will find repeated throughout the book:

1.       Keep it simple. An uncluttered document gets read before a fussy one. Plain layout of your document will help the reader to see how much you have to offer.

2.       Make it clear. Direct language and straightforward sentences are easy to read and understand.

3.       Keep it short. Less is often more when it comes to a CV.

In fact these rules should be applied to any written document, but are particularly important in a CV where only simple, clear and brief documents will be taken seriously.

What does a CV look like?

Every CV will look different, and that is the way it should be. Like the real ‘story of your life’, it will be different from every other person’s story, for each of us is unique. Typed on to paper, it is usually two to three pages long, printed on one side of the paper only. Black ink and white paper are most commonly used.