Whether you are applying for your first job, internship or a graduate program your curriculum vitae serves as a the main key to opening the first door to an interview with your potential employer.

The job application process not only requires the CV alone, but other accompanying documents like a cover letter, academic record and identity document are also important.

What to include in a curriculum vitae?

Your cv should speak for you in front of your employer in a well presented and professional manner to motivate your employers decision enough to invite you for an interview. The following are steps that most people follow when applying for a position.

Add information relevant to the job/internship/bursary you are applying for, employers don’t want to know about the beauty pageant you won in primary school.

Draft a new cv for every position you are applying for, don’t copy and paste.

Personal details and contact details should be at the top of the first page and keep your cv to three pages max, anything more than that will be too much.

After typing your cv the best thing to do is to convert it to pdf. to prevent other people from editing it especially if you will be applying by email.

Keep researching how other people are organising their cv’s and constantly keep improving yours.

You can download other cv templates at the end of this article.

How to write a cover letter

First thing first is to never forget the rules you were taught in primary school:

Make sure that you know the name of the person to whom the application must be forwarded. As such, the salutation on the Cover Letter must highlight this.

Emphasize the reasons I think I am the right person for the job in question.

These afore-mentioned reasons, highlight should the skills from my CV as wells as level of expertise on each skill. So, any kind of work experience that is most relevant is highlighted.

Mention that you’ll send a follow-up e-mail or fax or make a call to confirm that the application has been received.

Indicate how you should be contacted, it could be by phone or e-mail should there be a need to do so.

After everything else (Yours Truly, faithfully, sincerely…), add the line ‘CV Attached‘ to inform that a cv is attached with the cover letter.

After drafting the cv and writing your cover letter make sure to ask your friend or lecturer to proof read it before you can apply for the position.