Your CV is an important document. It is a summary of your professional and academic achievements. Your CV tells your potential employer what skills, talents and experience you have. This will help the employer decide whether you’re the right person for the job. Be bold! Be impressive! Be truthful!

What is a curriculum vitae (CV)?

In some countries it is called a resumé. The Oxford Advanced
Learners Dictionary defines a CV as 'a brief account of somebody's
previous career, usually submitted with an application for a job.' It is
Latin for "course of life" or life story.

Basic components of a CV

Personal Details
Personal information that would be relevant to an employer such as surname; first names; date and place of birth; identity number; male/female; married/single; state of your health; driver’s license

Contact Details
Contact details supplied to enable an employer to contact you about a job after looking at your CV. Should include address and contact numbers and possibly email address.

Career Objectives
An outline of what type of work you would like to do and how you would like to grow your skills, qualifications and experience in the work context.

Language Skills
A list of the languages you speak and write with a comment on how fluent you are in each.

Educational Qualifications
A list of school, extra-curricular or tertiary education qualifications you have.

Computer Skills
A list of all software you know how to use on a computer.

Employment History
Any work experience you have. This can include holiday jobs, volunteering, fulltime or part time work. State your current position and employer if you are employed.

Other Relevant Experience
Any other experience you think might be of interest to an employer, for example involvement in community development projects.

Basic Skills and Characteristics
Here you can mention your organisational and interpersonal skills or any other strengths or characteristics you think might be of interest to the employer. You might also want to add in a sentence about hobbies, but do not focus on this too much.

References
These should be the names and contact details of people you have been involved with either in your community, at school or at work. They should be people you trust to tell an employer what type of person you are or how well you work or study. Be sure to ask these people whether they would be prepared to be listed as references. Some employers prefer written references.

Over time your CV will change as you gain more work
experience. Details about your work experience will then
make up the most important component of your CV.