CVs
CVs
CV (UK) ≠ résumé (US)
 French CV ≠ British or American CV
 Advice for producing a CV intended to AngloAmerican companies
 Advice for translating your degrees
 A European template of CV in many languages is
available at:http://europass.cedefop.eu.int/

Anglo-American CVs vs
French CVs
 In
France: a list of duties/experiences
 English speaking countries: a marketing
tool
Content: what is expected
 Personal
information: not always
 Education
 Work experience, career history,
professional experience
 Miscelleanous (e.g., additional seminars
and training, extracurricular activities,
referees, etc.)
Content: what is optional
 Marital
status
 Age or D.O.B.
 Photo: avoid
 Career objective
 Summary statements
 Summary (of your qualifications)
Personal information
 Mr/Ms
 First
name THEN surname
 Address and telephone in international
format
 Email
Producing a CV for an AngloAmerican company
1) Define your career objectives
2) Identify the employer’s needs
3) Identify what you have to sell
1) Define your career objective
-
-
Who do I want to work for?
What do I want to do?
When do I need to be in the new job?
Where do I want to live?
Why do I need to work? (value: money,
security, time, growth, creativity…)
How much do they need to pay me?
2) Identify the employer’s
needs
cf classified ads, websites …
- list qualities/qualifications required
- identify personality traits
- talk to experts
- review the professional journals related
to your career for pbs/issues addressed
-
3) Identify what you have to sell
 Answer
the question “ Give me three
reasons why I should hire you”
Production
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Choose chronological CV (in reverse chronological order)
Functional or skill-orientated CV: less recommended (recruiters
are interested in chronology)
3 Templates available in “ Démarrer ” “ Tous les programmes ”,
“ Outils Microsoft Office ”, “ Nouveau document office ”, “ Autres
documents ” “ CV ” but set the language on English as a default
language
A European template available on
http://europass.cedefop.eu.int/instruments/cv/step0.do;jsessioni
d=3A689738B76B73095928FF22A8AD676D (HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED)
Work experience/career
history

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
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Either a list of posts or a list of duties
Explain briefly what sort of company you worked for
(revenue, size, number of employees)
Give figures (I increased sales by 16%)
Explain your achievements
-ed forms or –ing (managing human resources, etc.)
A list of action verbs can be found on
http://www.quintcareers.com/action_skills.htm (last
visited 17/10/05) or
http://www.writeexpress.com/action-verbs.html
(visited 31/08/06)
Miscelleanous
“
Computer literacy ” or “ systems
experience ”
 Responsibilities in community life
 Travelling
 Languages: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 OR:
fluent/conversational/mother language
 Language portfolio available on request
Degrees/Diplomas/Studies/
Qualifications
Degrees ≠ diplomas
 Master’s, Bachelor’s
 Do not abbreviate. Give degree names in full
 Translate degree names into brackets
 If you cannot translate, explain in a few words:
undergraduate, postgraduate degree, etc.
 The University of Bordeaux
 “option”: translated option or major for option
 You may want to list important subjects instead

Advice

Start with your strengths
 Use margins, headings, bullets, colours
 Play on font size (10-12) and colour
 Do not abbreviate anything
 Show you have contributed to success; give figures;
show concrete examples
More advice

Be honest
 1-2 pages
 Never use negative statements
 Identify any page beyond the first (1/2 & 2/2)
 Include references on a separate sheet
 Set your word processor on « English » as your
default language
Example of a good student’s
CV
Octave Montesquieu's CV
Reproduction

The use of bold, italics, capitalization,
headers and good layout is critical
 The first read is typically a 20-second scan
 Use a laser printer
 No typos, erasures, strike overs. Proofread,
proofread and proofread again
 Use cream-coloured or grey paper with a high
rag content
A few websites on which to
find job advertisements in the
UK
 http://www.londonjobs.co.uk/
 http://www.ici-londres.com/
for summer
jobs
 http://www.1stcontact.com/ but you have
to register first before accessing the ads
 http://www.monster.co.uk/ or its
equivalent in other anglophone countries