The Curriculum Vitae aka CV is typically a representation of the candidate. It provides basic information about them, with emphasis on their capabilities as a result of education and/or experience. It also provides insight on how the person perceives himself/herself and what they can achieve.
Being aware of these essential functions of a CV, it is important that, as an employer, you know what information to look out for in a candidate’s CV. You should be able to make an initial decision after assessing the CV. But, what should you look out for? Here are the CV highlights that should be focused on.
- Career objective:
This is the candidate’s introductory section that acts as a summary of everything the person is, here you can see how the candidate sees himself or herself.
- Roles and responsibilities:
The details here should correspond to the advertised job role. If it doesn’t, without justification, the candidate may not be an appropriate fit for you.
- Experience:
While it may not always correlate with the job description, it also gives you an understanding of the candidate’s potential. If the experience history is focused on one industry, you know that the individual has a wealth of knowledge in that area. If the experience history is diversified, with appropriate durations, you know that the candidate is very diverse and that can be an asset.
Either way, the experience section informs you about the level of professionalism the candidate has.
- Skills:
What does the candidate have to offer? What tools are they efficient with? Is he/she conversant with the resources and software used in the job role?
These are all the questions that should be answered in this section of the CV.
- Educational background:
What did they study? What professional course have they taken? How impressive is their education when compared to their experience? How relative is it to the job description?
If the answers to these questions fall below your standards and expectations, you may want to rethink the candidate’s application.
Selecting the perfect candidate is a tasking mission, but it is definitely worth the stress.
Take the necessary measures to ensure that the final choice for the role is the right choice!