Recently – well, quite a while ago, actually, Cristina asked me for some advice on how to write her CV in English. I thought it might be something of interest to you all, so I decided to post about it.
But the more I researched the subject, the more confused I became. Should you include a photo or not? Should you write a “personal statement” or not? Every web-page says something different. The British style seems to be different to the American style. In other words, the whole topic is a mess.
Perhaps the best advice can be found here, on the BBC website.
Basically, the advice is simple: be clear and be honest. Structure, format, order, length and so on aren’t so important. For example, many sites say you shouldn’t have more than two pages. But what if you have been working for 20 years? This, of course, is nonsense.
They do suggest the following format, which I tend to agree with:
Here is a basic format: Start off with your name, address and contact details clearly listed at the top of the page. Follow this with a profile of yourself which should include an outline of your skills, experience and immediate career goals.
After this you can put in your career history – in reverse chronological order over the past 10 years – with brief descriptions of your responsibilities and achievements. Then comes education, interests/personal details and references.
So there you go. Easy.
As for translation, I have some advice, and you’re not going to like it.
If you are serious about getting a job – a job which involves you using English, and therefore requires an English CV – pay a respected and recommended professional translator to translate your Spanish CV. It’s logical, really. You want to look professional, don’t you?
It shouldn’t cost too much – after all, translations are charged by the word, and a CV doesn’t have so many. And it’ll last you a long time – your personal details and education won’t change that much over the years, so it’ll form the solid basis of a good English CV.
Sure, it’s good practice to write a CV in English yourself, and great if you get feedback from your teacher – I’m quite happy to have a look at your English CV and offer suggestions, but I’m not a professional translator with experience of translating CVs from Spanish to English. Maybe I can help you write a CV that’s good enough to send to an employer.
But in this competitive industry, especially now, “good enough” maybe just isn’t good enough.
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