Your CV is a summary of your qualities and skills. It is the product you are going to sell to employers and recruiters. Therefore, it must be written tactfully, following certain key rules. Here are the main steps.

Step 1: Create the right psychological conditions

You need to isolate yourself in an environment where you will benefit from total calm. During the writing of your CV, nothing and no one should disturb you. Create a void and remove your phone, friends, and any other distracting objects.

Step 2: Basic documentation

Gather everything that can provide you with information about yourself and your professional life:

• Your diplomas
• Employment contracts
• Pay slips
• Certificates of professional training
• Agendas/personal journal
• Internship reports and letters of appreciation
• Theses
• Minutes, seminar reports
• Publications…

Step 3: Freely create your first CV

Write this first document as it comes to you. It doesn’t matter if it’s long. You can organize it following the classic structure:

• First Name Last Name
• Contact Information
• Civil Status
• Skills
• Professional Experience
• Education
• Languages
• IT Skills
• Interests

Capture as much information as possible; you will sort it out later. You are thus creating your personal database. You will then create a basic CV, but remember that you will likely need to adapt your CV based on your applications to align as closely as possible with the job posting. Therefore, some elements that seem unnecessary today may prove interesting later.

• Make a first impression. It may seem too long, too heavy. That doesn’t matter for now. Proofread, correct mistakes, and awkward phrasing.
• Make a second impression.
• From now on, without eliminating anything, try to improve your various sections, making them “winning.”

Step 4: Adapt the basic CV to your professional project

• It’s time to adapt this basic CV to your professional project. As we pointed out, the recruiter primarily seeks to secure their hiring. A clear presentation that highlights the logic of your objectives (your professional project) will contribute to this.

• To do this, start by giving your CV a title and adding a description of your objectives. These two points should synthesize your professional project.

• Now, take each element of this basic CV and ask yourself the following questions:

• Is my professional background clearly developed?

• Can we say that my current project constitutes a logical continuation of my professional background when reading the CV?
• Are my skills and potential for this project highlighted by my professional experience and other available information?

• Remove the least useful, least impactful sections that do not answer these questions. Your CV must be effective: it gets to the point and showcases you.

• Make a new impression. Upon reading my CV, it gives off:

1. A positive impression; my project is clear, my objectives are stated and logical.
2. I am quickly operational.
3. It is personalized: it resembles me, reflecting my personality.

Step 5: Have others review your CV

• Show your CV to those around you and note all their comments, even those that seem ridiculous, like terms they don’t understand, etc.

• Stop.

• The next day, revisit your notes and your CV; you will likely find ways to improve it.

• Repeat this exercise with different people, and then, in a second phase, with people who do not know you.

• When no one is asking you questions anymore, or better yet, if people show interest in your background, you will have built a fantastic CV.

• If you know people who regularly conduct hiring, their opinions are also invaluable!

Your CV is like your garden; it requires maintenance. You will revisit it as opportunities arise. You must strive to be sincere and not embellish your CV just to catch the recruiter’s eye. Lies always catch up with you.

Good luck!
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