Writing a strong CV part 1

Creating a good CV is difficult, there are a lot of different ways to make a CV and it can be confusing to know which way is the best. Candidates will often ask our Undutchable recruiters for advice on how to improve their CV. Although we have an extensive explanation on our website explaining how to create a good CV, we wanted to share a few extra tips with you.

• We advise you to make a short profile on the top of your CV which explains who you are. This should not be longer than 6 lines and should be used as a sales tool to showcase your education/work experience.
• Sometimes we receive CV’s where a candidate has referred to him/herself in the 3rd person. However, we recommend that you always use the first person narrative when writing a CV.
• When using a template CV make sure to personalize it as much as possible. Remove any template texts and make it personal. We often see template CV’s and it can leave a bad impression if someone has not put any effort in personalizing it.
• Do not include sensitive information such as BSN/Passport number etc. in your CV. This information will only be requested once you have found a job.
• List the job experiences starting from the most recent at the top. Make sure to also add what you did in your role at the company. Often candidates will only list the title of their position, however, it helps to add a few bullet points which will explain what you did. That way our recruiters and clients will know what your experience was within the role.
• If you want to add a personal section with your hobby’s make sure to keep it short. It is a great way for a client to get more insight into your personality but you do not want to overwhelm them with all your extracurricular activities either.
• It is best to avoid using the terms ‘’average’’ or ‘’normal’’ when describing the level of your language skills. These are generally vague terms for our recruiters. If you want to describe your level of language use terms such as fluent, proficient, native, mother tongue or use the B1/C1 notations. Please avoid adding languages of which you have solely a basic knowledge.

These few tips will hopefully get you on your way to create a good CV. We have more tips which we will share with you shortly. Please feel free to drop by one of our offices if you have any specific questions about your CV, our recruiters will be more than happy to discuss it with you!

More CV tips in part 2.