There are many ways to land your dream job, but knowing how to write a good CV will always be crucial for your employment chances. Today it’s not enough to know simply how to prepare a CV – you need to tailor your resume for Nigerian employers. Find out how to write a CV in Nigeria!
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1. What to include in your CV
No matter which latest CV format you’re going for, the principles of resume writing remain largely the same for years. The current CV format in Nigeria may be important, but what’s even more important is the information you put there.
In any examples of good CV in Nigeria you will find four mandatory sections that help the employer know more about the person they will potentially add to their staff. These four sections are:
- Personal information
- Employment history
- Education history
- Other information
Learn how to write a CV for a job application by finding out about each of those four sections in detail.
1. Personal information
The personal information section is located on top of the page and makes it easier for the employer to contact you in case they’re interested. Include your name, date of birth, mobile phone, email address, and city of residence. You are not required to include your gender and marital status, although you can if you want to.
2. Employment history
Employment history is the most important part of any sample of CV in Nigeria that should reflect your professional accomplishments. The jobs should be placed in a reverse chronological order from the most recent to the oldest one. Don’t include more than 15 years of experience and group your employment history into cognate experience and temporary and part-time jobs that are irrelevant to the position you’re applying to.
3. Education history
In this section of the CV format in Nigeria you need to include any education you’ve received starting from secondary school. University degree, courses, post-graduate education should all be briefly reflected under your education history.
4. Other information
What else does your prospective employer want to see in your sample of CV for job application? The most important part of this section is the list of your skills. Language and computer skills, as well as other professional skills that can be potentially helpful at your new position should be included there.
Perhaps, the most debated aspect of the latest CV format in Nigeria is whether you should put anything about your personality, hobbies, or out-of-work activities. Most employees don’t take that information into account, but a short personality-related section definitely won’t hurt!
2. Nigerian CV format
Today a job seeker should know not only how to create a CV, but also how to format it right. Here are a couple format tips that will help you learn how to write a CV:
- Update your CV regularly whenever there are changes in your employment, location, education, or objective.
- Keep your CV plain. Unless you are applying for a position in a creative field and want to show off your design skills, stick to the good old Times New Roman 12pt font, double spaces, and black letters on white background.
- It’s okay to use bold fonts and italics, but it’s important to not overdo it and use them only when absolutely necessary to highlight some part of your CV.
- If you’re sending out digital copies of your CV, make sure the size of the file, whether it’s a .doc or .pdf file, doesn’t exceed 500KB.
You can always find an example of a good CV among thousands of Nigerian CVs on Jiji!
3. CV for recent graduates
If it’s challenging to find good jobs for experienced employees, recent graduates have an even harder time securing a job. If you’ve recently graduated, you can base your CV on CV samples for fresh graduates in Nigeria or use the following tips:
- A curriculum vitae sample for fresh graduate should include an objective: let the employer know that even though you don’t have any relevant work experience, you are very motivated to join their team.
- If you don’t have cognate experience but have a few part-time jobs or internships behind your belt, don’t forget to include them, along with your accomplishments and possible references.
- There will be hundreds of recent graduates applying for the same job, so what sets you apart from your competition? List every relevant skill or ability you have that can maximize your chances of employment!
Get inspired by thousands of CVs on Jiji to create your own curriculum vitae sample for fresh graduate pdf!
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