Your CV is supposed to be an introduction and the main purpose is to obtain an interview with your future host company in Barcelona. We already discussed about how to impress with your CV and you probably started collecting all information and created your CV. We want to make sure that your CV is optimized to the maximum. Please read on and find out what we learned from years of experience about things to avoid when writing a CV:
- Irrelevant work experience and short term employment
You already have work experience in five side jobs? Great. If, however, two of the sideline jobs lasted only two weeks and the third one was as bartender in a nightclub, these three should not be mentioned if you apply for a Marketing position. Are you applying for an internship at a hotel and already have experience in hospitality. Perfect, this side job can be mentioned as work experience. - Unimportant personal data and the contact address
Personal data like family status, your age or your parents do not belong to the CV. The information about the birth date and the nationality might be important regarding visa requirements but should not be mentioned. - Leave out your interests and hobbies
You are interested in the latest fashion trends? Very good – as long as you apply in the fashion industry. For a sports company it might also be interesting that you are playing football, love skiing, do all kinds of watersports or have been licensed as a trainer. If you are a passionate photographer and travel blogger and apply for a social media internship in the travel industry, it is definitely a plus. If you don´t have suitable hobbies for the position you are applying for, just leave them out of the CV. - Nobody will understand the final grades
The grading systems differ from country to country, which quickly converts a 1.0 – the best grade in Germany – to the worst one, e.g. in Spain. That’s why your final grade should not be stated in your resume. - Your entire school career is not interesting
The primary and secondary school is not part of the curriculum vitae. School systems differ from one country to another, and the HR officer who reads your application cannot map the information. Start your CV with your highest school graduation and delete all the other schools, except of school exchange programs abroad. This will be an extra information about your international experience and language skills. - Untrustworthy Email address and Skype-ID
There are a lot of email providers where you can get an email address like “firstname.name@emailaddress.com” free of charge. The same also applies to your Skype ID. If necessary, simply create a second Skype account for your professional interview and your future career. Please avoid “funnybunny@email.com” and keep it for private communication with your friends. - Poor Formatting is annoying
You can find hundreds of very good templates and examples online for free. Keep it clear and use maximum three different style elements and maximum three, better two columns. The HR manager will be able to find the relevant information much quicker.
Don´t use ten different styles, colours, columns, pictures and tables in your CV! - Do not send a Word document to a company
You should be able to convert your CV into a PDF document after completing. Read it again afterwards! Please get sure that the PDF is also one page, not two pages. - Try not to have a longer CV than one page
We recommend a one page long CV. Either one page or two full pages, but only if you have a lot of relevant working experience. Never use 1 ½ or 1 ⅓ page. - Spelling Mistakes are the absolute No-Go for a professional CV
A perfectly written CV should not have any mistakes. The company can already see in your application documents if you can work accurately.Take your time to write the CV and re-read it several times. Give it to friends and family. If you print the CV, you will find more little details and errors for sure! How to find all little errors:
* use the free spelling check
* have a look at the dates (don´t mix October 2018 with 10/2018)
* use the same dash for all dates “-” or“–”
* check the spaces between words, no double spaces
For more information about further things you should keep in mind when writing a CV, please have a look at the following article and get in touch with Sí-internships. If you have revised your application with these tips, we can start contacting possible host companies in Barcelona and arranging Skype interviews.
You don´t know how to prepare for a Skype or telephone interview?
Please get in touch with your Sí-internships team!
