Seminar presented on Career Preparation Skills by Professor Kolawole Falade

1. Career Preparation Skills
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Kolawole Falade
UIBC Career Preparation
Workshop 4 November 2017

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3. What is your CV doing?
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Your CV is like
painting yourself, a
compelling picture
of your strength
and skills
It shows what
you have to
offer
To get an invitation
for an interview,
paint it well
What is your CV
saying?
Look at me? See
what I can do you
for you.

4. What is the focus of your CV?
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Focus your
CV
Focus is important for gaining an opportunity
for interview/job
How?
You may choose to group the consequential
jobs under a heading
• Summary of relevant work experience
• Specific assignments
• Dates
employment education
However,
experience may
outweigh
education
Important
CV elements

5. Making education count on your CV
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Useful tips with regards to Education:
 Note continuing education
 Take advantage of continuing education, if you fall short of the mark on
the job’s educational requirement
 List Professional Development Highlights, including participation at
 Seminar
 Workshop
 Conferences
Education

6. Making experience count on your CV
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Experience
List all your experience
within the last ten years
•Specific job titles
•Company names and
locations
•Date of employments
Show progression and
promotions within an
organization
Show your competencies
Competencies are based on personal
strength to fulfil the demands of the job
How do accomplishments match
competencies? Show these.
Give examples:
•Increased revenue, sales, efficiency,
productivity
•Saved resources including money
•Improved record-keeping process,
workplace safety
•Effective budgeting, successful
advertising campaign
Experience and progression
Competencies and accomplishments

7. CV format
Be creative, think out of the box
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CV format is how you shape (organise) and accentuate (emphasise) your information
NOT how you design or the look of your CV
Standard format-
lists all employment
and education
beginning with the
most recent and
working backwards
The targeted CV
indicates what you
can do instead of
telling what you
had done and
where you did it
The executive format
indicates what you
have achieved from
your previous
activities
Standard format Targeted CV Executive format

8. Standard format
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Standard format-
lists all employment and education beginning with the most recent and
working backwards
Strengths
• Straightforward and easy to use
• Most popular with employers
• Fits conventional industries
• Underscores continuity
• Shows weight of your
experience
• Positions you for the next
upward career lift
Weaknesses
• Reveals everything including
weaker roles and negative factors
• Not appropriate when your job
titles are very different from
targeted position
• Can spotlight periods of
unemployment
• Easily reveals your age
• Easily shows that you were on a
job for too long

9. Targeted format
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The targeted CV indicates what you can do instead of
telling what you had done and where you did it
Strengths
• Directs the reviewer to what you want him
to notice
• Helps to visualize what you can do instead
of when and where you had been
• Serves the precise function or skills
requested by employer
• Uses non-paid experience to your best
advantage
• Help to eliminate work unsupportive
history
Weaknesses
• Assumption by reviewer that
you are trying to conceal
information
• Unclear which skills grew
from which jobs or
experience
• Does not show a clear career
pathway

10. Executive format
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The executive format indicates what
you have achieved from your previous
activities
• Slightly long-winded but factual
• Emphasizes on professional qualification and personal
achievements
• Emphasizes key achievements and skill
• Reviewed with greater scrutiny
• Mainly used by professionals in senior management, IT,
marketing
• Used when applying for a top-level civil service

11. Academic CV
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The academic CV is a
comprehensive
biographical statement
 Emphasizes professional
qualification and activities
 Number of pages can vary
 6 to 10 pages is recommended
for a veteran professional
 2 to 4 is recommended for a
young professional
 May have a brief Executive
summary, if too long
Weaknesses
 Too reading intensive
 Weaknesses in any area of
professional credential is
easy to spot
Useful for people working in
Ph D driven environment
 Education
 Elite Research and
Development

12. Points to note
 Including career objective on CV is outdated
 Instead use key skills
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Include contact details:
 Name (use larger font)
 Address (will there be a
change of address or
location?)
 Valid Telephone number
(include area code)
 Other contact details:
email address and web
page
Including a bait (Core skills)
 Solid experience in field of endeavor
 Ability to work under pressure to
challenging deadlines
 Excellent negotiation skills for
strategic partnership
 Language fluency
 Great adaptational skills
 Ability to manage multi-tasked
teams and achievement of results
 Excellent interpersonal skills and
ability to deliver

13. Flowing content Versus Juddering Detail
 Use every word to convince the
recruiter
 What your CV says is mission
critical
 Citing your earned
accomplishments and
achievements is how to make
interview happen
 Focus on your best content and
present it forcefully
 Build it right and you will land
the interview
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Major sections of best CVs
 Contact details
 Core skills
 Relevant experience
 Education and training
 Honours, awards and
distinctions
 Hobbies and other
interests (optional)

14. Samples?
Questions?
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